It includes the modern resort town and the ruins of the ancient city of Side, one of the best-known classical sites in the country.

Pseudo-Scylax,[6] Strabo and Arrian[7] record that Side was founded by Greek settlers from Cyme in Aeolis, a region of western Anatolia.

A basalt column base from the 7th century BC found in the excavations and attributable to the Neo-Hittites is evidence of the site's early history.

Possessing a good harbour for small craft, Side's natural geography made it one of the most important trade centres in the region.

The Treaty of Apamea (188 BC) forced Antiochus to abandon all European territories and to cede all of Asia Minor north of the Taurus Mountains to Pergamum.

However, the dominion of Pergamum only reached de facto as far as Perga, leaving Eastern Pamphylia in a state of uncertain freedom.

In the 1st century BC, Side reached a peak when the Cilician pirates established their chief naval base and a centre for their slave-trade.

Its large commercial fleet engaged in acts of piracy, while wealthy merchants paid for such tributes as public works, monuments, and competitions as well as the games and gladiator fights.

Side was the home of Eustathius of Antioch, of the philosopher Troilus, of the fifth-century ecclesiastical writer Philip; of the famous lawyer Tribonian.

The combination of earthquakes, Christian zealots and Arab raids, left the site abandoned by the 10th century, its citizens having emigrated to nearby Attalia.

An inscription found on the site of the former ancient city shows a considerable Jewish population in early Byzantine times.

The well-preserved city walls provide an entrance to the site through the Hellenistic main gate (Megale Pyle) from the 2nd century BC.

The agora includes the remains of the round Tyche and Fortuna temple (2nd century BC), peripteral with twelve columns, in the centre.

This was because the altitude difference between source and city is only 36 m, so to make the gradient as high as possible it was necessary to keep the route as straight and short as possible through the hilly terrain, which entailed more expensive bridges (22 in total) and 16 tunnels 100-2260m long.

[15][16][17] Today, Side has become a popular holiday destination as a result of the expansion of the Antalya coastal project and is experiencing a revival.

The bustling street called Liman Caddesi connects the town bus station with the square on the seafront, where the statue of Atatürk is situated.