PAMPHYLIA AND PISIDIA

Side: Agora with Thealer in Ihe Backgrımtut
Both Slrabo and Arrian write that Side was founded by settlers from Cyme on thc Aeolian coast of Asia Minör, a colony that his-lorians datc to Ihe seventh or sixth century B.c. Arrian vvrites of Side in his account of Alcxander's moves immediatcly after the initial surrender of Aspendııs:
The next objective was Side, a lown whose people came originally from Cyme in Aeolia. Thcre is a iradiıion among them that wlıen the (îısl settlers from Cyme sailed thither and landed From thcir ships to find a new home, they promptly forgot their native Grcck and began to talk in a foreign tongue—not the language spoken by the people of those parts, but in an enlirely ncw dialect of thcir own; and from then on the men of Side had remained foreigners, distinet in speceh, as in everything else, from their ncighbors.
This strange and as yet undeciphered language vvas apparently uniquc to Side, appcaring on coins of the city as carly as ca. 500 B.C. and in three inseriptions of the third century B.C.—tvvo of them accompanied by a Grcck text. üeorgc Bean holds that this must have been the language of the indigenous Pamphylian people \vho vvere living here \vhen the Cymeans fırst arrived.

The colony must have been a vveak onc, Bean suggests, if the Aeolian settlers were unable to impose thcir Greck language in the ne\v colony, bul \vere forced to adopt the local speech.Thcre is no evidence of Greek being used at Side before the city sur-rendered to Alexander in 333 B.C. The fırst Greek inseriptions on stone at Side date from ca. 300 B.C, and on coins from the second century B.C, by vvhich time Greek had long been the officia! language throughout Asia Minör, the old Anatolian tongucs having vanished.
Aftcr its surrender to Alexander, the history of Side is much the same as that of the other Pamphylian cities. it vvas held fırst by the Ptolemies and then by the Seleucids, vvhom the citizens of Side supported in a \var againsl Rhodes iri 190 B.C Al that time a naval battle vvas fought off Side betvvecn the Rhodian navy and the fleet of the Scleucid king Antiochus III, vvhose forces vvere led by Hannibal.Thc battle ended in an indecisive victory for the Rhodians, vvho vvere in alliance vvith Rome. A fevv months later the Romans and their Pergamene allics deci-sively defeated Antiochus near Magnesia ad Sipylum, ending the Seleucid dominion in Asia Minör.
Side remained free from both Pcrgamum and Rome, and though it became part of the Roman province of Asia in 129 B.c, it remained in effect an autonomous city, free to engage in the piracy and slave trade that had by then become thc principal sources of income for the ports in Pamphylia and Cilicia. As Strabo vvrites in book VI of his Geography: "in Side a city in Pamphylia, the dockyards stood öpen to Cilicians, vvho vvould seli thcir captives at auction there, though admitting that these vvere freemen." The people of Side thus had a bad rcputation among thc Grecks of their time, as George Bean notes in Turkey's Southern Slıore:
The citizens' reputation was perhaps not of ıhe best. if there is any signifi-cance in a story told of thc well-known harper Stratonicus. whosc qtıips


vvere famous. When asked vvho vvere the most rascally of mankind, hc is said to have replied, 'in Pamphylia the men of Phaselis, in the \vhole vvorld the men of Side.'
The fortunes of Side declined in ıhe lale Roman era vvhen the city came under attack by both Scythian corsairs from the Black Sea and vvild Isaurian tribesmen from the Taurus mountains. Conditions improved in the fifth and sixth centuries, vvhen the damage of the earlier incursions vvas repaired and the popula-lion of the city increased to vvhat it had been in antiquity. Side survived the Arab invasions of the seventh and eighth centuries only by building a nevv defense vvall across the middle of the city, diminishing its area by one-rtalf. Thenceforth the city declined inexorably, and it vvas abandoned altogether in the tenth century after a great fire destroyed many of its buildings, its inhabitants moving to Altaleia.
Side remained utterly deserted for almost a thousand years, and sand from the beach drifted över the ruined city, almost burying it in huge dunes. At the beginning of the tvventieth cen¬tury Greek-speaking Turkish refugees from Crete vvere resettled in Side, building their vvooden houses amidst the half-buried ruins of the ancient city, the men supporting their families prin-cipally by flshing. Their descendants continue to live in Side, bul fevv of the men are stili fishermen, for the village is novv almost entirely devoted to tourism, vvith hordes of foreigners and Turks attracted by the beautiful beach that stretches off for miles eastvvard along the coast of Pamphylia.
Side is stili partially ringed by its ancient defense vvalls, vvhich sealed off the peninsula on vvhich the city vvas founded and extended around its seavvard sides as vvell. The land vvalls survive mostly on Ihe northern side, those to the south having becn largely buried in the sand, vvhile the sea vvalls have virtu-ally disappcared. These exceptionally vvell-built vvalls, vvhich probably date from the second century B.c.,are among the finest examples of Hellenistic fortifications extant in Turkey. The modern road brings us to the main gatevvay in these vvalls, vvith the outer portal flanked by tvvo massive defense tovvers. Just outside the gatevvay there is a nymphaeum dating from the sec¬ond century A.D., stili standing to half of its original heighl. it had a three-storied facade—little remains of the upper Ivvo sto-ries—vvith projecting vvings framing a large vvater basin. The surviving bottom story contains three niches, each vvith three vvater spouts. The nymphaeum vvas revetted vvith marble and adorned vviıh statues and reliefs, some of the latter stili to be seen among the architectural fragments lying in front of the fountain.
We pass through the outer gate into an outer court of rectan-gular plan, and from there through another gate into a semicir-cular inner courtyard.The inner court vvas revetted vvith marble slabs in vvhich there vvere seven niches conlaining statues, some of vvhich are novv in the Side museum. At the far end of the courtyard vve pass through the inner gate to enter the city.
The remains of a colonnaded slreet lead straight ahead from the main gate to the entryvvay of the inner city.This street divided Side into tvvo of its four quarters, the other tvvo being in the inner city. The area to the right of the street vvas knovvn as the Quarter of the Great Gate, and that to the left vvas the Quarter of the Great Guild. The latter quarter vvas bisected by another colonnaded street that headed left from the main gate at an angle of forty-five degrees.
We begin our exploration of Side by vvalking along the street to the left, nûvv heavily overgrovvn. About 200 meters along this street vve come on our left to the remains of a fifth-century basil-ican church and a building identified as the episcopal palace, the seat of the bishop of Side in Byzantine times. The basilica had a central nave flanked by side aisles, vvith a large baptistery to the left of the apse. The church vvas connected to the palace on its southeast sicje by a building believed to be a martyrion, the tomb and shrine of a Christian martyr. Some vvalls of the palace


are stili standing, including those of a small private chapel vvith three ro\vs of seats in the apse.
A path leads from the basilica to the southcast gatc of the outer defense walls, vvhich dates from the Hellenistie period. Archaeologists have cleared a fine mosaic pavement dating from the early Byzantine period, as vvell as a number of interesting reliefs of armor and vveapons, now exhibited in the museum.
We novv follovv the street that leads straight ahead from the main gate to the city center, a distance of some 400 meters. As vve approach the center vve see the agora and the theatcr to the left, the gate to the inner city straight ahead, and a Roman bath on the right.
The bath, which dates from the fifth century A.D., has been superbly restored and novv houses the Side museum. The exhibits in the museum are mostly anlicjiıities unearthed in Side in the years 1947-67 by Professor Arif Müfit Mansel and sub-sequently by Prof essor Jale İnan, their finds including some of the finest Roman statuary in Asia Minör. To the left of the museum entrance vve see the remains of a nymphaeum consisting of three basins vvith statues betucen them. A head of Hermes from one of these statues is novv in the museum.
The propylon of the agora \vas direetiy aeross the street from the bath. it led into a vast market squarc, 94 by 91 meters, sur-rounded on ali four sides by Corinthian stoas dating from the second century A.D. A number of the columns that slood in the north sloa have been reerected.along vvith their capilals. Bchind the stoas there vvere shops, some of vvhich opened on to the mar¬ket square and others to the street outside, as vvell as four that could be entered from ıhe theater. The remains of a number of these shops can stili be seen, as vvell as those of a large and vvell-constructed public latrine in the vvest corner of the square.
The round strueture in the center of the square has been iden-tified as the foundation of a shrine dedicated to Tyche, the god-dess of fortune, dated to the second century A.D. İl originally



ısisted of a cylindrical ehamber surrounded by a circlet of velve Corinthian columns, surmounted by a roof in the shape of a tvvelve-sided pyramid. The ceiling of the temple vvas a dome decorated vvith reliefs representing the tvvelve signs of the zodiac and other figures. The first Western traveler to report on *his temple vvas Captain Francis Beaufort, vvho in the years 1811-12 mapped the southern coast of Turkey for the British Admiralty in HMS Frederikssteen, later vvriting of his discov-eries in Karamama. Beaufort vvrites that in the Temple of Tyche he savv three blocks of the ceiling vvith reliefs representing Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer, follovved by the fig¬ures of a svvan and a naked youth, but ali of these have novv dis-appeared.

Thealer al Side, wilh Axoru and Roınan Balh in ıhe Baıkçround
During the seventh or eighth century A.D. the people of Side vviıhdrevv to the inner city for defense against the onslaughts of the Arabs, although in times of peace they stili continued to use the public buildings in the outer city. The Byzantine defense vvall ineluded ıhe theater in its üne of fortifications, extending


from the south side of its cavea to another great colonnaded square near the shore. The latter square has been identified as the state agora, an arca measuring somc 90 by 70 meters, sur-rounded on ali four sides by Ionic stoas vvith walkways 7 meters in vvidth. On its eastern side are the remains of a complex of three large chambers; the tvvo on the sides possibly served as a library and archives, \vhile the central one vvas probably reserved for the emperor. Several of the statues that önce adorned this room are now in the museum; one remains in place, a headless figüre of Nemesis, the goddess of divine retri-bution, vvhich stands in a niche in the southeast corner.

Gıttewuy to the inner City ut Side
1 lıe theater is by far the most impressive monument in Side, a particularly striking sight vvhen vievved against the background of the sand dunes that have half-buried the ruins of the ancient city on its southern side. it vvas constructed in the second century A.D. and is thus Roman in design. But the arehiteet retained one dis-tinctly Greek feature; he extended the are of the cavea beyond a circle by thirty degrees on either side of the diameter.

Consequently the vaulted passage\vays of the paradoi make the same angle \vilh the proscenium as in a Greek theater. The cavea has a single diazoma, vvith twenty-nine rovvs of seats belovv and tvventy-tvvo above, vvith stairvvays dividing the lovver zone into eleven cunei and the upper into tvventy-four. The upper part of the cavea is carried on a huge free-standing tvvo-storied strueture that vvas originally some 16 meters high, stili standing to a height of 14 meters.The ground floor consists of a vaulted semi-circular corridor supported on massive piers separated by vvide vaulted openings, some of vvhich lead to an inner courtyard and others to enelosed chambers that may have been shops or store-rooms. Additional openings lead from the inner corridor to the diazoma, from vvhere the speetators going to the lovver tiers descended to their seats via öpen stairvvays, vvhile those going to the upper seats used narrovv interior stair\\ ells buiiı into the thîck vvalls dividing the enelosed chambers deseribed above. During the late Roman period a vvall vvas constructed in front of the orehestra to protect speetators during gladiatorial combats and speetacles involving vvild animals. Inscriptions and faded fres-coes reveal that the theater vvas converted into an open-air church in the fifth or sixth century, vvith a pair of small chapels created at the tvvo corners of the auditorium.
The stage building must have been splendidly adorned, as evidenced by the architectural and sculptural fragments and reliefs that have tumbled into the orehestra and are novv arrayed around the theater. The building vvas in three stories rising to a height of more than 20 meters, approximately the height of the auditorium.The bottom story vvas aboul 3 meters high, projeetr ing fonvard some 6 meters to form the proscenium that vvas used as a stage. Above this rose the tvvo stories of the facade, sumptuously decorated vvith columns, niches, statues and reliefs. At the foot of this facade, to the rear of the stage, there is a long frieze representing mythological scenes, stili in place but badly damaged. There vvere nine rooms in the bottom story


from vvhich five passageways Icd out to the agora; when the Byzantine fortification vvall vvas built ıhe stage building became part of its strueture and these passages \vere blocked up.
Just to the north of the theater the road passes under a monu-mental Roman archway. When the Byzantine fortification vvall vvas built this arehvvay vvas also ineluded in its strueture, becom-ing the entrance to the inner city, bricked up except for a small gate surmounted by an areh. The arehvvay vvas önce surmounted by an arehitrave and attic, on top of vvhich therc vvas probably a sculpture of a four-horse chariot, for an inseriplion rccords llıal the area inside the gate vvas knovvn as the quarter of the Quadriga.
Outside the gate and to the left there is an clegant little foun¬tain, consisting of tvvo vvater basins in front of an arehed niche, flanked by projeeting vvings supported by pairs of columns. it is believcd that this monument originally stood clsevvhere in the city, and that it vvas moved to its present location and converted into a fountain vvhen the Byzantine fortification vvall vvas built. The fountain bears an inseription recording that it vvas ereeted in A.D. 74 in honor of Vespasian, vvhose statue stood in the cen-tral niche.
Just inside the gate and on the left are the scant remains of a limestone temple vvhose basc measured 17.5 by 7.25 meters. This vvas a pseudo-dipteral temple vvith four Corinthian columns of red granite in its pronaos, approached by steps on its north side. it vvas ereeted in ıhe Hellenisüc period and restored in the Roman imperial era. The proximity of the temple to the theater suggests that it vvas dedicated to Dionysus.
Another colonnaded street began just inside the inner gate and extcnded diagonally southvvestvvard to the tip of the penin-sula. This is novv the main street of the village of Side, vvith another street branehing off to the right halfvvay along leading to the main square.


Continuing along the main street, vve pass on our right the unexcavated remains of a large Roman bath. We then come to the end of the peninsula, vvhere on the shorc to the left vve sce the remains of a Byzantine fountain, as vvell as those of a small semicircular building raised on a base some tvvo meters high, approached by a flight of steps on the vvest side. The latter has been identified as a temple dedicated to ıhe Anatolian deity Men.
Temple ofApollo al Şule
The remains of three other struetures stand on Ihe shore to the right of the road, vvhich ends here on the promontory that formed the southern arm of the ancient harbor, novv silted up. The strueture nearest the road is a large fiflh-century Byzantine basilica. The central area of the nave vvas separated from the side aisles by tvvo colonnades formed by columns taken from Roman buildings.The nave ended in an apse vvith a synthronon approached by six marble steps, vvith small chapels at the ends of the aisles. A martyrion vvas later added to the south side and a small church vvas ereeted in the middle of the nave, probably after the original basilica had been destroyed.


The other t\vo structures are just beyond the basilica. The one to the north is somevvhat larger, but thcy are othervvise identical. They are both Corinthian hexastyle peripteral temples of the sec-ond century A.D., vvith six columns on the ends and eleven on the sides, six columns in antis in the pronaos, and no opisthodomos. Part of a frieze of Gorgon heads has survived from the southern templc. The temple on the south vvas dedicated to Apollo and the other to Artemis. Some of the columns of the templc of Apollo have been reerected, making it a most romantic sight, particu-larly \vhen these sand-swept ruins on the Mediterranean shore are silhouetted againsl a Pamphylian sunset.
Therc is another monument on the shore about 400 meters to the \vest of the ancicnt city. This is a large and richly decorated mausoleum in the form of a temple, raised on a portico and sur-rounded by a courtyard, stili standing almost to its full height vvith Uvo arches. The tomb has been dated to ca. A.D. 300, but there is no evidence to identify it further.
We novv make our vvay back to Highvvay 400, \vhere vve turn right and resume our drivc eastvvard. Some four kilometers beyond the Side turnoff vve cross the Manavgat Çayı, the river Melas of antiquity, vvhereupon vve come to the village of Manavgat. Manavgat is famous for its trout, and so vve might pause here for lunch at one of the fish restaurants on the river. We can then make an excursion upstream to see the şelale (vvaterfalls) of Manavgat.
We novv continue upstream for another nine kilometers on a road signposled for ancient Seleucia, vvhich is near the village of Bucakşehlcr at the road's end.
According to Arrian, Seleucus I Nicator (r. 321-280 B.C.) founded nine cities that he named Seleucia after himself. This one vvas named Seleucia in Pamphylia to distinguish it from the others. it alvvays remained a very minör city, seldom mentioned in the ancient sources, and it is completely ignored by Strabo.

The site of the ancient city is on a precipitous hill accessible only from the south along a narrovv col, originaiiy protected by a vvall vvith a gate. Just inside the site of the gate to the Ieft vve see a spring shaded by fig trees, its clear, cold vvater issuing from vvithin a cave. The remains of ancient masonry indicate that the cave vvas used as a fountain house. A short vvay above the spring there is a large building stili standing to a height of some 9 meters, a landmark visible far to the south.The building comprises five rooms arrayed side by side; it vvas evidently a Roman bath, as evidenced by the round holes for vvater pipes in
its vvalls.
The center of the ancient city is eastvvard at the foot of the hill. Here vve come to the agora, a rectangular area measuring about 45 by 37 meters. The central area of the agora is a colon-naded square measuring some 30 by 25 meters, vvith four columns on the north side stili standing in part. There is a rough staircase at the northern end of the east colonnade, but in the present ruined state of the agora it is not clear why it vvas built.
The agora is surrounded by buildings in a remarkably good state of preservation. The most notable of these is the tvvo-sto-ried market hail that takes up the east side of the square, vvith much of the front vvall of the upper story stili standing vvith its large rectangular vvindovvs. The lovver floor contains a rovv of eight compartments, of vvhich the first and fourth from the north have arched doorvvays and the others lintels. The arched door-vvays gave access to stairvvays leading to the upper floor, vvhile the others led to shops. Adjoining the market hail on the south is a semicircular building, some 23 meters in diameter, appar-ently a later addition. The function of the building is unknovvn, though it may vvell have been an odeion that also served as the bouleuterion. The rough vvall along its diameter and beam holes in the front vvall indicate that it vvas subsequently subdivided into shops on the side facing the square. The building has five doors on that side; över the second from the south there is an inscription recording that it vvas built by a certain Nectarius.



At the middle of the agora's north side there is a vaulted pas-sagevvay now blocked at its far end.This is flanked on its east side by a building made of handsome masonry, \vhile the structure that formerly stood on the vvest side of the passage has been destroyed.
The ground level on the \vest side of the square vvas iovver, so that side of the agora had a basement story.This structure is vvell preserved, vvith shallovv arched recesses on either side, along vvith a small building at the northvvest corner w i ıh handsome cushioned masonry. The ground slopes avvay steeply at the southvvest corner of the agora, and the retaining vvall is stili standing there to a height of 15 meters, its İovver part of bossed masonry.
A short \vay to the north of the market hail there is a vvell-pre-served temple, the cella completely intacı except for its roof. The temple apparently had four columns along its front, but these have disappeared. The necropolis is near the \vestern edgc of the acropolis. The tombs are mostly built of masonry rather than rock-hevvn, \vith one notable group containing twclve mon-uments in tvvo ro\vs of six each, some of them reasonably vvell preserved.
We return önce again to Highvvay 400 and continue driving eastvvard. Önce past Manavgat the highvvay runs along close to the shore, passing a succession of long sandy beaches and little coves, vvith the massed peaks of the Taurus looming to the north över the lush coastal plain.
About tvvelve kilometers beyond Manavgat vvc pass a turnoff on the lefl to Highvvay 695, vvhich leads north through the mountains to Beyşehir and Konya. Some seventeen kilometers farther along vvc turn left on a secondary road signposted for Alarahan, a drive of around nine kilometers.
Alarahan is a vvell-prcserved Seljuk caravanserai vvith crencl-Iated vvalls, its overall dimensions 51 by 39 meters. An inserip-tion over the enlryvvay records thal the caravanserai vvas built in 1229-30 by Alaettin Keykubat I. The door leads into a long

Alarahan: Acropolis Framed in the Arch of the Curavanserai


ridor vvith seven rooms öpening off on either side, the ones on the left giving access to larger chambers behind. Behind the rooms on the right are the stables, vvhich vvere approached by a separate entryvvay on the right side of the front facade. One of the rooms inside the main door served as a mescit (small mosque), vvhile the other vvas the living quarters of the porter. The rooms at the far end included the kitchen, dining hali, hamam, and toilets.
The caravanserai stands beneath a hill in a beautiful river val-ley near the remains of a Seljuk bridge. At the head of the val-ley vve see a steep-sided conical hill ringed around vvith the vvalls of a thirteenth-century Seljuk fortress knovvn as Alarakale. We approach the castle by vvalking to the end of the road, from vvhere \ve cross a number of vegetable gardens to a path along the bank of the river. This brings us to a lo\v-roofed tunnel that leads up to the outer courtyard of the fortress. From there rock-hevvn steps ascend to a second court and then to the citadel on the summit, vvhere there are the remains of a residential quarter along vvith a mosque and a hamam used by the garrison. The vievv from the summit is superb, stretching ali the vvay back dovvn the valley tovvard the sea.
We return to Highvvay 400 and continue driving eastvvard. About fıfteen kilometers beyond the Alarahan turnoff vve pass on both sides of the road the ruins of an unidentifıed ancient city.
Next vve see on our left another Seljuk caravanserai, the Şarapsa Hanı.This is a long and narrovv building measuring70 by 15 meters, vvith its entrance in the middle of one of the long sides. An inscrip-tion över the entryvvay records that the caravanserai vvas built by Sultan Gıyasettin Keyhüsrev II. The caravanserai comprises nine vaulted bays, vvhose interior divisions are extended as buttresses on the outside of the building, vvith slitted vvindovvs in each compart-ment and a chimncy in the ccnter of every other bay. There is also a mescit at the east end of the building.


Soon after passing the Şarapsa Hanı vve come vvithin vievv of Alanya, one of the grandest sights along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, vvith the crenellated vvalls of its rose pink Seljuk fortress crovvning the great peninsular rock above the sea. This spectacular landmark, knovvn in antiquity as Kalonoros, marked the boundary betvveen Pamphylia and Cilicia, vvhere this second itinerary comes to an end.