DIDYMA'S TEMPLE OF APOLLO
The town of Didim is one of the prettiest in Turkey’s
southwestern province of Aydin. As you enter the seaside town an
imposing monument can be seen rising towards the clouds like a mountain
peak. This is the Temple of Apollo, a god with Anatolian roots associated
with light, music and prophecy. He was the twin brother of Artemis,
a fact commemorated by the name Didyma, which means twin. According
to legend the Temple of Apollo was founded by Branchos, a handsome
youth from Miletus. Apollo taught him the secrets of prophecy and
appointed him to guard the sacred grove of laurel trees. Here Branchos
built a sanctuary, and for long years first he and then his descendants
served as its priests and guardians, known as Branchids, which is
why Didyma has also been called Branchidai.Archaeological findings
have shown that the cult of Apollo goes back to 2000 BC in Didyma,
and the temple appears to have been built in the 7th centuryBC.
By the 6th century it had become one of the most important oracular
centres in the world. It was at this time that the city became known
as Branchidai.
In the 6th century gifts were sent by the Lydian
king Croesus and the Egyptian pharaoh Neko for the temple here.
Around the same time a sacred road 24 km in length and 6 m wide
was built from Miletus to the Temple of Apollo in Didyma, and lined
with statues of the Branchid priests and lions.
Every year in April and May festivities in celebration
of Apollo were held, during which a ceremonial procession set out
from Miletus and travelled the sacred road. The journey took four
days, halting each night, and during the day those in the procession
sung hymns as they walked. When the procession arrived at the temple
a great ceremony was held. The steps on the south side of the temple
served as seats for the onlookers to watch athletic competitions
held in the name of Apollo in the open area in front of the temple.
The bronze statue of Apollo, which was a gift to the temple from
the city of Miletus, is depicted on the coins of that city.
When Miletus was burnt and razed by the Persians
following the sea battle of Lade in 494 BC, the Temple of Apollo
was plundered and devastated. Alexander the Great brought Persian
rule over Miletus to an end in 334 BC, and reconstruction of the
temple was commenced on a larger scale of 118 by 60 metres. Although
construction continued on and off for the next six hundred years,
some parts of the new temple were never completed. The Branchids
had been banished by the Persians, and now the Miletians appointed
officers annually to manage the sanctuary and took over its reconstruction.
Marble was brought from quarries in the mountains around Lake Bafa,
which at that time was a bay in the Aegean coast. There is a single
block of marble in front of the Pronaos that weighs 60 tons. The
huge inner walls of the sanctuary enclosed a courtyard of 200 square
metres. This is the only example of this type of temple design to
have survived.
From the 3rd century BC onwards the temple was damaged
in a series of wars and earthquakes. In the 5th or 6th century AD
it was converted into a church, and Didyma became a bishopric. The
city was abandoned entirely after the great earthquake of 1493.Not
until the end of the 18th century did immigrants from the Aegean
island resettle the town, which was called first Yenihisar and then
once more Didim, after the ancient name.
The first excavations at Didyma were carried out
in 1856 by British archaeologist Charles T. Newton, who uncovered
the sacred road and carried back many of the statues of Branchid
priests and lions to Britain. In 1924 a team from the Berlin Royal
Museums under Theodor Wiegand recommenced excavations, which German
archaeologists are still continuing today.
This magnificent temple and sanctuary where once
people came to learn the secrets of the future is a fascinating
survivor from a fascinating past.
By A. Semih TULAY
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