Side became a settlement center in the VII century BC. In the VI century BC, it came under the sovereignty of the Lydian Kingdom together with the whole Pamphylia, and after the fall of the Lydian Kingdom in 547/46, it came under the rule of the Persians. The city, which preserved its freedom to some extent during this period, minted coins in its own name. Side, which opened its doors to the Macedonian king without any resistance during the Anatolian campaign of Alexander the Great (334 BC), later became one of the great coin minting centers established by Alexander.

After Alexander's death, Side, which constantly changed hands between the kingdoms of the Hellenistic Period, came under the sovereignty of the Ptolemies in the III century BC and the Seleucids in 215-189 BC.  When the Seleucids were defeated in the war against the Romans, Pamphylia and Side were given to the Kingdom of Pergamon according to the Apameia Peace made in 188 BC. However, Side regained its independence after a while and lived one of the brightest periods in history.

The fact that Antiochus VII, who took the throne of Syria in 138 BC and later received the nickname "Sidetes", was sent to Side to study in his youth is an indication of how important a cultural center the city was in the Eastern Mediterranean. This bright period of the city did not last long. Piracy, which started in Pisidia and mountainous Cilicia regions in the 1st century BC, jumped to Pamphylia and therefore Side, and the Sidelis, who could not cope with the pirates, had to open their ports and markets to them. Finally, after the Roman Consul Publius Servilius cleared the region of pirates in 78 BC, Side was annexed to the Roman Empire like the other cities of Pamphylia.

After 25 BC, Augustus turned the Pamphylia region into a province ruled by an official directly under him. After this date, Side is a city of the province under Rome. Side, which had a bright period in the II. and III. centuries AD, looks like an impoverished Christian city in the IV. century. The city, which experienced its third and last bright time in the V. and VI. centuries, became the capital of the Eastern Pamphylia Metropolitanate. Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos (913-959) refers to the city, which was weakened by Arab raids in the IXth and Xth centuries, as a "nest of pirates" in his work "De Thematibus". The Arab geographer Idrisi (around 1150) calls Side "Burnt Antalya" and states that its people were settled in "New Antalya", two days away.

Side became a settlement center in the VII century BC. In the VI century BC, it came under the sovereignty of the Lydian Kingdom together with the whole Pamphylia, and after the fall of the Lydian Kingdom in 547/46, it came under the rule of the Persians. The city, which preserved its freedom to some extent during this period, minted coins in its own name. Side, which opened its doors to the Macedonian king without any resistance during the Anatolian campaign of Alexander the Great (334 BC), later became one of the great coin minting centers established by Alexander.