Side (pronounced see-day) was a city on the southern coast of Cilicia (modern-day Turkey) first settled in the 7th century BCE by immigrants from Cyme, an Aeolian municipality to the north near the kingdom of Lydia. Its name means 'pomegranate' in Greek. The first settlers may have been a mixture of Luwians and Hatti and spoke a language (now known as Sidetic) which has not yet been deciphered. Side was Hellenized after the conquest of Cilicia by Alexander the Great (l. 356-323 BCE) and significantly developed by Rome after it became involved in the region c. 103 BCE.
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Definition
Timeline
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c. 600 BCE - c. 500 BCESide founded by immigrants from Cyme to the north.
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333 BCESide taken without contest by Alexander the Great.
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c. 305 BCE - c. 200 BCESide controlled by Ptolemaic Dynasty.
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c. 200 BCE - c. 188 BCESide held by Seleucid Empire.
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188 BCE - c. 476 CESide held by Roman Republic and Roman Empire.
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476 CE - c. 700 CESide held by Byzantine Empire.
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c. 700 CESide sacked and burned by Arab Fleet during Muslim Conquest of Cilicia.
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c. 965 CE - c. 1000 CESide abandoned; citizens move to nearby Attalia.
