Apollo was one of the main gods of the city of Side. Thirty-two 8.9 meter high columns of white marble with Corinthian capitals surrounded the Naos of the Temple of Apollo. Architraves decorated with Medusa heads rested on the columns. Triglyphs (three grooves) can be seen between them. On the entrance front of the temple facing the sea there are various ornaments with plant motifs next to the heads of the Medusa.
In Byzantine times, a basilica measuring 50 x 50 metres was built in the north of the two temples. The temple of Apollo and the temple of Athena next door were demolished and the area transformed into the atrium of the basilica. The five visible columns with their beams, which today form the landmark of Side, were reconstructed in the 1980s.

Apollo is in Greek and Roman mythology the god of light, healing, spring, moral purity and moderation, as well as prophecy and the arts, especially music, poetry and singing; he was also the god of healing and the god of archery. Born in Didyma, the son of Zeus, the father of the gods, and Leto, the goddess (Latin: Latona), like his first-born twin sister Artemis (Latin: Diana), he belonged to the Olympic gods, the twelve main gods of the Greek pantheon. The sanctuary in Delphi, the most important oracle site of antiquity, was consecrated to him.