Selge, Pisidia

37.22944444444431.1272222222221000Koordinaten: 37 ° 14 ' N, 31 ° 8' O

Selge (Greek Σέλγη ) was an ancient city in Asia Minor landscape Pisidia during today's Altınkayaköy (formerly Zerk ) (Turkey ). He was 56 km northwest of Side to approximately 1000 m. ü. M. in the upper valley of the Eurymedon (now Köprüçay ) at the western end of the Taurus Mountains.

History

According to tradition Selge to have been founded after the Trojan War by the seer Calchas and colonized by Greeks from Sparta. On coins of the place can be traced back to the 5th century BC. Economic basis was the cultivation of vines and olives on the surrounding fertile plateau. Politically existed at Aspendos good relations, otherwise the city was warlike aligned against their neighbors. When Alexander the Great marched through Asia Minor, the city allied with him, unsuccessfully, to lay siege to the nearby city of Termessos. Polybius describes a war between Selge and Pednelissos 220 BC, in the Pednellissos Achaeus, the governor of Side, called for help. 25 BC Selge lost independence and was incorporated into the Roman province of Galatia. According to Strabo, the city should have at that time had about 20,000 inhabitants. His greatest flowering reached Selge the time of the Roman Empire. In the year 339, there was an unsuccessful siege by the Goths. In Byzantine times Selge was a bishopric. The city was later abandoned in the Seljuk era.

Archeology

There the remains of the city walls, a theater, a stadium, the Agora with colonnades, a gymnasium and a basilica are preserved. The theater was built in the 3rd century AD new. Outside the walls lay an aqueduct and some tombs.

Environment

Selge is within the Koprulu Kanyon National Park. About midway on the coast road to Selge, approximately follows the Eurymedon, the road crosses it. Above a Roman stone arch bridge in about 30 m height