Apollo temple, Didim, Turkey.

A walk through the temple at Didim, the site of the Oracle
of Apollo.
Wonder at the sites size and structure, perfect geometry,
intricate carvings and attention to detail.
Official historical facts and timelines taken from Turkish
archaeological news are as follows:
In the ancient times, Didyma was famous as the place where a colossal Temple of Apollo stood, and the oracle revealed the future. In its heyday, Didyma was not a city, but a place of worship, connected with Miletus by the so-called Sacred Way. This road was used by the pilgrims who arrived at Didyma, seeking answers to nagging questions.

Nowadays, the town of Didim, whose most famous monument is the Temple of Apollo, is a small seaside resort, located in the province of Aydın, on the Aegean coast. The main source of livelihood of its inhabitants is tourism, but agriculture, especially the cultivation of wheat and cotton, is still an important part of the local economy.

The reason for Didim's popularity among vacationers is an attractive location — on the northern shore of Güllük Bay, opposite Bodrum Peninsula. The advantages of Didim for sunbathers are perfectly reflected in the names of town's districts: Altınkum (Golden Sand), Gümüşkum (Silver Sand), and Sarıkum (Yellow Sand).

Historical overview:
The history of settlement in Didim region dates back to Neolithic times. The excellent location attracted settlers from Crete, and then, in the 16th century BCE, from Mycenae. The subsequent history of the settlement reflects the typical kaleidoscope of civilizations dominating in the western part of Asia Minor, i.e. the Lydians, the Persians, the Seleucids, the Attalids, the Romans, and the Byzantines.

In the ancient period, Didyma never had the distinction of being the biggest or the most important religious center. The Temple of Apollo located there was the second largest after the Artemision of Ephesus, and its oracle — the second most influential after Delphi. However, nowadays the visit to Didyma is a much more exciting experience than looking at a single column that remained from the Artemision of Ephesus.

Beginnings of the sanctuary in Didyma
According to ancient sources, Didyma area had been considered sacred even before Greek settlers arrived on the coast of Asia Minor. It is a very likely situation since the Greeks often took over local places of worship and adapted them in accordance with their beliefs. They acted similarly in the case of Anatolian mother goddess Cybele, who was worshiped in Ephesus as Artemis from the Greek pantheon.

The first temple in Didyma was built by the Greeks in the late 8th century BCE. It was a simple design, consisting of so-called temenos, i.e. a sacred area, surrounded by a colonnade that was added a century later. On the sacred courtyard, there was an altar, a well used to the prophetic activities, and a laurel tree dedicated to Apollo. The existence of this structure was confirmed by archaeological work conducted by a team of German archaeologists under the direction of Heinrich Drerup in 1962.

Archaic Didymaion
The construction of the mighty temple — the Archaic Didymaion (the Temple of Apollo at Didyma) — was completed around 550 BCE. This temple was to bring glory to the most significant of the Ionian cities at that time, i.e. Miletus. Today, the remains of the archaic temple are located under the later, Hellenistic construction, but it is possible to reconstruct its possible appearance. It is known that the architects of Didymaion were under the influence of the temples built a little earlier on the island of Samos and in Ephesus.

Didymaion was a dipteros; that is a building surrounded by a double colonnade in the Ionic order. It occupied an area measuring 85 to 38 meters. The outer colonnade consisted of 21 columns at the long sides, eight columns at the eastern side, and nine columns on the western side. The spacing of the columns on the eastern side enabled a broader transition between the columns, creating the impression of the gate of the temple. In total Didymaion boasted 112 columns.

The Branchidae
The sanctuary in Didyma was managed by the family known as the Branchidae. They were the priests descended from the legendary Branchos, the son of Apollo. According to another version of the family history, their progenitor Branchos was the son of a hero named Smikros, who settled in Miletus. Before his birth, his mother had a dream in which the sun entered her mouth, went through the entire body, and came out of the belly. This was considered a good omen and the boy was named Branchos, which means a bronchus. When Branchos grew up, he became a shepherd. In the mountains, he saw Apollo, who fell in love with him. The god gave his lover a gift of divination, so Branchos founded the oracle at Didyma, which was later managed by his descendants.

Destruction of the Archaic Didymaion
The archaic temple of Apollo at Didyma was destroyed in 493 BCE by the Persians, a year after the defeat of the coalition of the Ionian cities in the naval battle of Lade. The priests of the house of Branchidae were expelled, and the bronze statue of Apollo was taken to Ecbatana — the summer residence of the kings of Persia of the Achaemenid dynasty. The treasures of the temple, including the gifts from King Croesus, were looted. At that time, the sacred spring, which was the basis for the oracle's visions, dried up.

Hellenistic Didymaion
For many years, Didymaion remained in the state of complete ruin. It was not until the time of Alexander the Great, when the temple started to be reerected. There is a legend saying that after Alexander the Great had arrived at Didyma, the sacred spring began to flow again. Around 300 BCE, Hellenistic ruler Seleucus I Nicator brought back the statue of the god Apollo to Didyma. The Milesians began to build a new temple which was eventually to be the largest in the Hellenistic world. The work was supervised by two architects: Paionios, who also built the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and Daphnis.

However, the project proved to surpass its contractors, and the building has never been finished. The work on its construction lasted in the third and second centuries BCE, and a part of the building was completed only in Roman times. From this period comes the frieze placed over architrave of the outside row of columns, decorated with the reliefs of the heads of Medusa. External columns on the south-western and eastern sides have never been finished.

Roman times
The sanctuary's importance was also recognised by the Romans, and the position of the temple's high priest was a sought-after position of power and influence. Theoretically, this office was held by the aristocratic citizens of Miletus who were elected for a one-year-only tenure. However, many Roman emperors were "elected" to this post, including Trajan, Hadrian, and Julian. Obviously, they were not engaged in any activities related to actual work in the temple, leaving these mundane tasks to other priests. On the other hand, their interest meant a significant financial contribution to the sanctuary's maintenance. Emperor Trajan, for example, rebuilt the Sacred Road, and Emperor Julian repaired it in 359 CE in his failed efforts to revive the traditional Graeco-Roman religious rituals.

The Roman emperors also used to consult the oracle on numerous occasions. Possibly the most curious case of such consultations happened in 303 CE when Emperor Diocletian asked the oracle about the course of action he should take concerning the growing number of Christians. He was aware of the complains that the followers of this new religion angered the ancient gods. While the oracle's reply has not been preserved to our times, it supposedly motivated the emperor to start one of the most severe persecution of Christians in the history of the Roman Empire.

Byzantine era
The persecutions of Christians were long remembered and the Temple of Apollo's role in the events was not forgotten. In the period when Christianity was first tolerated and then became an official state religion, most of the pagan temples were abandoned and forgotten. However, the Didymaion was selected for the reuse as a church. This was not unique as similar transformations can be seen in numerous locations, for instance, in Aphrodisias. The case of Didyma is special: the Christians built their churches in highly visible locations. This was impossible at Didyma with the special design of the adyton, lowered to the level of the ground. To make a point, a small three-aisled Christian basilica was erected in the naos of the temple even though it was hidden from sight. This peculiar determination can be explained either by the will of revenge against the oracle, or by the special character of Apollo, or even by the presence of the sacred spring. The last option is highly probable as a baptistery was erected next to the spring. This basilica was completely dismantled by the German archaeologists at the beginning of the 20th century because their intention was the restoration of the Hellenistic structure.

In late antiquity, Didyma was a bishopric and was honored by Emperor Justinian I with the title Justinianopolis, before it experienced a rapid decline in the early Middle Ages. From the 10th to the 12th century, Didyma was again the seat of a bishop. Two earthquakes destroyed Didyma, in the 7th and in the 15th century. The latter led to the abandonment of the settlement. Only at the end of the 18th century did Greeks settle the place again and used the dilapidated ancient buildings as a quarry.

From the arrival of the Turks era to modern times
After the defeat of the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 CE, the Turkish tribes arrived at the Aegean coast of Asia Minor for the first time. The Byzantines were able to regain this stretch of coast in 1098, but lost it again in 1280, in favor of local kingdom managed by the Turkish Menteşe clan. In 1413, Didyma finally became a part of the Ottoman Empire. In these times, it was known as Yoranda.

When Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli, an Italian humanist and antiquarian, visited the town in 1446, the temple was still standing in great part, although the cella had been converted into a fortress by the Byzantines. However, the next European visitor, an Englishman, Dr. Pickering, reported in 1673 that the temple had collapsed.

In the early years of the Turkish Republic, the village was renamed as Hisar (Castle). After the earthquake that destroyed the town in 1955, the rebuilt settlement was called Yenihisar (New Castle). The current name of the city — Didim — derives from the ancient sanctuary of Didyma. It was introduced in 1997 to distinguish this city from other Turkish New Castles.