Side
Side is an ancient city located in Pamphylia, southern Asia Minor, near the mouth of the river Melas. Historically founded around 1405 BC, it is said to have been established by Greek settlers from Cyme. Over the centuries, Side evolved into a prominent city, experiencing significant control shifts among various powers, including Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies, and the Seleucids. Despite facing challenges like piracy and competition from neighboring cities, Side thrived during the second and early third centuries AD, becoming the capital of the province of Pamphylia and a center of civic life, with a rich array of festivals reflected in its coinage.
The city's archaeological remnants include impressive structures such as a massive theater, one of the largest in the Greco-Roman world, and monumental temples dedicated to the deities Apollo and Athena-Roma. Other significant features include a gymnasium, a nymphaeum, and a late imperial bathhouse fed by a long aqueduct. A Christian basilica was also constructed by the end of the fifth century, showcasing the city’s evolving religious landscape. Overall, Side's rich history and architectural heritage highlight its importance within the region throughout antiquity.
Subject Terms
Side
(Selimiye or Eski Antalya)
A city in Pamphylia (southern Asia Minor), on the river Melas (Manavgat) five miles from its mouth, situated on a narrow promontory terminating in an almost wholly artificial harbor (now silted up).
Eusebius (cAD 260–240) attributed the foundation of Side to 1405 BC; its claim to Greek origins was put forward in the fourth century Periplus (Round Trip) of Pseudo-Scylax. According to Strabo and Arrian, the first Greek settlers came from Cyme (Namurt Limanı) in Aeolis (western Asia Minor). This may have occurred some time before 600, but the authenticity of the tradition is doubtful. Arrian adds, quoting the Sidetans themselves, that they forgot their Greek speech and spoke an alien tongue (not resembling their native neighbors' speech), which was presumably the language of the pre-Greek inhabitants and can be seen—though not yet deciphered—on coins issued from c 500 with a punning type of a pomegranate (side), as well as a few local inscriptions.
Although problems of entering and dredging made the phrase `a harbor of Side’ a proverbial expression of difficulty, the place became the most important city in Pamphylia. It was occupied in 333 by Alexander the Great. After his death it passed successively under the control of Antigonus I Monophthalmos, the Ptolemies (301–218) and the Seleucids, whose naval commander the famous exiled Carthaginian Hannibal, employed by Antiochus III the Great, suffered a naval defeat offshore at the hands of the Rhodians (190). But bad relations with neighboring Aspendus (Belkis) were debilitating; moreover, Side was eclipsed by the foundation of Attaleia (Antalya), and pirates used its port as a principal dockyard and slave market, until their suppression by Pompey the Great in 67.
The city seems to have remained autonomous within the Roman provinces of Cilicia, and then Galatia (a client kingdom whose monarch Amyntas issued coins at the local mint), and subsequently Lycia-Pamphylia. In the second and early third centuries AD it enjoyed a second period of considerable prosperity. While stressing heartfelt loyalty to Rome, the local coinage also celebrated a remarkable variety of civic festivals, and—despite irruptions by Scythians and Isaurians (268/270)—issues continued up to the time of Aurelian (270–75). During the later empire Side became the capital of the province of Pamphylia and then, in the fifth century, of Pamphylia Secunda. It was also the seat of a bishopric.
Parts of the city wall date from the second century BC, but its subsequent course reflects a shrinking of perimeter amid the perils of the later third century AD. At the center of the Agora, of which only the foundations remain, stood a round building of the second century AD, probably a temple of Tyche (Fortune). The theater of about the same period, replacing a Hellenistic building, is one of the largest known in the Greco-Roman world, accommodating 13,000 spectators; it was built on large arches and adorned with lavish decorations. An adjacent complex of buildings of considerable size, comprising a peristyle court and three large halls (which have yielded a large series of statues) has been identified as a gymnasium; but it may have been a second agora instead. A monumental nymphaeum (fountain-house) comprised three semicircular half-domed niches. An extensive late imperial bathhouse was fed by a second-century aqueduct twenty miles long.
Two sanctuaries standing side by side on a platform overlooking the harbor were probably dedicated to Apollo and Athena-Roma, the principal deities of the city. Both of these buildings appear on local coinage of imperial date, the temple of Apollo being shown in association with two temples of the imperial cult (Trebonianus Gallus, 251–53). Other issues show models of the shrines of Apollo and Athena-Roma held in the hand of Tyche, whereas a piece issued in the name of Salonina, the wife of Gallienus (253–68), illustrates a temple of Tyche, with an arched lintel and conical roof crowned by a pomegranate. Other coins of the same period display the arcaded harbor and a crenellated gate of the town. Beside the harbor, a large, three-aisled Christian basilica was erected before or after 500.