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Didyma
& Apollon Temple - Turkey |
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 Didyma
was a cult center for the city of
Miletos It is located in the present-day
village of Yeniköy, about fifteen
kilometers from the site of Miletos.
In ancient times, it was connected
to its mother city by a sacred road
that had statues located on either
side of it.
The Didymaion-the temple to Apollo and its oracle at Didyma-was of
considerable repute among the
ancients. German archaeologists
excavating at the site have shown
that the earliest sanctuary here was
built in the 8th century B.C. and
that it was enlarged into an
enormous temple around 560 B.C.
After their bloody suppression of
the lonian rebellion,
 the
Persians sacked and laid waste to
Miletos (which they regarded as the
instigator) and the Didymaion in 494
B.C. It was during this assault that
the temple's cult statue of Apollo
was carried off to Ecbatana. After
Alexander the Great defeated the
Persians in 334 B.C., the lonian
cities regained their independence
and work was begun on reconstructing
the Apollo temple. Around 300 B.C.,
King Seleukos I of Syria, who then
controlled western Anatolia, had the
bronze statue of Apollo brought back
from Ecbatana to be installed in the
new temple, to whose construction he
also provided monetary assistance.
The new building was designed by the
architects Paionios and Daphnis. The
former was from Ephesos and was one
of those who worked on the
Artemision there.
The temple was planned on a much grander
scale than the original sanctuary
and indeed it was the third largest
religious structure in the ancient
world being surpassed only by the
Ephesian Artemision and a temple on
this island of Samos. The
Hellenistic temple measured 109.34
by 51.13 meters and columns.
It was set on a seven-stepped platform
measuring 3.5 meters high and in the
center of the east front there was a
separate flight of fourteen steps.
The construction of so huge a building
naturally took a long time and
continued during the 3rd and 2nd
centuries B.C. One section was only
completed in Roman times. While the
temple suffered repeatedly from
fires and earthquakes, it sustained
the worst damage in an earthquake in
1493.
The columns still standing measure 2.40
meters in diameter and 19.70 meters
in height. The double row of columns
surrounding the temple was covered
over with a marble roof as was the
temple proper. The central courtyard
measured 53.63 by 21.71 meters and
was the site of the Archaic-period
temple. During Hellenistic times, a
small temple (called a naiskos) was
built here to house the bronze
statue of Apollo. Its surrounding
walls were 25 meters in height and
decorated with gryphons. The cella
was unroofed. East of the adyton (sacred
courtyard) is a great stairway of
twenty-four steps measuring 15.20
meters wide. This flight of steps
leads up to a windowless, three-doored
hall where the oracle was written
down and delivered. The hall
measured 20 meters high and had a
marble roof. East of the chamber, a
door 5.63 meters wide and 14 meters
high leads to the pronaos. The
pronouncement of the oracles could
only be listened to from outside the
chamber. Stairways led to the upper
floor. On either side of the
entrance are doors measuring 2.25
meters high and 1.2 meters wide that
each connects to a narrow, vaulted
tunnel leading to the adyton. At the
far end of each corridor is a small
propylon-like room.
After viewing what is unquestionably one of
the most impressive temples of the
ancient world, with take our leave
with amazement. |
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