The City of Side was an ancient city of Pamphylia about 16km from Seleucia. It sits in the Province of Antalya in Turkey. The city was discovered in the 7th century BC by settlers from Cyme in Aeolia which was an ancient district in Asia Minor. The town has a great harbor for small sized boats. Its natural geography made it one of the most important places in Pamphylia. Because of the location back in the day made Side of the best trade centers.
Alexander the Great actually occupied Side without any struggle in 333 BC. He left a single garrison to occupy the city. The occupation introduced people of Side to the Hellenistic Civilization which grew from the 4th century to the first century BC. After the death of Alexander the Great, Side was under the control of Alexander’s Generals Ptolemy who decided himself to be the king of Egypt in 305 BC. During his reign Side was controlled by Ptolemy until it was captured by the Seleucid Empire in the second century BC.
In 190 BC an army fleet from the Greek Island of Rhodes which was supported by Rome and Pergamum had defeated the Seleucid King Antiochus the Great’s Fleet under the command of the General Hannibal. After Hannibal and Antiochus’s defeat the people of Side freed themselves and began their own civilization. The people of Side in the firs century BC the Cilician pirates set up their chief naval base and a slave center in the middle of the town.
The great ruins of the city are the most distinguished in Asia Minor. They have a large area where a wall and a mote separate itself from the mainland. In Medieval times, the wall and mote were fixed and a house with wealth was built. The colossal ruins of a theater complex that was built very similar to the amphitheater that counts on arches to support the structure. The theater is not preserved as well as the Asoendos Theater but it is rather large it can hold about 15,000 people. With the earth’s movement the scena wall has collapsed over the stage and the proscenium has a cataract of loose blocks.
The city walls are persevered and it does allow an entrance to the site through the main gate of the ancient city but the gate is very damaged. All that stands is a few broken stubs located near the old Roman baths. The street leads to a public bath that has been restored into a museum displaying Roman statutes.
There is not much left from what used to exist but the left over ruins of Side still have three temples, an aqueduct and a nymphanaeum . This has a grotto with a natural water supply that is dedicated to the nymphs was a fake grotto or fountain building of a very elaborate creation. There have been many Turkish archeological renovations that have been taking place in 1947 and every once in a while continue to do that.
