2/5 Mr. Victorious Jaffar W. 8 months ago on Google • 93 reviews
Didyma
history
Hidden
among
rolling
hills
only
a
few
miles
from
the
scenic
coast
of
southeastern
Turkey,
the
ancient
site
of
Didyma
is
famous
from
legendary
times.
Here
was
a
natural
spring
where
the
beautiful
Leto
is
supposed
to
have
spent
an
hour
of
love
with
Zeus,
then
giving
birth
to
the
twins
Artemis
and
Apollo
(didymoi
in
Greek).
The
most
important
oracle
site
in
Asia
Minor,
its
pronouncements
to
Croesus,
Alexander
the
Great
and
other
great
kings
altered
the
course
of
human
history.
Didyma
was
originally
a
pre-Greek
cult
sanctuary
centered
around
a
sacred
grove
and
holy
spring.
The
remains
of
the
earliest
temples,
which
lie
within
and
beneath
the
later
buildings,
have
been
dated
to
the
8th
and
7th
centuries
BC.
These
consist
of
a
walled
enclosure
measuring
approximately
24
x
10
m,
an
open-air
sanctuary,
a
portico
16
m
in
length,
a
sacred
well
and
a
votive
altar.
By
the
7th
century
BC,
the
Ionian
Greeks
had
adopted
the
site,
dedicated
it
to
the
worship
of
Apollo,
and
the
fame
of
its
oracle
had
spread
across
the
eastern
Mediterranean
and
into
Egypt.
The
earliest
temple
of
Apollo
at
the
site
was
an
unroofed
Ionic
building
enclosing
the
sacred
spring,
laurel
trees
and
a
small
inner
temple.
These
structures
were
completed
about
560-550
BC
when
the
site
was
in
charge
of
a
family
of
priests
known
as
the
Branchids,
the
descendants
of
Bronchos,
a
youth
beloved
of
Apollo.
The
cult
statue
in
the
Didyma
temple
dated
from
500
BC,
was
made
of
bronze
and
depicted
Apollo
Philesios
seizing
a
deer.
The
temple
was
located
approximately
10
kilometers
south
of
the
city
of
Miletus,
inland
from
the
small
port
of
Panormos.
In
the
Archaic
period,
when
the
first
temple
of
Apollo
was
constructed,
a
Sacred
Way,
lined
with
sculptures,
sarcophagi
and
statues
of
lions
and
sphinxes,
led
from
Panormos
to
the
sanctuary.
Pilgrims
arriving
by
sea
would
disembark
at
the
port
of
Panormos
and
walk
the
Sacred
Way
to
the
oracle
of
Apollo.
The
Persians
destroyed
a
second
and
larger
temple
at
the
same
site
in
494
BC.
while
it
was
still
under
construction.
Little
is
known
about
activities
at
Didyma
during
the
5th
and
4th
centuries
BC.
and
it
seems
to
have
suffered
a
decline.
After
his
capture
of
the
city
of
Miletus
in
334
BC,
Alexander
the
Great
placed
the
administration
of
the
oracle
in
the
hands
of
the
city.
The
sanctuary
of
the
oracle
was
revived
in
331
BC
when
the
sacred
spring
was
rediscovered
on
the
occasion
of
a
visit
from
Alexander
(during
which
time
the
oracle
proclaimed
him
“the
son
of
Zeus”).
In
the
following
decades
Seleucus
embellished
the
sanctuary
and
commissioned
the
new
Hellenistic
Temple
of
Apollo
(about
300
BC
the
cult
statue
of
Apollo
that
had
been
stolen
by
the
Persians
was
returned
to
Didyma).
The
sanctuary
grew
in
fame,
attracting
thousands
of
pilgrims
from
throughout
the
Hellenistic
world,
and
work
on
the
temple
continued
for
the
next
200
years.
This
temple,
measuring
51
by
110
meters,
was
the
third
largest
structure
of
the
Greek
world,
being
exceeded
in
size
only
by
those
at
Ephesus
and
Samos.
Although
the
Hellenistic
Didymaion
was
of
greater
dimensions
than
the
archaic
temple,
it
was
merely
an
adaptation
of
the
original
plan.
The
massive
temple
had
a
total
of
124
columns
(many
of
which
were
never
erected)
and
was
embellished
with
the
most
wonderful
sculptures
of
Greek
artistry.
One
particularly
enormous
column
weighs
70
tons.
In
278
BC
the
sanctuary
suffered
under
the
raids
of
Gauls,
but
construction
work
on
the
temple
was
resumed.
In
70
BC
pirates
sacked
the
sanctuary
and
work
on
the
temple
was
terminated.
The
