SELGE
(Sirk, or Serük) Pisidia, Turkey.
In the
high valley of Eurimedon, at the W extremity of the
Taurus chain (
Strab. 12.570). Its political boundaries
were: to the W the territory of Sagalassos, to the S that
of Aspendos, and to the E that of Katemna. Very little
is known of its earliest history. It is certain that the city
was settled by Lakedaimonian colonists, and that it was
not subdued by the Persians. Because its independence
was threatened, Selge sided with Alexander against Sagalassos and Termessos when the king rose up against
Phrygia (Arr.
Anab. 1.28.1). Its government, composed
of fierce and tenacious mountaineers (Pol.
Hist. 5.75),
opposed Achaios, the kings of Pergamon, and finally the
Goths (Zos. 5.15).
The ruins of ancient Selge consist of the remains of an
encircling wall and an acropolis (Kesbedion), the structures of the theater, and scanty traces of the stoas, the
agora, the gymnasium, the stadium, and a basilica. Barely recognizable are outlines of two temples. The theater
is the best-preserved building. Rebuilt in the 3d c. A.D.,
it is noted both for its stateliness (diam. 104 m) and
for its striking setting between two hills. Outside the
perimeter of the walls are the remains of an aqueduct
and several chambered tombs, situated to the N and S
of the city.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
C. Lanckoronski,
Städte Pamphyliens
und Pisidien II (1882); B. V. Head,
Historia Numorum
(1911); G. K. Jenkins,
BMQ 18 (1953); L. Robert,
Villes
d'Asie Mineure (2d ed. 1962); G. E. Bean, “Anadolu
Araştirmalari,”
JKF 2 (1965); D. De Bernardi Ferrero,
Teatri classici in Asia Minore (1966); R. Fleischer,
Oest. Jahr 49 (1968-69); A. Machatscher,
Oest. Zeitschr.
f. Kunst u. Denkmalpflege 23 (1969).
N. BONACASA
