Why Perga?

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“Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos [in Cyprus] and came to Perga in Pamphylia [in southern Anatolia] …They passed on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia [in central Anatolia].”

(Acts 13:13–14)

Why Perga? Paul and Barnabas returned to Perga (Greek, Perge) where Paul preached (“spoke the word”) and then “went down to Attalia and from there they sailed to [Syrian] Antioch” (Acts 14:26).

These are the only references to Perga in the Acts of the Apostles—or elsewhere in the New Testament, for that matter.

To cover the 200 miles from Cyprus to Perga on his first missionary journey, Paul would have boarded a commercial vessel. Passenger ships for the general public did not exist in the first century. Shipping was almost exclusively for commercial or military purposes. Consequently, travelers made arrangements with merchants to board cargo vessels.¹

Perga was 7 miles inland up the Kestros River (now the Turkish Aksu River). Cargo that was transported over large distances on the open sea was 054 generally loaded onto large ships with deep drafts. These ships docked at coastal ports that could accommodate such ships. A large cargo ship could not have gone up the Kestros River to Perga.

The closest seaports to Perga were Magydos and Attalia, from which, as noted in the second quotation from Acts above, Paul and Barnabas sailed when they left Anatolia and went to Syrian Antioch (Acts 14:26). Whether they landed at Magydos or Attalia on their journey from Cyprus or at one of the other major Anatolian seaports closer to Cyprus—Side, Korakesion or Anamurium—is unclear.

If they landed at one of these seaports, they either walked the coastal road to Side, whereupon the road led inland directly to Perga, or they took a smaller ship from one of these ports to the mouth of the Kestros River. Paul and Barnabas then either took a small boat up the Kestros to Perga or simply walked the 7 miles.²

The route north from Perga to Pisidian Antioch was itself difficult and dangerous—regardless of which of the alternate routes scholars argue about that Paul and Barnabas took. True, there were some excellent Roman roads at this time, but they were designed for commercial and military wagons and carts and connected only major centers relevant to these activities. Networks of less durable gravel and earth roads, as well as footpaths, connected smaller towns and villages. These roads and paths often traversed rough terrain and were frequented by robbers and thieves who could operate more freely on these paths than on the policed paved roads.

Many of these routes followed rivers that flowed south through precipitous mountains and canyons before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea.

So why Perga?

Most probably because of its Jewish population. Paul stopped to preach in Perga on his return journey from Pisidian Antioch (Acts 14:26). No doubt there was a synagogue in the city. Paul probably also wanted to visit other Jewish communities along the Kestros River valley. These Jewish communities would provide Paul and Barnabas with food and hospitality.

Excavations have been carried out in Perga since 1946—first by Arif Müfid Mansel of Istanbul University and, beginning in 1985, by Haluk Abbasoglu, also of Istanbul University. About 25 percent of the ancient city has been unearthed.

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But no synagogue or other evidence of a Jewish population has been found. Among the more impressive structures are a theater, a stadium, a long colonnaded street (the Cardo Maximus), a restored agora, a gymnasium (palaestra), Roman baths, a decorative fountain (nymphaeum), Hellenistic towers, Byzantine churches and much more. In addition, more than 200 spectacular sculptures were recovered. (Most of them are now housed at the award-winning Antalya Archaeological Museum.)

Oddly enough, archaeological evidence for Jews at Perga comes not from Perga, but from Aphrodisias, 160 miles northwest of Perga. Like Perga, Aphrodisias was a major marble center that produced a galaxy of extraordinary sculptures and buildings. Among the finds at Aphrodisias was a 9-foot-high rectangular marble pillar that probably came from an Aphrodisias synagogue. On two sides it is inscribed with at least 125 names—68 identified as Jews, 3 as proselytes and 54 as Godfearers (theosebeis [θεοσεβής]), non-Jewish sympathizers who contributed to (and attended) the synagogue but who had not formally converted.^a (That would have required circumcision.) Inscribed in the margin of Face II with the list of Jews is the name “Samuel, Elder from Perga” (ΣΑΜΟΥΗΛ ΠΡΕΣϐΕΥΤΗΣ ΠΕΡΓΕΟΥΣ). It is not certain what the term Πρεσβευτής (Elder) conveys. It probably refers to some official or officeholder. It could simply mean an old man, but it more likely refers to an office. The most likely possibility, however, is that Samuel 056 057 came to Aphrodisias as an official from Perga. He seems to be a Jewish envoy or representative of Perga to Aphrodisias.

If this is the case, it would indicate a rather large Jewish population at Perga. It is significant that Samuel is listed on Face II, with the Jews, but the fact that his name was placed in the margin suggests that Samuel was not a member of the Aphrodisias community who migrated from Perga but rather was a visitor to the city. That Samuel was inscribed on this pillar at all suggests that he was acting in an official capacity as a representative from Perga for the dedication of the structure. All this indicates there was a significant Jewish population in Perga.

The date of the Aphrodisias inscription is uncertain, but in any case it is several centuries after Paul visited Perga. The scholars who published the Aphrodisias inscription date it somewhat hesitantly to the early third century A.D.³ More recently, it has been dated to Late Antiquity (the fourth or even fifth century). But the likelihood is that the Jewish community of Perga was already there when Paul visited the city.

An inscription found at Sarilar (ancient Choma) 058 50 miles west of Perga in Lycia also provides evidence of Jews at Perga. The inscription, dating to the Hellenistic or early Roman period, mentions one Paeon, the son of “Musaeus of Perga,” who was “supreme in the stone cutter’s art” and who created reliefs. The inscription also mentions a person named Manossas.⁴ Musaeus and Manossas (Moses and Manasseh) are Hellenized Jewish names. The reference to the family’s origin in Perga and Paeon’s involvement with sculpture may indicate that some Jewish artisans migrated the short distance from Perga to Choma.

Jews probably also migrated to other sites farther north up the Kestros River. Most of these towns and villages have never been excavated and very little is known about them from the few surface surveys that have been conducted. A number of chance finds, however, indicate a Jewish presence to the north.

The route from Perga to Pisidian Antioch was an arduous journey over some of the most difficult terrain of the Taurus Mountains. This route would have taken Paul and Barnabas up the Kestros River valley past Pednelissos east of the river. An inscription found at Pednelissos from the time of Trajan (emperor from 98–117 A.D.) refers to Salmon (Σαλμων), the dedicator of an honorific inscription.⁵ Salmon (Solomon) is a Jewish name, and the inscription may suggest a Jewish presence at Pednelissos in this early period. Unfortunately, 059 Pednelissos has never been excavated.

Also on the way from Perga to Antioch is the site of Sia (or Osia). A doorpost found there has a relief carving of a box (perhaps representing a building) containing an individual carrying a staff. Above the relief is another object that is weather-beaten and indistinct. A close look at it, however, indicates it is a menorah. If so, the relief may represent a person in a synagogue. In any event, it is evidence of a Jewish presence.

At Milyas (Melli) northeast of Sia, an inscription was recovered from a well next to a building that may have been a synagogue or a church. The scholar who studied this inscription, Stephen Mitchell, cautiously associates the inscription with a cult site that indulged the monotheism that was increasingly emerging in this area, and the presence of this cult seems to testify to the existence of Jewish or Christian congregations in the area.⁶

Evidence of a Jewish community is suggested even farther north at Sagalassos in the direction of Pisidian Antioch. Recent excavations there led by Marc Waelkens of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven have revealed a city high in the Taurus mountain range richly decorated with temples, fountains, two agoras, a theater, an odeon, a stadium, basilicas, baths and domestic buildings. In a large residential complex, referred to by the excavators as the mansion, a lamp was found dating to the second or third century A.D. with a menorah on the upper side. This may be scant evidence, yet it nonetheless indicates that there was a Jewish presence in Sagalassos during the early Roman period.

Acts indicates that Paul deliberately traveled to cities with Jewish populations. The priority of these Jewish communities was underscored in Luke’s recollection of Paul’s speech at Antioch: “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you [the Jews] first” (Acts 13:46).⁷ After preaching in Pisidian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas traveled southeast to other Jewish communities at Iconium, Lystra and Derbe before retracing their steps back to Perga.

From there it was a short distance to the port at Attalia from which they sailed to the metropolis of Syrian Antioch.

The Jewish community at Perga was probably the reason for Paul’s journey there. As shown by the excavations, Perga was a major city and may well have been Paul’s base for forays to inland Jewish communities before leaving for other places with Jews en route to Pisidian Antioch.

“Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos [in Cyprus] and came to Perga in Pamphylia [in southern Anatolia] …They passed on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia [in central Anatolia].” (Acts 13:13–14) Why Perga? Paul and Barnabas returned to Perga (Greek, Perge) where Paul preached (“spoke the word”) and then “went down to Attalia and from there they sailed to [Syrian] Antioch” (Acts 14:26). These are the only references to Perga in the Acts of the Apostles—or elsewhere in the New Testament, for that matter. To cover the 200 miles from Cyprus to Perga on […]