Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Didymaion - Temple of Apollo, Turkey

After our tour at Miletus, our bus took us to Didyma. According to our guide, Didyma "was a very important sacred site in the ancient Greek world because of its famous oracle and the magnificent Temple of Apollo." Our guide elaborated that "Didyma means "twin" referring to the twins Apollo and Artemis; the Temple of Artemis was built in Miletus. The Temple of Apollo or Didymaion was approximately built in the 10th Century B.C.; the date is still under debate."

Ruins and columns of the Temple of Apollo.


A lion guards the entry way.
There were originally 122 Ionic columns, only three remain intact.

The columns were measured to be 60 ft tall with a 6 feet diameter. (Source here.)
Relief of a Griffin





Medusa's Head, possibly carved by Aphrodisias. (Source here.)

A few facts about Didyma:
  • Didyma was known as a cult center in Miletus (Source here.)
  • Alexander the Great captured Miletus and handed Miletus full administration of the oracle. (Source here.)
  • "The Temple of Apollo (Didymaion) was the largest and wealthiest Ionic temple in Anatolia and was renowned for its holy relics, its treasury, its sacred spring and sacred laurel grove." (Source here.)

7 comments:

  1. impressive collection of relics in one place. travel is so enriching. i hope we all could travel more - if only money is no object :)

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  2. you know, i've always wondered how they built these masterpieces? saka bakit kaya madami ang nasirao ano? i wish they could've have kept these intact!

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  3. huge historical architecture. it's great to know that people have preserved the place.

    your sto.nino will keep you always:)

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  4. such intricate details from a mythologically-inspired architecture!

    i remember studying the types of columns in ancient civilization back in high school...there's doric, ionic...and, and...gee, i don't remember the other one!

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  5. i finally remembered the other column: corinthian! :P

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  6. I like how you incorporate historical tidbits with your photos. Thanks for doing so, Kayni.

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  7. Awesome place, thanks for the tour!

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