TURKEY - DIDYMA

Didyma was a cult center for the city of Miletos It is located in the present-day village of Yeniköy, about fifteen kilometers from the site of Miletos. In ancient times, it was connected to its mother city by a sacred road that had statues located on either side of it.

The Didymaion - the temple to Apollo and its oracle at Didyma - was of considerable repute among the ancients. German archaeologists excavating at the site have shown that the earliest sanctuary here was built in the 8th century B.C. and that it was enlarged into an enormous temple around 560 B.C. After their bloody suppression of the lonian rebellion.

 The Persians sacked and laid waste to Miletos (which they regarded as the instigator) and the Didymaion in 494 B.C. It was during this assault that the temple's cult statue of Apollo was carried off to Ecbatana. After Alexander the Great defeated the Persians in 334 B.C., the lonian cities regained their independence and work was begun on reconstructing the Apollo temple. Around 300 B.C., King Seleukos I of Syria, who then controlled western Anatolia, had the bronze statue of Apollo brought back from Ecbatana to be installed in the new temple, to whose construction he also provided monetary assistance. The new building was designed by the architects Paionios and Daphnis. The former was from Ephesos and was one of those who worked on the Artemision there.

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