Temple of Apollo at Didyma

Didymaion (in ancient Greek: Διδυμαῑον, in Latin: Didymaeum) or the temple of Apollo Didymaeus was a Greek sanctuary with the oracle of Apollo Philesios in the city of Didyma, near Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor, present-day Turkey. It constituted one of the largest temples of the ancient world and was the seat of the oracle of Apollo, the oracle of Didyma.

History

The site of the temple was originally, even before the Greeks arrived in Ionia, a sacred spring and a small grove. During the Greek period, there were three different temples on the site at different times. According to literary sources, already in the years 600–500 BC there was an oracular sanctuary and a temple at the site, where votive offerings were made, among others, by the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt Necho II and Croesus, king of Lydia. This first roofless temple (Temple I dates to the late Geometric period or early Archaic period of the years 700 or 600 BC.

The first temple was replaced by a newer one (Temple II) built in the late Archaic period around 550–530 BC. This temple was destroyed by the Achaemenids, according to Herodotus, after the Ionian revolt and its defeat in 494 BC, and, according to Strabo and many other sources, during the Second Messenian War in 479 BC. Today it is generally considered that a year earlier would be correct.

After the destruction of the temple, the site appears to have continued in cultic use between 400 and 300 BC, and there are some indications of small‑scale restoration for this purpose. However, there is no evidence of the dedication of the oracles before 331 BC. It is said that the sacred spring began to function or was rediscovered at this time during the visit of Alexander the Great.

With this, the design of a new third temple (Temple III) began. It started to be built at the beginning of the Hellenistic period, around the year 300 BC. Certainly, construction was already underway in 299/298 BC, according to the inscription that mentions Seleucus I donating a large amount of money for the construction. Apparently, the works were also financed with the profits from the eastern temple of Miletus built by Antiochus I. According to Vitruvius, the new temple was designed by Peonius of Ephesus and Daphnis of Miletus.

The construction works lasted a long time. By about 230 BC, the temple had completed its crepidoma, the lower parts of the walls of the adyton and the naiskos of the adyton. In 165 BC, the pilasters and the main porch of the adyton were finished. However, the building project proved to be too ambitious and grand, and it was never fully completed. Pausanias mentions that the temple remained unfinished, and this is also evident from the unfinished columns that are present. Nevertheless, construction of the temple continued during the 1st century. In particular, Emperor Caligula attempted to complete the temple.

Despite being incomplete, the Hellenistic-period temple was the fourth largest in the Greek world. Only the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Heraion of Samos and the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Agrigento were larger. The temple was deliberately built to compete with the rebuilt Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was rebuilt roughly at the same time. Its proportions were the same, as was one of its architects, Peonius.

In the Byzantine medieval period, a basilica was built on the site of the temple adyton. Later, part of the temple became a fortress. The temple was still largely standing in 1493, when all its columns except three collapsed in an earthquake.​

Geometric period temple

The oldest temple on the site, the so‑called temple of Sekos of the late geometric period (temple I), was located at the western end of

the adyton, of the later Hellenistic period. It was probably built around a spring considered sacred at the place. The temple consisted of a simple rectangular structure without a roof. Its upper parts were made of clay brick and it is not known whether they had columns. The building narrowed toward the east, with a width of about 10.3 m at the western end and 9.6 m at the eastern end. The foundations of the temple have been found within a later adyton. The dating has been based on pottery finds.​

Archaic temple

The temple of the Archaic period (Temple II) was of Ionic style. It was a dipteros temple, that is, its peristyle had an outer row and an inner row of columns.​

There are no exact data on the size of the temple. The length of its two‑level crepidoma, or stepped foundations, is 72 or 89 m. It is suggested that the height of the columns was about 15.5 m, but the number of columns is unknown. One proposal was 17 columns on the long sides and 8 on the short sides, totaling 86 columns. Another proposal would have had the same number of columns as the Hellenistic temple, 21 on the long sides and 10 on the short sides, for a total of 108.​​

The interior naos of the temple consisted mainly of an adyton, which measured about 33 m in length and about 19.9 m in width, at least at the western end. Inside, the adyton measured between 16 and 17 m in width. The adyton was hypētro, that is, without a roof.