Side Hotels

Sideis one of the best-known classical sites in Turkey. It is now a resort town on the southern coast of Turkey, near the villages of Manavgat and Selimiye, 75 km from Antalya) in the province of Antalya. It is located on the eastern part of the Pamphylian coast, which lies about 20 km east of the mouth of the Eurymedon River. Today, as in antiquity, the ancient city is situated on a small north-south peninsula about 1 km long and 400 m across.
Strabo and Arrian both record that Side was settled from Cyme in Aeolis, a region of western Anatolia. Most probably, this colonization occurred in the seventh century B.C. Possessing a good harbor for small-craft boats, Side's natural geography made it one of the most important places in Pamphylia and one of the most important trade centers in the region. According to Arrian, when settlers from Cyme came to Side, they could not understand the dialect. After a short while, the influence of this indigenous tongue was so great that the newcomers forgot their native Greek and started using the language of Side. Excavations have revealed several inscriptions written in this language. The inscriptions, dating from the third and second centuries B.C., remain undeciphered, but testify that the local language was still in use several centuries after colonization. Another object found in the excavations at Side, a basalt column base from the seventh century B.C. and attributable to the Neo-Hittites, provides further evidence of the site's early history. The name Side is Anatolian in origin and means pomegranate.