Didyma - Temple of Apollo
DIDYMA - DIDIM
Didyma was an ancient Greek - Iodian sanctuary and cult centre for the city of Miletus. It is located about 15 kilometres from Miletus and in ancient times was connected by a ‘sacred way’, lined with statues. Some of these statues date back to the 6th century BC and are now present in the British Museum. The area was well known for containing a Temple and Oracle of Apollo, the Didymaion. During this period Didyma was not a real town, only priests who specialised in Oracle Temple management lived there.
In 494 BC cult status of Didymaion was laid to rest in Miletus by the Persians. Only after Alexander the Great defeated the Persians in 334 BC did reconstruction on the Apollo temple begins. The new temple was planned on a much grander scale and it was the third-largest religious structure in the Ancient World. Due to the grandeur of the project construction continued throughout the 3rd and 2nd BC and into Roman times. There was also continual damage from water, fires and earthquakes.