PERGA (mod. Murtana)  , an ancient city of Pamphylia, situated about 8 m. inland, at the junction of a small stream (Sari Su) with the Cestrus . It was a centre of native influences as contrasted with the Greek, which were predominant in Attalia, and it was a great seat of the worship of " Queen " Artemis, here represented as a human-headed cone and a purely Anatolian nature goddess . There Paul and Barnabas began their first mission in Asia Minor (Acts ix . 13) . A much frequented route into Phrygia and the Maeander valley began at Perga, and Alexander made it the starting-point of his invasion of inner Asia Minor . Long the metropolis of Pamphylia Secunda, it was superseded in Byzantine times by its port, Attalia, which became a metropolis in Io84 . The extensive ruins all lie in the plain south of the Acropolis . The walls are well preserved, but of late Roman or Byzantine reconstruction . The lines of intersecting streets can be easily made out, and there are ruins of two sets of baths, two basilicas and a forum . But the most notable monument is the theatre, which lies outside the walls on the south-west, near the stadium . This is as perfect as those of Myra and Patara, but larger than either, and yields the palm only to those of Aspendus and Side . Modern Murtana is a large village, long under the dominion of the Dere Beys of the Tekke Oglu family .

See C . Lanckoronski, Villes de la Pamphylie et de la Pisidie, vol. i . (189o);

Sir W . M . Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire (1893) . (D . G .