Home»All Photographs»Family Events»Honeymoon 2006»Kurşunlu Waterfall & Perge Ancient Greek city

Perge was an ancient Greek city in Anatolia and the capital of Pamphylia, now in Antalya province on the southwestern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Today it is a large site of ancient ruins 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) east of Antalya on the coastal plain. Located there is an acropolis dating back to the Bronze Age. During the Hellenistic period, Perga was one of the richest and most beautiful cities in the ancient world,[citation needed] famous for its temple of Artemis. It also is notable for being the home of the renowned ancient Greek mathematician Apollonius of Perga. In the twelfth century BC, there was a large wave of Greek migration from northern Anatolia to the Mediterranean coast. Many settled in the area immediately east of the area of modern-day Antalya, which came to be known as Pamphylia, meaning "land of all tribes". Perga itself was founded in around 1000 BC and is nearly 20 km inland. It was sited inland as a defensive measure in order to avoid the pirate bands that terrorized this stretch of the Mediterranean. In 546 BC, the Achaemenid Persians defeated the local powers and gained control of the region. Two hundred years later, in 333 BC, the armies of Alexander the Great arrived in Perga during his war of conquest against the Persians. The citizens of Perga sent out guides to lead his army into the city. Roman rule began in 188 BC, and most of the surviving ruins today date from this period. After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Perga remained inhabited until Seljuk times, before being gradually abandoned. The Kurşunlu Waterfall (Turkish: Kurşunlu Şelalesi) is located 19 km from Antalya, Turkey at the end of a 7 km road branching off to the north of the Antalya-Serik-Alanya highway at a point 12 km from Antalya. It is reduced to a mere trickle in the summer months. The waterfall is on one of the tributaries of the Aksu River and its situation in the midst of a pine forest is of quite exceptional beauty. The countryside around the water forms a lovely picnic and pleasure spot only twenty minutes from the centre of the city of Antalya.