Tetradrachm

Side was one of the most commercially active ports on the Pamphylian coast, and its silver tetradrachms circulated widely across the eastern Mediterranean trading networks from the late third century onward. The city maintained a degree of monetary independence unusual for the region, issuing under its own civic authority even as neighboring mints fell under Seleucid or later Attalid influence. Magistrate names appearing on the reverse allow many specimens to be sequenced with reasonable precision within the century-long span of this issue.