Turkey 15: Perge

Perge is another very ancient city important to the Roman empire.  St. Paul settled the first school, or basilica of Christianity here.

The truth is that by this point, all of these ruined cities were beginning to look the same.  However, there are a few special details that I'd like to show you in this one.

This structure is an original standing wall of a bath house.

Like most bath houses, it was located near the entrance of the city.  Notice the sunken floor here.  I believe, this was a bathing pool at one point.

Here we see the details that existed below floor level.  Hot air from fires elsewhere in the building was circulated under this floor, heating the floor and thereby the room.

This is yet another example of the highly sophisticated level of engineering employed by the Romans.  And they built this way everywhere they went.

 But this detail blew me away.  Notice the remaining pieces of the thin layer of marble which once covered the entire limestone substructure.

That thin layer of marble once covered all the walls and floors of the entire bath house.  We have a difficult time working with large sheets of marble that thin even today.  Yet, the ancients not only figured how how to cut thin pieces like this, but they were experts in covering huge surfaces with it as well.  

Here are the remains of what used to be an elaborate fountain that ran along the main street near the baths.

Notice also the seats with looks like a table between them in the lower right above

This was, in fact, a board game.  We can see the inscriptions on the "board" above.

Here we are at the end of the main street.  Water from several aqueducts entered here.  A lying statue of a goddess can be seen under the arch.  Below her, is the remnants of another fountain.

Continue on to Post 16: Aspendos and Antalya, by clicking here.