Perga

Perga was the inland capital of Pamphylia, a Roman province on the southern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), about 12 km from its Mediterranean port of Attalia. On his first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas sailed from Cyprus and landed at Perga — and it was here that John Mark, Barnabas's young cousin, abruptly turned back and went home to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). Paul never forgot the abandonment; years later he refused to take Mark on the second journey, and Paul and Barnabas split over it (Acts 15:36-39). Paul and Barnabas pressed on inland from Perga through the rough highlands to Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. On the return leg they came back through Pisidian Antioch and finally "spoke the word in Perga" before continuing down to Attalia and sailing back to Antioch in Syria (Acts 14:25). The site at modern Perge in southern Turkey preserves one of the most complete Roman cities in Anatolia.