Selge Antik Kenti

About Selge Antik Kenti

Selge is an ancient city in Manavgat district, inside the Köprülü Kanyon National Park, and was one of the important cities of Pisidia. The Culture Portal of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism says it is thought to have been founded by Kalkhas. Originally part of Pisidia, the city was later counted within Pamphylia, and it passed in turn under Lydian, Persian, Macedonian (Alexander) and Roman rule. Selge had its golden age in the Roman period, when, according to Strabo, its population at times reached 20,000. This lasted into the Byzantine period, when the people became Christian. In the 13th century AD the city came under Turkish rule and its people turned into a semi-nomadic settlement known as Zerk. What survives today is mostly the city walls and the acropolis. The best-preserved building is the theatre, cut into the rock and restored in the 3rd century AD. South of the theatre are the stadium and gymnasium, to the west an Ionic temple with an eagle motif on its ceiling, and south of the stadium a fountain and the agora. North of the walls that run along the southwest of the city lie the monuments of Artemis and Zeus and the city's necropolis. The Culture Portal says Selge is reached by a 55 km sealed road that leaves the Antalya to Manavgat highway at the Taşağıl junction and follows the Köprüçay river north. The site is looked after by the Side Museum Directorate.