Side Ancient city

Side, the most important port city of Pamphylia in ancient times, was established on a peninsula with a width of 350-400 meters, located 80 kilometers east of Antalya and 7 kilometers southwest of Manavgat.


Side VII. It has been a settlement in the 16th century. VI BC. In the 16th century, it came under the rule of the Lydian Kingdom with all Pamphylia, and came under the domination of the Persians after the fall of the Lydian Kingdom in 547/46. The city, which protected its freedom to some extent in this period, printed coins for itself. Side, which opened its doors to the king of Macedonia without any resistance during the Anatolian campaign of Alexander the Great (334 BC), later became one of the big coin printing centers established by Alexander. Side, constantly changing hands between the Hellenistic kingdoms after the death of Alexander, III. century, it was under the rule of the Ptolemies first and the Seleucids between 215-189 BC. The city mostly had friendly relations with Antiochus III, provided the support of the Kingdom of Pergamon and Rhodes of the Syrian Kingdom, and was next to the Seleukos with the Side fleet in the war against the Romans. At the end of this war, the Seleucids defeated the Pamphylia and, meanwhile, Side was given to the Kingdom of Bergama, according to the Apameia Peace in 188 BC. However, Side regained its independence after a while and experienced one of the brightest periods in history.

Antiochus VII, who was nicknamed "Sidetes" after he sat on the Syrian throne in 138 BC, was sent to Side to study in his youth, indicating how important the city was in the Eastern Mediterranean. This bright period of the city did not take too long. The piracy that started in Pisidia and mountainous Cilicia in the 1st century BC, jumped to Pamphylia and therefore to Side, and the Sideli who could not cope with the pirates had to open their ports and markets to them. Finally, the Roman Consul Publius Servilius cleared the region from the pirates in 78 BC, Side was connected to the Roman Empire like other cities of Pamphylia. After 25 BC, Augustus turned the Pamphylia region into a state directly led by an officer attached to it. After this date, Side is a city of the province of Rome. MS II. and III. Side, having a bright period in centuries, IV. It looks like a Christian city that got poorer in the 19th century. V. and VI. Having lived its third and last brilliant time in centuries, the city has been the capital of East Pamphylia Metropolitan. IX. The Byzantine emperor Konstantinos Porfirogennetos (913-959) from the city, which was weakened by Arabian raids in the 19th and Xth centuries, mentions it as a "pirates nest" in his work "De Thematibus". The Arab geographer İdrisi (towards 1150) names Side as "Burned Antalya", while his people report that he was resettled in "New Antalya" two days aw

On the ruins of Side Antique City, known as a commercial and port city, XX. Selimiye Village was established by immigrants from Crete in the beginning of the 16th century. Side, founded on a peninsula, stretches along a monumental street starting from the main gate of the city, as in other Pamfilya cities. The main street, starting from the “Big Gate” in the northeast, ends along the peninsula in a straight line outside the curve in front of the Theater and ends with a big square near the temples. The second largest street of the city extends from the “Big Gate” to the south of the city. Both streets have columns, and on both sides, there are columns with Corinthian capitals and a row of shops behind them.