Didyma

Built on the promontory Tekeagac. to the south of the ancient city of Miletus is the well-known Temple of Apollon. The name of the area in the Etruscan/Luwian language is originally "Didauma". meaning The People of the Mother Goddess". The temple which was earlier built in honour of the Mother Goddess and her son Adra, that is. God of Bulls, apparentty changed after the adoption of the patriarchal system. According to the Patriarchal Zeus Gods Pantheon, Apollon is the son of Zeus and Letoon, having been identified with Adra as the God of Light, Brightness, Male Beauty and Moon. As of the 9th century the Temple of Apollon in Didyma was, after the temple in Delphi, considered as the second greatest oracle center in the world and the pnests here held privileges over those of the kings, Indeed, treasures were donated to the temple held sacred by the Lydians, Persians and Romans and other Anatolian tribes, and the words of the priests of the temple were respected as if they were divine words. In the heydays of Miletus the King's Way was built between Miletus and the Temple of Apollon. The Temple of Apollon which received contributions in all eras tor its construction and restoration could never completely be finished. Therefore, the architects had the construction plan scratched on the northern wall of the cella of the temple in order to be transferred to the next generations. To the north of the temple which was several times despoiled, set on fire and damaged by earthquakes, a single-apse orthodox basilica was erected during the Byzantine era and the Turkomans who came to the area early 12th century A.D. converted fts ctwcn into a mosque. The Temple a rectangular floor plan, is of Ionian ow and with dimensions of 110x52 m. The temple is encircled all around with 124 double colonnades with Ionic capitals, measumg 19,70 m high and with a diameter of 2T40 m. The temple is ascended to through 14 steps at the front and 7 steps at the sides, with a cella at the back entrance visible measuring 54x25 m, in which apparently a statue of Apollon was placed, The cella is in the form of an uncovered courtyard surrounded by walls of 25 m height all around. The cella, where there were a sacred olive tree and a holy water spring inside, led through a staircase of 24 steps into a hall with 3 doors and a marble-faced ceiling, 20 m high, where the augury was revealed by the priests and further ahead lay the pronauos (forecourt) measuring 6 m wide by 14 m high. Obviously, the revealed augury was listened to here. The cella led into the pronauos through arched tunnels and, further, the augury room led up to the roof through a staircase.