Didim History

Didyma is located in the village of Yenihisar.4 km ınland from the coast called Altınkum(Golden sand) and 15 kms South of Akköy,near Söke.Didyma was actually a sacred site and not a city,in whose centre was a great temple built in the name of the sun sun Apollo.

However much Apollo may be considered as one of the twelve deities dwelling on Mount Olympus in Grek mythology,he is actually an Anatolian god,the counterpart of the Hittite god,Apulunas.The research concerning the origins of the names of Didyma and didymaion has been a subject of discussion going on for years Apollo is the one of the son of,of Zeus and twin brother to Artemis,the Moon-goddess.The word Didymaion means twins and this is the reason why the place the Temple of Apollo stands was called so.The Greeks,believing in fate, looked upon Apollo as an oracle as well.The oracles received from the priests in the temple of Apollo at Delphoi influenced and changed the lives of people to a great extent.The Ionians built the temple in Didyma as the second oracle centre,and they constructed it with such care that it was one of the most magnificent temples of the times.

Apollo was renowed for his ability to prosphesy and the communicated to people through mediums and oracles his knowledge of the future. The dependence of communities on religion increased as it was seen that gods possessed forces to direct according to their will,all phenomena and events relating to nature and society.as a natural consequence of the increase in religion ,belief in the power to prophesy of the gods who could foresee events and phenomena was intensified.

In the Archaic period the oracle of Apollo had great fame.The number of temples erected in Anatolia as seats of oracles is evidence that belief in gods had reached enormous proportions.the most important of the temples dedicated to Apollo were the Temple of apollo at Delphi in Greece and the Didymaion in Anatolia.

In the mid 7th century BC,in oracles of apollo,the god could be consulted once a year for offical matters and the answers received to questions directed would be in the form of “ye sor no”.When in later years,consulting the god also for private matters became a tradition,these consultations became gradually more frequent.the oracles of apollo grew very rich as a result of this and their fame and influence spread over large areas.they became as powerful as the state they were effective in shaping the destinies of persons and communities and particularly in politics where they played a very important role,they very often caused wrong decisions to be taken.

Pausanias states that the apollo temple at Didyma had been built before the Grek colonization(10th century BC9.ıt is believed in the light of this existence of Didyma,like that of Miletus and Priene goes back to the 2nd millennium BC.

One learns from Herodotus that valuable votive offerings were presented to the temple by King Necho of Egypt at the end of the 7 th century BC and King croesus of Lydia in the 6 th century BC.

It is believed that the construction of the Archaic temple was begun in the mid 6th century BC and was completed at the end of the same century.In the 6th century BC,the Didymaion was administered by a priestly caste named Branchids.During this period which lasted about 100 years,the temple flourished and went through its most brilliant era.

It was completely burned and plundred by the Persians during the battle of Lade,the priests of the temple were driven to Susa and the cult statue of Apollo was taken to Ecbatana.The statue of Apollo which was dated back to 500 BC,was made by the sculptor Kanachus of Sicyon and reflects Anatolian-Hittite characteristics.

The construction of the Hellenistic temple was begun after the victory of Alexander the Great over the Persians.However,it was understtod from the remains that this Hellenistic temple was not completed.

The Temple of which the construction was continued under Emperor Caligula who wanted to be though of as the god of the temple and later under hadrian was never completed.With the alterations made in the 3rd century AD to protect from plunder,the temple took on the apperance of a fortress and flourished under the reigns of aurelian and Diocletian.

There are findings which indicate that work was done on the temple during the reign of Emperor Julian.

In the beginning of the 5th century AD,Emperor Theodosius had a church built in the sacred courtyard.this church which had the appearance of a three winged basilica,was destroyed in an earthquake and later rebuilt with one wing

In the 10th century AD,the two-columned hall(Chresmographeion-hall of the oracle) and the pronaos,which were used as storage areas,were greatly damaged in a fire and most of the marble turned into lime.

After the seljuks and the Mongols conquered the region the temple was completely abondoned

An Italian traveler who visited Didyma in 1446 records that the wholw temple was standing,however at the nd of the 15th century the temple was completely destroyed by an earthquake and turned into a heap of marble.In the later years the temple was used as quarry and many of its architectural elements were used as building material ain the construction of dwelling and other buildings by the local people.

EXCAVATIONS:

The first excavation in Didyma were made in 1858 by the English under the direction of Newton.The area was the Sacred Road.

In the temple excavations were first begun in 1872 by the French under O Rayet and A Thomas.the aim was to find the cult statue of Apollo but at the end of the work which lasted two years,the cult statue had not been found.However,it had been possible to determine the dimensions of the temple and to reconstruct its plan.

In order to finf solutions to certain problems concerning the temple and its surroundings,excavations were begun again in 1962,this time for the German Institute of Archaology under the supervision of R.Naumann.

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