PERGA

(Perʹga).

A prominent city in the Roman province of Pamphylia. The ruins of ancient Perga are believed to be near the modern village of Murtana, about eight miles (13 kilometers) inland from the S coast of Asia Minor and some five miles (8 kilometers) W of the Cestrus (Ak Su) River. It appears that anciently, according to the Greek geographer Strabo, this river was navigable as far N as Perga. However, nearby Attalia on the coast of Pamphylia seems to have served as Perga’s harbor and, in time, even displaced Perga in importance.—Compare Acts 14:24-26.

It was to this city that the apostle Paul and his associates came early in the course of his first missionary journey. (Acts 13:13) Toward its close they ‘spoke the word in Perga,’ but whether any of the populace accepted Christianity is not known.—Acts 14:24, 25.