Didyma | The most famous temple in the ancient Greek world   

Didyma is an ancient Ionian temple and oracle of the cult of Apollo located near the modern tourist resort of Altınkum,TURKEY.

Didyma means ‘twin’ and this refers to Apollo and Artemis who were the children of Zeus and Leto. An oracle was a sacred site where a deity gave answers or predictions through the mouth of a priest or priestess.

It was, after Delphi, the most famous temple in the ancient Greek world and the largest and most important religious structure under the rule of the city of Miletus. Homer wrote about Didyma in his Hymn to Apollo.

The construction of the first shrine at Didyma Turkey began in the eighth century BC and was completed nearly two hundred years later.      

In 494 BC the Persians destroyed the temple and stole it’s treasures including the statue of Apollo. After the attack the oracle continued but on a less extravagant scale until 334 BC when Alexander the Great arrived, revived the temple and rescued the statue of Apollo from Persia.

The remains that can be seen today are the remains of the temple that Alexander commissioned. Although Rome continued to pay subsidies to Didyma, building progress was very slow and eventually never finished as Christianity spread throughout the land. The oracle received another blow when in 350 AD Thedosius banned all pagan practices but the sites fate was finally sealed when in 303 AD when Constantine the Great closed the temple and executed the priests.

After an earthquake in the middle ages, most of the columns at the temple collapsed and much of the masonry was stolen by local villagers who needed to rebuild their homes. In 1858 the pavement and statues that once lined the sacred way from Panormos 6km away, were stolen and rehoused in the British Museum in London. Between 1905 and 1930 excavations uncovered all of the Hellenistic temple and also some carvings from the earlier temple and some statues.

The design of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma is similar to that of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Originally it had 122 Ionic columns standing tall at an impressive 60 feet high. The bases of the columns were decorated with beautiful carvings. The temple was 90 feet high and was approached by 14 steps up to the entrance. At the western end of the building are three doors which would have once led to a great staircase to the adyton to which only the priests and oracles had access. Inside the adyton is a small chapel that held the cult statue and a holy spring. This was where the priestess of Apollo would have given her insights.

Opening hours:
Didyma is open daily from 8 am until 6:30 in the evening and the best time to visit it is in the late afternoon or early evening when most of the tourist groups have finished for the day.

How to get there?
It is located 12 miles south of Miletus in western Anatolia. uses (shared taxi) and buses leave on the hour between Söke and Altınkum beach via Didim village. Visitors should ask the driver to drop them off at the junction to the ruins.

Accommodation:
Places to stay in the area include the Pension Oracle which has a view of the ruins and also the Medusa might also incorporate a trip to Altınkum which is just five kilometers south of the ruins and has a beach and many more opportunities for accommodation and eating although it has been invaded by Brits and is very crowded and touristy during the peak of the season.