The temple of Apollo in Didim

The sacred way to the temple of Apollo

Reading our travel guide we discovered that the ancients used to disembark at Mavişehir Cove from where they walked along a sacred way to reach the temple of Apollo in Didim. On 27 April we used the distinctly less sacred modern roads to get there. There is still part of the old sacred way visible but most is now covered by more modern buildings.

Didyma, as it was known, was not a city but a religious sanctuary to Apollo with oracles recorded as early as 600BC. The original temple was destroyed by the Perisian Darius in 494BC but when Alexander the Great visited the ruins around 300BC the oracle neatly proclaimed that Alexander was the son of Zeus. Alexander was so enthused by this claim that he arranged for the cult statue of Apollo to be return here from Persia and ordered the building of a new, much larger temple, the remains of which are seen today. At 120 metres long and 25 metres high this was one of the largest temples of the ancient world. It was, however, never finished with only 72 of the intended 122 columns built. An artist’s impression, above, gives an idea of how far the construction progressed.

When you arrive at the site you cannot help but be bowled over by the size of the temple. Each of the columns is around 2 metres in diameter and the bases are beautifully decorated with carvings.

Carvings of Medusa heads

A series of carvings of Medusa heads decorated the architrave which were supposed to ward off evil and protect the temple.

Walking around the side of the temple we passed the bases marking where the columns once stood and behind the temple there is a fallen column with  the pieces laid out like a broken backbone.

One of the information boards shows an aerial photograph of the site. From that, the shape of the temple and how the columns were laid out was very clear. It also shows how the pieces of the temple have been neatly laid out around the site during the excavations.

As you walk around these beautifully carved pieces are everywhere. With them all laid out in neat rows, it looks like a huge 3D jigsaw puzzle just ready to be reassembled.

All in all this was a fabulous site to visit. We just hoped the the other 3 sites we planned to look at during the day would not be overshadowed and be a disappointment after what we had seen here.

Didim Marina, Turkey