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The
town of Didim is one of the prettiest in Turkey’s
southwestern province of Aydın. 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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. |
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Source: Sky Life- By A. Semih TULAY
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