APOLLO TEMPLE, MILET & PRIENE (SATURDAY)

apollon temple

Miletos has the foremost city in producing great personalities. Thales was born there in 640 BC. The natural philosophers, Anaximander, the famous historian and geographer Hekatios, the town planning architect Hippodomos and isidoros, one of the designers of St Sophia in Istanbul, were from Miletos. Explore Priene for an unforgettable sightseeing experience of River Meander's Delta which used to be the sea about 2000 yrs ago. Priene has. Been called the Anatolian Pompeii. The temple of Apollo at Didyma is known because its size one of the finest temples ever built in Minor. See temple of Apollo at Didyma where it used to be a fortune telling center with its lady fortune tellers in history. A never ever finished temple awaits you to visit.

Didyma is located in the village of Yenihisar. 4 km Inland from the coast called Altinkum (Golden sand) and 15 kms south of Akköy, near Soke. Didyma was actually a sacred site and not a city, in whose centre was a great temple built in the name of the sun god Apollo.

However much Apollo may be considered as one of the twelve deities dwelling on Mount Olympus in Greek mythology, he is actually an Anatolian god, the counterpart of the Hittite god, Apulunas. The finding of records which show him racing with King Midas or the satyr shepherd Marsyas who gave his name to the river Cine, are evidences that he is a very ancient god of Anatolian origin. Apollo is the son, of Zeus and twin brother to Artemis, the Moon-goddess.

The word "Didymaion" means "twins" and this is the reason why the place the Temple of Apollo stands was called so. The Greeks, believing in fate, looked upon Apollo as an oracle as well. The oracles received from the priests in the temple of Apollo at Delphoi influenced and changed the lives of people to a great extent. The Ionians built the temple in Didyma as the second oracle centre, and they constructed it with such care that it was one of the most magnificent temples of the time.

priene

milet