Tetradrachm

Side was one of the most commercially active ports on the Pamphylian coast, and its silver tetradrachms circulated well beyond the city's own territory — recovered in hoards as far afield as Syria and Egypt. The city maintained a degree of monetary independence even under Seleucid and later Roman influence, issuing on the Attic weight standard to maximize trade compatibility. Magistrate names appearing in the exergue allow individual issues to be sequenced with reasonable confidence, and Seyrig's classification of this type has held up as the standard reference for more than half a century.