Acts 13:13-14
Acts 14:25
The Acts narrative contains only two brief references to Perga, both as part of Paul and Barnabas' 'first missionary journey'.
Acts 13:13 indicates they came to Perga from Paphos and almost immediately, it seems, they moved on to Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:14). From Pisidian Antioch they moved on the Iconium, then Lystra and, finally, Derbe. For some reason, instead of continuing overland, further east to Paul's home town, Tarsus, and thence to Syrian Antioch, they retraced their steps all the way back to Perga. On the way back, at Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch, they 'strengthened and encouraged' the new believers and established leaders in these fledgling Christian communities (Acts 14:21-23).
It is only on this return visit that they 'preached the word' in Perga (Acts 14:25, NIV). At each of the other locations we are told something of their ministry and its outcomes: not so at Perga. From Perga, the narrative has them very quickly returning to Syrian Antioch, via Attalia.
I was able to visit Perga in 2012 as part of a road trip visiting sites of the First Missionary Journey.
The archaeological site of Perga is only 7.5 km north east of Antalya airport. Along the approach road, before entering the site proper, the theatre stands above the road, to the left, and the impressive stadium, to the right.
After passing through the 'Roman Door', at the entrance to the site, the agora (Roman Forum ) is immediately on the right, beside the towers of the Hellenistic Gate. From there about 500 m of colonnaded street runs gently uphill towards the acropolis. A nymphaeum on the lower slopes of the acropolis spilled water into a channel running the length of the street. Did the cooling effect of water spilling into the series of basins comprising the channel, make this the air-conditioned mall of antiquity?
Click here for a Google Earth view of the archaeological site of Perga.
By the time you get to the ticket booth at this location you will already have driven past the theatre, on the left, and the vaulted substructure of the stadium, on the right.