Misplaced Pages

#311688

114-551: The ruins of Didyma are located a short distance to the northwest of modern Didim in Aydın Province , Turkey , whose name is derived from the ruins. It sits on a headland that in antiquity formed the Milesian Peninsula. Didyma was the largest and most significant sanctuary on the territory of the great classical city Miletus . The natural connection between Miletus and Didyma was by way of ship. But during antiquity

228-566: A meander pattern. These labyrinthoi lead to the roof of the temple and their function is not yet clear. The oracular procedure so well documented at Delphi is almost unknown at Didyma and must be reconstructed on the basis of the temple's construction. The priestess sat above the oracle spring and was inspired by Apollo. The prophet announced the oracle probably from the room with the high and impassable threshold. The answers were delivered, as in Delphi, in classical hexameters. But at Delphi, nothing

342-476: A stadium which dates from the Hellenistic period , though athletic agons were probably held there earlier. The steps of the temple's crepidoma served as seats for the spectators on the northern side of the stadium. Upon these seven steps are engraved many „topos inscriptions". That means the spectators marked their seats engraving their names. As these inscriptions are also found on the southern part of

456-464: A cultic function because it is characterised by the same curious orientation as the temple of Apollo (or it was used as a propylon ). Above the substructure was a small church built in Byzantine times which has seen several reconstructions up until the 19th century. The most famous church of Didyma stood in the sekos of the temple of Apollo . Its final remains were demolished in 1925. This church

570-456: A daytime average of 14 °C (57 °F). Didim is twinned with: There are 4 kindergartens, 13 primary schools, 11 secondary schools, 7 high schools, 1 public education center, 1 vocational training center, 1 science and art center affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in the district. Ecbatana Ecbatana ( / ɛ k ˈ b æ t ən ə / ) was an ancient city,

684-625: A domed ceiling, similar to a Median-era structure from Tepe Nush-i Jan , interpreted as a Zoroastrian fire temple . Excavations have revealed a massive defensive wall made of mud-bricks, and dated to the Median period based on a comparison to Tepe Nush-i Jan and Godin Tepe . There are also two column bases from the Achaemenid period, and some mud-brick structures thought to be from the Median or Achaemenid periods. A badly-damaged stone lion sculpture

798-571: A general of Seleucus I and Antiochus I whose inscribed altars there were still to be seen by Pliny's correspondents. Corroborating inscriptions on amphoras were found by I. R. Pichikyan at Dilbergin. Afterwards the kings of Bithynia made donations to the Didymaion in the 2nd century BC and the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt in the first half of 1st century BC. The annual festival held in Didyma under

912-422: A known building or monument. One of them is a Doric stoa from the 2nd century BC, and another one the so-called „Prophetenhaus" or chresmographeion, a smaller Doric building also from the 2nd century BC. The search of the foundations of these and other structures is difficult because the area around Apollo's temple is closely built-up. Therefore, it is almost impossible to use geophysical prospecting methods for

1026-707: A popular site even before the 1st millennium BC. Along with Athens in Greece , Rome in Italy and Susa in Khuzestan , Ecbatana is one of the few ancient cities in the world that is still alive and important, representing the current-day Hamadan . According to Herodotus , Ecbatana was chosen as the Medes ' capital in 678 BC by Deioces , the first ruler of the Medes. Herodotus said that it had seven walls. Deioces' intention

1140-568: A room whose roof was supported by two columns on the central cross-axis. Among these three doors were placed two Corinthian half columns, whose spectacular capitals originally survived but during the First World War they were unfortunately destroyed. The room with the two central columns opened to the east to the great impassable portal. To the north and south of this hall two stairwells existed. In inscriptions they were called "labyrinthoi", probably because of their ceiling decoration showing

1254-573: A ruin until the time Alexander the Great conquered Miletus and freed it from the Persians in 334 BC. In between a complete break had been rent in the oracles' personnel and tradition, the Branchidae priests marched off to Persian sovereign territory. Callisthenes , a court historian of Alexander , reported that the spring began once more to flow as Alexander passed through Egypt in 331 BC. After

SECTION 10

#1732780813312

1368-465: A temporary museum. With an area of over 600 square meters, a significant amount of the findings from Ecbatana are kept at this museum today, with some others at the National Museum of Iran and Reza Abbasi Museum . The Noushijan fire temple is one of the most important and oldest fire temples in the world, which is near Ecbatana. It is also the oldest adobe temple in the world. In 1967,

1482-580: A visible community of many thousands, to the extent that utility bills in the district are now printed in English as well as Turkish. Many bars around Didim are noted for having the Union Jack hanging inside. Didim town has hotels, amusement park, gift shops, hidden bays and beaches, and the antique Temple of Apollo and Temple of Artemis nearby. Didim is also close to a number of other ancient towns and natural formations, such as Lake Bafa national park,

1596-470: A youth beloved of Apollo. The priestess, seated above the sacred spring, gave utterances that were interpreted by the Branchidae. Both Herodotus and Pausanias dated the origins of the oracle at Didyma before the Ionian colonization of this coast. Clement of Alexandria quotes Leandrios saying that Cleochus, grandfather of the eponymous founder Miletus, was buried within the temple enclosure of Didyma. Under

1710-486: Is Greek for ‘courtyard’; we can therefore deduce that the late geometric temple and its successors had never been roofed. The oldest temple of Apollo surrounded the sacred spring and the sacred laurel tree. This spring and tree formed the centre of the sanctuary for more than 1000 years. From the middle of the 6th century BC the Milesians raised a new temple and constructed a new altar for Apollo. Alas, of this temple only

1824-426: Is expected to encourage further tourism and rising property prices in the area. City municipality carries out some specific events and festivals such as Vegan Fest, Lavender Fest and Autograph Sessions of famous Turkish authors every summer. Didim (Aydin) has a Mediterranean climate consisting of very hot, long and dry summers with an average of 34 °C (93 °F) in the daytime, winters are cool and rainy with

1938-534: Is likely they never penetrated east of the Alvand despite two centuries of involvement in Median areas of the central Zagros . In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great defeated Astyages and conquered Ecbatana, forming the Achaemenid Empire . Although Ecbatana lost its former importance, it was located on the royal road, where it connected Persepolis to Sardis , and situated at the foot of Mount Alvand . So it

2052-499: Is not yet really clear, but they could have had a cultic function. Along the road during the Roman period stood a stoa . It also flanked the passageway to the Roman baths . So the stoai together with the water facilities make it more likely that the complex, of the so-called „Felsbarre", served for profane reasons. One option would be a function similar to a Roman macellum (food market), as proposed by Helga Bumke. The Roman baths at

2166-628: Is of disputed date: it may be Achaemenid or Parthian. Numerous Parthian-era constructions attest to Ecbatana's status as a summer capital for the Parthian rulers. In 2006, excavations in a limited area of Hagmatana hill failed to discover anything older than the Parthian period, but this does not rule out older archaeological layers existing elsewhere within the 35-hectare site. Ecbatana was first excavated in 1913 by Charles Fossey . Fossey discovered fragments of column bases adorned with arabesques and inscriptions, glazed bricks, and faience tiles during

2280-421: Is one of the historical capitals of Iran and the present capital of East Azerbaijan province . The city, which was previously called Tauris, was put forward by John-Thomas Minadoi, who cited that his identification of the city was based on data collected from modern and ancient geographers, recent travel accounts, and local informants. This theory was also promoted by other historians, such as Sir William Jones and

2394-552: Is secure." Earlier, a lack of significant archaeological remains from the Median and Achaemenid periods had prompted suggestions of other sites for Ecbatana. Assyrian sources never mention Hagmatana/Ecbatana. Some scholars believed the problem can be resolved by identifying the Ecbatana/Hagmatana mentioned in later Greek and Achaemenid sources with the city Sagbita/Sagbat frequently mentioned in Assyrian texts, since

SECTION 20

#1732780813312

2508-456: Is supposed to precede literacy and even the Hellenic colonization of Ionia around 1000 BC. In contrary the first archaeological pieces of evidence of Didyma date in the 8th century BC. Mythic genealogies of the origins of the Branchidae line of priests, designed to capture the origins of Didyma as a Hellenic tradition, date to the Hellenistic period. Greek and Roman authors laboured to refer

2622-594: Is the main source of income for the area, especially in summer, but agriculture is also an important contributor; the main crops are wheat and cotton. Animals, especially sheep and goats, are raised mainly for local consumption. There are 14 neighbourhoods in Didim District: This coast has become a very popular holiday resort , known for its long sandy beaches, clear blue sea, ancient ruins, and its own microclimate, benefiting from hundreds of days of sun annually and warm winters, allowing residents to use

2736-418: Is the palace which is about seven stories in circumference, and its magnificence shows the wealth of its founders. During his time, no parts of the woodwork were left exposed. There were silver or gold-plated rafters, compartments in the ceiling, and columns in the porticos and colonnades, and silver tiles were used throughout the structure. In the invasion by Alexander , most precious metals were stripped, while

2850-489: Is totally unique in Greek architecture . It is like a handbook on this topic which informs you about all the different stages of constructing a temple. When something is unfinished it becomes easier to see the process of construction. This "book" begins in the quarries of Miletus at the former Latmian Gulf (today Bafa Gölü) and lead from the harbours there to the harbour of Didyma (former Panormos, today Mavisehir). From there along

2964-660: The Büyük Menderes River , and historic sites like Miletus and Priene . Didim has night clubs, beach clubs, smaller bars and pubs, some with live music. There are American pubs, Irish and British bars and Turkish bars with Eastern-Anatolian folk musics. Didim Marina (D-Marin Didim) was constructed by Doğuş Holding and became operational in 2009 with berths for 8 m to 50 m boats, 400-ton boat lift, dry docks, hangars, maintenance yard, yacht club, shopping mall, restaurants, and visitor facilities. The new marina

3078-472: The Indo-Iranian sound /s/ became /h/ in many Iranian languages . The Sagbita mentioned by Assyrian sources was located in the proximity of the cities Kishesim (Kar-Nergal) and Harhar (Kar-Sharrukin). It is now proposed that the absence of any mention of Ecbatana in Assyrian sources can be explained by the possibility that Assyria never became involved as far east as the Alvand mountains, but only in

3192-560: The Louvre , but no excavation was attempted until Emmanuel Pontremoli and Bernard Haussoullier were sent out by the French Schools of Rome and Athens in 1895. They cleared the eastern façade and partly the northern flank, and discovered inscriptions giving information about other parts. German excavations made between 1905 and 1913 revealed all of the incomplete Hellenistic temple of Apollo and some carved fragments that belonged to

3306-699: The Macedonian general Parmenion by Alexander's order. Later, in 305 BC, the city was ruled by Seleucus I . The Battle of Ecbatana was fought in 129 BC between the Seleucids led by Antiochus VII Sidetes and the Parthians led by Phraates II , and marked the final attempt on the part of the Seleucids to regain their power in eastern Iran against the Parthians. After their defeat, the territory of

3420-799: The battle of Nahavand in 642 AD, Ecbatana fell to the Muslims, and around 1220, the city was completely destroyed by the Mongol invasion . Ecbatana was sacked in 1386 by Timur , and the population was slaughtered as a result. The Greeks thought Ecbatana to be the capital of the Median empire and credited its foundation to Deioces (the Daiukku of the cuneiform inscriptions). It is alleged that he surrounded his palace in Ecbatana with seven concentric walls of different colors. There are some indications that

3534-420: The stylobate 51 by 109 meters. The temple building itself was surrounded by a double file of Ionic columns, each one of them 19.70 meters high. This consisted of 10 columns along the shorter sides and the 21 columns filling the longer sides, though not all of these were erected even by the end of antiquity. Above the columns followed the architraves with the frieze . The frieze is especially famous as it housed

Didyma - Misplaced Pages Continue

3648-444: The 25 meters high walls of the sekos. This was the location of the oracle spring, the laurel tree and the naiskos with the cult statue. The foundations of the naiskos are 8.24 meters wide and 14.23 meters long. This Ionic prostylos was built around 300 BC. It is famed because of the superior high quality of its ornamentation. The naiskos with the cult statue of Apollo is depicted on Imperial coins of Miletus . The sacred oracle spring

3762-475: The 6th century BC, was used for festival processions. It touched the harbour of Didyma, situated 3 km northwest of the sanctuary called Panormos (today Mavişehir). Along this route were ritual waystations, and statues of noblemen and noblewomen, as well as animal and mythological beast figures. Some of these statues, dating to the 6th century BC, are now in the British Museum (Room 13), excavated by

3876-538: The Alusjerd river, which flows from north to south, separates the city into two parts. The summit of the Moṣallā, an 80 m (260 ft)-high rock hill in the southeast sector, contains stone and brick remnants of a rectangular citadel marked by towers. It is believed to be the Median citadel, which dates back no earlier than the Parthian era. The Tell Hagmatana, also called Tepe Hegmataneh (thought to correspond to

3990-469: The British archaeologist Charles Thomas Newton in the 19th century. The Milesians erected an altar dedicated to Poseidon 6 km southwest of Didyma. The altar was built in the first half of the 6th century BC at the southwest cape of the Milesian Peninsula. Here was the border between Ionia and Caria (according to Strabo ). The remains of the altar are still visible and can be easily found due to

4104-490: The Great , who stayed there in the following year to attack Mithridates II . Ecbatana remained loyal to the Parthians until AD 226, when Ardashir I defeated Artabanus IV and conquered Ecbatana from the north, alongside Atropatene . There is conflicting evidence as to whether Ecbatana was used as the summer capital for Sasanians or not. According to Ibn al-Faqih , buildings were built between Ctesiphon (The Sassanid capital) and Mount Alvand, but not beyond that. After

4218-497: The Persian king Darius , following the naval battle of Lade , the sanctuary was burned in 494 BC. The Persians carried away the bronze cult statue of Apollo to Ecbatana , traditionally attributed to Canachus of Sicyon at the end in the 6th century BC. It was then reported that the oracle spring ceased to flow and the archaic oracle was silenced. Although the sanctuaries of Delphi and Ephesus were swiftly rebuilt, Didyma remained

4332-429: The Seleucids was limited to the area of modern-day Syria . Ecbatana later became the summer capital of the Parthians , and their main mint, producing drachms , tetradrachms , and assorted bronze denominations. The wealth and importance of the city during classical antiquity are attributed to its location, a crucial crossroads that made it a staging post on the main east–west highway called High-Road. There

4446-527: The Turks continue to call it Yoran. About 1300 AD the Turks conquered this area of Ionia . Afterwards an earthquake in 1493 destroyed the temple of Apollo and the village was abandoned. About 300 years later the village was resettled by Greeks who used the broken ancient buildings as quarries. When Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli visited the spot in 1446, it seems that the temple was still standing in great part, although

4560-418: The ancient citadel of Ecbatana) has a circumference of 1.4 km (0.87 mi) and an area of about 40 hectares, which corresponds to a report from Polybius , although the ancient Greek and Roman accounts likely exaggerate Ecbatana's wealth, splendor, and extravagance. Relatively few finds thus far can be firmly dated to the Median era. There is a "small, open-sided room with four corner columns supporting

4674-542: The ancient site. In 1969, the Ministry of Culture and Art began buying property on the tell in support of archaeology, though excavation did not begin until 1983. By 2007, 12 seasons of excavation had occurred. In 1974, the Iranian Centre for Archeological Research performed some excavation in the Parthian cemetery located at southeast of Hamedan. The work on the tell is ongoing. Historians and archaeologists now believe "the identification of Ecbatana with Hamadān

Didyma - Misplaced Pages Continue

4788-724: The area. Most of these were built as cooperative housing projects with private beaches. Property values have recently been rising, and the building boom continues as foreign buyers, especially the families from other cities of Turkiye such as Denizli and Ankara, Turks living and working in Europe, follow their lead. The growth of Didim in the 1980s was further accelerated with the building of hotels to accommodate visitors, originally from Britain but now from Turkey itself, on inexpensive package holidays . Since about 2000, British people have begun to buy summer houses in Didim, establishing themselves as

4902-528: The auspices of Miletus were called the Didymeia. They are first mentioned at the beginning 3rd century BC. A hundred years later they were made a Panhellenic (open to all Greeks) and a penteteric festival (they took place every four years). In the first half of the 1st century BC the Didymeia were banned because Miletus had supported Mithridates , in his war against the Romans. Furthermore, the sanctuary of Apollo

5016-524: The beaches and engage in watersports even in January. Less frequented beaches are ones further from the centre, such as Haydar, along a dirt road around the shore of Akbük (meaning "white forest"). Recent renewal of main roads means the area is easily served by Bodrum and İzmir airports. Because of Didim's location, people in the 1980s came from close cities around Turkey, especially Aydın , began to buy or built summer houses, apartments, and villas in

5130-414: The blocks of the southern tier of the stadium were reused for the cavea of the theatre in the second half of the 1st century AD. One can but assume that the music agons became more important and influential than the athletic ones. The remains of the theatre came to light during 2010 and 2011. The walls, stairs and steps of the cavea were a totally unexpected find. Evidence that the theatre arose in

5244-674: The capital of the Median kingdom , and the first capital in Iranian history . It later became the summer capital of the Achaemenid and Parthian empires. It was also an important city during the Seleucid and Sasanian empires. It is believed that Ecbatana is located in the Zagros Mountains , the east of central Mesopotamia , on Hagmatana Hill (Tappe-ye Hagmatāna). Ecbatana's strategic location and resources probably made it

5358-569: The cella had been converted into a fortress by the Byzantines , but when the next European visitor, the Englishmen Jeremy Salter and Dr Pickering, arrived in 1673, it had collapsed. The Society of Dilettanti sent two expeditions to explore the ruins, the first in 1764 under Richard Chandler , the second in 1812 under William Gell . The French "Rothschild Expedition" of 1873 sent a certain amount of architectural sculpture to

5472-462: The chief French orientalists. Ecbatana is the supposed capital of Astyages ( Istuvegü ), which was taken by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great in the sixth year of the reign of Nabonidus (550/549 BC). Ecbatana Museum was opened in 1994. The museum is open all days of the week except Monday evening. Located in the east of Ecbatana hill, the museum building used to be a nursery school, but it has been put into changes and repairs to create

5586-472: The closing of the temples under Theodosius I . This was the end of the oracle. In Late Antiquity Didyma had been the seat of a bishop . Under Justinian I it was honoured with the title Iustinianopolis. In Byzantine times it changed the name to Hieronda deriving from the Greek name for sanctuary (hieron). This name was used for the village above the temple ruin until the early 20th century (Jeronda) and today

5700-400: The country of Ecbatana; the royal residence he seized; silver, gold, other valuables of the country Ecbatana he took as booty and brought to Anšan." In the 2nd Century BC, Polybius writes about Ecbatana. He mentioned that the wealth and magnificence of its buildings make it stand out among all other cities. It has no walls but an artificial citadel with amazing fortifications. Underneath this

5814-404: The course of the six-week excavation of Mosalla. Based on his chance discoveries, it looks like the 30 m (98 ft)-high mound, Tell Hagmatana, is the site of the Median citadel and the Achaemenid royal construction. The sculptured head of a prince was found during the three months-long excavation of the eastern section. Excavations have been limited due to the modern town covering most of

SECTION 50

#1732780813312

5928-408: The cult statue of Apollo. The sacred spring in its original location was already dry by the 6th c. BC and had diverted its position to the eastern half of the sekos. In front of this late Archaic temple was a circular building erected to surround the altar for Apollo, which, according to Pausanias, was made of blood and ashes of the sacrificed animals. This circular building with the conical altar inside

6042-413: The discovery of the Greek theatre in 2010/11 and during 2013 the foundations of the temple of Artemis and of another Hellenistic building, residing under a Byzantine chapel. The Hellenistic temple had two predecessors. The first sacred building dedicated to Apollo was erected around 700 BC. It was probably a hekatompedos , which means 100 feet long. The width of this first sekos measured 10 meters. 'Sekos'

6156-647: The earlier Archaic temple and to associated statues. After the Second World War the German Archaeological Institute recommenced the investigations at Didyma in 1962. From now on not only the temple of Apollo was explored but the whole area surrounding the temple. In this way some unknown buildings were discovered. The huge district with the Sacred Way north of the temple of Apollo was excavated by Klaus Tuchelt. There he found

6270-402: The end of an alley were erected in the 2nd century AD. Rudolf Naumann investigated them and found impressive mosaics in the entrance hall, the apodyterium . It was followed by the frigidarium , the tepidarium and caldarium . The baths were used until the 6th/7th century AD, as were other buildings along the Sacred Way. Parallel to the southern colonnade of the temple of Apollo was situated

6384-462: The excavations of this place began under the supervision of David Stronach , which led to the identification of three historical periods in three separate floors. The third floor belongs to the Parthians , the second floor belongs to the Achaemenids , and the first floor belongs to the Medes . This place was the most important fire temple of the Medes from the second half of the 8th century to

6498-404: The foundations of the stage building , but the architectural members of a building typical for a scene building are known since the beginning of the 20th century. After the cavea of the theatre was excavated Helga Bumke suggested that the entablature of the so-called „Tabernakel" building was part of the scene building. The inscribed dedications on the architraves reveals that the stage building

6612-471: The foundations of the sekos wall survived. Though as a lot of late Archaic column fragments were found it was likely a Dipteros, which means the sekos was surrounded by two rows of columns. These Ionic columns were partly ornamented with reliefs like the columns of the temple of Artemis in Ephesus. In the western half of the sekos the remains of a small temple were found, the so-called Naiskos, which housed

6726-406: The foundations were reinterred after each campaign, so today nothing is visible of them. It is not altogether clear if the temple of Artemis was orientated to the east or to the west because its altar has not yet been found. During excavations at the east side came no remains of the altar to light, and the area in front of the west side has not yet been excavated. So it is more likely that the temple

6840-478: The fourth blue, the fifth orange; all these colors with paint. The last two have their battlements coated respectively with silver and gold. All these fortifications Deioces had caused to be raised for himself and his own palace." Herodotus' description is corroborated in part by stone reliefs from the Neo-Assyrian Empire , depicting Median citadels ringed by concentric walls. Other sources attest to

6954-455: The greatest temples ever made. This goal was not really reached, but they built a temple with a unique plan. The temple of Apollo was clearly planned according to ritual requirements. Though at this present moment, the exact usage and function can only possibly be a matter of conjecture. The temple certainly attained the ambition of being one of the largest ancient temples ever built, its crepidoma with 7 steps measures almost 60 by 120 meters and

SECTION 60

#1732780813312

7068-600: The highest office in the sanctuary. Under Commodus the Didymeia were held as the Commodeia for the cult of the emperor. In Hellenistic and Roman times the sanctuary of Apollo flourished again. Numerous oracles of Apollo were imparted; some of them are extant in Roman inscriptions. These included inquiries and responses, and literary testimony records Didyma's role as an oracle, with the "grim epilogue" of Apollo's supposed sanction of Diocletian's persecution of Christians , until

7182-640: The historical importance of Ecbatana based on the terms used by ancient authors to describe it such as Caput Mediae (capital of Media), the Royal Seat, and the Great City. It is said that Alexander the Great deposited the treasures he took from Persepolis and Pasargadae and that one of the last acts of his life was to visit the city. The citadel of Ecbatana is also mentioned in the Bible in Ezra 6 :2, in

7296-404: The impressively monumental heads of Medusa . The entrance was at the east side. With a pronaos of three rows of four columns, the approaching visitor passed through a regularized grove formed by the columns. The door usually leading to a cella was replaced by a blank wall with a large upper opening through which one could glimpse the upper part of the naiskos in the inner court (in inscriptions

7410-404: The inner court is referred to as "sekos" or " adyton "). The impassable threshold of this door stands 1.5 meters above the floor of the pronaos , while the entire door reaches a height of 14 meters. The entry route lay down either of two long constricted sloping tunnels built within the thickness of the walls and giving access to the inner court, still open to the sky but isolated from the world by

7524-539: The kings Seleucus I and Seleucus II received oracles. So in the 3rd century BC the sanctuary of Apollo stood under the influence of the Seleucids , offering very rich donations to Apollo. Didyma suffered a serious setback in 277/76 BC, as Galatians looted it, coming from the Balkans to Asia Minor . Pliny reported the worship of Apollo Didymiae , Apollo of Didymus, in Central Asia, transported to Sogdiana by

7638-536: The liberation from the Persians the Milesians began to build a new temple for Apollo, which was the largest in the Hellenic world after the temple of Hera on the Isle of Samos and the temple of Artemis at Ephesus . Vitruvius recorded a tradition that the architects were Paeonius of Ephesus , whom Vitruvius credited with the rebuilding of the Temple of Artemis there, and Daphnis of Miletus. The dipteral temple of Apollo

7752-704: The location of a nearby modern lighthouse. Architectural members of this famous altar can be seen in the Pergamon Museum of Berlin . In Greek didyma means "twins", but the Greeks who sought a "twin" at Didyma ignored the Carian origin of the name. The Carians settled this area before the Ionian Greeks. Didyma was first mentioned among the Greeks in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo. But its establishment

7866-487: The main body of the temple itself had been completed around 100 BC. In the following centuries Miletus continued to erect the columns of the colonnade . The columns of the eastern façade were built during the reign of emperor Hadrian . The western facade was completed too and some columns on the flanks. The roof was also never entirely finished; the temple lacked the pediments . There were also other parts of this huge temple which remained unfinished. Therefore, this building

7980-538: The middle of the city for treasures and assets. Some weeks before Darius III was killed in a coup in July 330 BC, Ecbatana was conquered, and Persepolis destroyed by Alexander. These events marked the end of the Achaemenid Empire. In 330 BC, Alexander the Great captured the treasury of Ecbatana, and he looted all the gold and silver decorations of the palace. Ecbatana was the site of the assassination of

8094-404: The naiskos of Apollo and the temple of his sister Artemis concerns the time of their construction. The ornamentation of the naiskos can stylistically be dated around 300 BC, but the ornaments of the temple of Artemis date in the 2nd century BC. Hence the date of the new temple is known, but though it seems likely that it was dedicated to Artemis there remains speculation, especially as no inscription

8208-466: The naiskos. But one problem persisted unsolved, because the drawn pediment is over 2 meters wider than the actual one of the naiskos of Apollo. This perplexing enigma was eventually unravelled in 2012. It had been clear that the drawing on the western sekos wall would also suit to the rediscovered fragments of architectural members from the temple of Artemis also. So the Hellenistic temple of Artemis

8322-407: The name Didyma to "twin" temples or to temples of the twins Apollo and Artemis , whose own cult center at Didyma had then only recently been established. Also, as Wilamowitz suggested, there may be a connection to Cybele Dindymene , the "Cybele of Mount Dindymon ". Excavations by German archaeologists have lately uncovered the temple dedicated to Artemis, north of the temple of Apollo. Apollo

8436-480: The newly found theatre, but it can be assumed that a Hellenistic predecessor existed. An inscription from the beginning 3rd century BC reports that Antiochos I received a seat of honour during the choir contests at Didyma. The ancient inscriptions of Didyma testify that many more buildings existed there in antiquity than the mentioned ones above. During the many years of excavations hundreds of architectural fragments came to light which could be not allocated to

8550-726: The north shore of the gulf of Güllük , opposite Bodrum peninsula villages such as Torba , Türkbükü , and Yalıkavak . In antiquity, this formed the Posideium Peninsula but silt from the Meander River has since filled in the inlet to its north, connecting it more thoroughly to the mainland. Didim's district consists of Didim itself, a coastal town of 26,000 people, and a number of small towns including Altınkum (which means "golden sand"), Gümüşkum ("silver sand") and Sarıkum ("yellow sand"). Its neighbours are Söke from north-east and Milas from south-east. Tourism

8664-420: The one beyond it by the battlements. The nature of the ground, which is a gentle hill, favors this arrangements in some degree but it is mainly effected by art. The number of the circles is seven, the royal palace and the treasuries standing within the last. The circuit of the outer wall is very nearly the same with that of Athens . On this wall the battlements are white, of the next black, of the third scarlet, of

8778-583: The province of Caria . The area came into the hands of Turks following the defeat of Byzantium at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071. The town was captured again by the Byzantines in 1098, by Menteşe in 1280, and then Aydinids in 1300. Didim was brought into the Ottoman Empire by sultan Mehmed I in 1413. During the era of the Ottoman Empire , Didim's name was "Yoran". Didim is located on

8892-424: The provincial capital city of Aydın . Didim is the site of the antique city of Didyma with its ruined Temple of Apollo . Didim takes its name from ancient Didyma , situated close to the modern town. During the Ottoman Empire era, the town was known as Yoranda or Yoran , and under the modern Republic of Turkey, it was originally named Hisar ("Castle"). Following its destruction in an earthquake in 1955,

9006-581: The recently arrived Greek settlers. In 1924 it was converted into a mosque for the Muslims just transported from North Greece during the Exchange of Populations . More chapels or churches surely existed in Byzantine Didyma because it was the seat of a bishopric , but about this age little is known. Some of these Byzantine churches either fell into disrepair or used as animal pens after the area

9120-403: The remainder were stripped during Antigonus ' and Seleucus ' reigns. However, Antiochus found that the columns of the temple of Aene were still gilded and that several silver tiles were piled up around the temple along with some gold bricks (Polybius, 10.27). Topographically, Hamadan is characterized by three hills, Mosalla (place of prayer), Tell Hagmatana (Tappa-ye Hagmatana), Sang-e Sir, and

9234-479: The road to the sanctuary and then into the sanctuary. At all these places unfinished architectural members of the temple are visible. The inner walls of the sekos remained unpolished too. That's why Lothar Haselberger could discover there the Hellenistic construction drawings. This discovery and interpretation led to some important information about the planning and the building phase of the Apollo temple. In particular,

9348-576: The same pattern and size as architrave and frieze from the Hellenistic naiskos of Apollo. Therefore, it seemed likely they belonged to the elusive and tantalising temple of Artemis because of the twinning stylistic components. But this idea was only proven by Ulf Weber in 2012. The architrave and frieze blocks from the Artemis temple are deeper and wider than the ones from Apollo's naiskos. A cornice block (consisting of geison and sima), already found in 1909, but first investigated in 2012 belongs to them. It

9462-486: The sanctuary of Artemis was situated west of the sacred way, as Helga Bumke had some years ago already suggested. The Sacred Way inside the sanctuary of Apollo was excavated under Klaus Tuchelt. He found the remains of different buildings from the Archaic period along the wide and plastered road. To the west of the road the rock comes to the surface. Situated there were some wells, basins and small water canals. Their usage

9576-423: The search. Interpreting the written sources and old maps make it possible to find places with ancient foundations. This was done by Helga Bumke in the case of the foundation of the temple of Artemis and another Hellenistic foundation southeast of the temple of Apollo in 2013. This squarish substructure measuring 11 meters by 12 meters consisted of limestone blocks, but no superstructure came to light. It may have had

9690-437: The second half of the 1st century AD is indicated by the find of a coin dating from the time of the Roman emperor Nero and a lot of sherds from the same period. Then the cavea had a diameter of 52 meters and could receive 3000 spectators. Later in the first half of the 2nd century AD it was enlarged to a diameter of 61 meters and 4000 spectators would have found a seat. At this present time it has not been possible to excavate

9804-437: The sediments from the Meander River silted up the harbour of Miletus. A slow process which eventually meant that the nearby Latmian Gulf developed from a bay into a lake (today Bafa Gölü ). The linear distance between Miletus and Didyma measures some 16 km. As well as the simple footway there also existed a Sacred Way between the city and its sanctuary which measured some 20 km in distance. This Sacred Way, built in

9918-514: The stations of the procession from Miletus to Didyma. In 2003 Andreas Furtwaengler took over the directorship of the excavation of Didyma. His explorations were concentrated on the Archaic period of the Apollo temple and its close surroundings. Helga Bumke succeeded him 2013. She began in 2001 the exploration of the disposal site (the so-called Taxiarchis hill) of the debris from the Persian looting in 494 BC. Afterwards, also under her auspices, were

10032-423: The supposed sanctuary of Artemis. In 1979 Lothar Haselberger discovered scratched drawings on the walls in the courtyard of the temple of Apollo. A closer examination brought the first ancient blueprint of at least two temples (Apollo and Artemis) back to life. Under Klaus Tuchelt and Peter Schneider the Sacred Way from Miletus was investigated, especially the area outside of the sanctuary of Apollo. They found some of

10146-405: The temple of Apollo the foundation of the temple of Artemis is orientated exactly East-West, as it is common for most Greek temples . The remains of the foundations show that the temple had the dimensions of 31,60 meters long and 11,50 meters wide. The extant limestone blocks prove that the temple of Artemis had three rooms. Parts of its superstructure came not to light in situ. After the excavations

10260-474: The time of Darius I , as part of the national archives. The Nabonidus Chronicle , an ancient Babylonian text from the 5th century BC, describes how Astyages , the last Median king, was dethroned and how Cyrus conquered Ecbatana. "King Astyages called up his troops and marched against Cyrus , king of Anšan [ i.e., Persis ], in order to meet him in battle. The army of Astyages revolted against him and delivered him in fetters to Cyrus. Cyrus marched against

10374-587: The town was rebuilt and renamed Yenihisar ("New Castle"). The town was part of Söke district until 1991. The area became a top-level district of Aydın Province and was given the ancient name Didim in 1997 to distinguish it from the many other places in Turkey named Yenihisar. The area was settled in the neolithic period, established as colony of Crete and then Mycenae in the 16th century BC and subsequently possessed by Lycians , Persians , Seleucids , Attalids , Ancient Romans , and Byzantines as part of

10488-400: The very famous one of the draft of a column of the temple of Apollo is on the northern sekos wall. On the western wall inside the sekos the inscribed pictorial instructions of the pediment of a small temple is scratched in. Because the inscribed architectural members are similar in style to the naiskos of Apollo Haselberger and other scholars thought that it could have been the design drawings of

10602-419: The walls of this complex might be an ancient ziggurat , which was a type of temple tower with multiple stories that were common in the ancient Near East . In the 5th century BC, Herodotus wrote of Ecbatana: "The Medes built the city now called Ecbatana, the walls of which are of great size and strength, rising in circles one within the other. The plan of the place is, that each of the walls should out-top

10716-519: The western Zagros . Sir Henry Rawlinson attempted to prove that there was a second and older Ecbatana in Media Atropatene on the site of the modern Takht-i-Suleiman . However, the cuneiform texts imply that there was only one city of the name, and that Takht-i Suleiman is the Gazaca of classical geography. There is also the claim that Ecbatana used to be the city of Tabriz , which

10830-423: The western colonnade it seems likely that the stadium was longer than the south side of the temple of Apollo. The average stadium length was usually about 190 meters (one stadion ). The seating on the southern side of the stadium consisted of tiers of limestone blocks with seven or eight steps. The remains of a device for starting the contests are extant near the southeast corner of the Apollo temple. Astonishingly,

10944-479: Was a reputation for horses and wheat in the area (Polybius, 5.44.1). Graphite, gold, platinum, antimony, iron, and various minerals are found there; however, the classics mention oil seeps and flares, and there is no evidence of exploitation of these resources. In 130 BC, with the intention of restoring the Seleucid power to Iran, Antiochus VII stopped in Ecbatana for a short period of time, just as Tigranes

11058-493: Was abandoned in the 16th century and reused by the newly settled Greeks at the end of the 18th century when the quarrying of the temple marble became a profitable trade. Didim Didim is a municipality and district of Aydın Province , Turkey . Its area is 424 km , and its population is 97,000 (2022). It is a popular seaside holiday resort on the Aegean coast of western Turkey, 123 km (76 mi) from

11172-509: Was built in the last inner fort, had hundreds of rooms and people also built their houses outside of these forts, next to the palace. Some archaeologists have also attributed its construction to Phraortes , the second king of the Medes. Other old legends attribute the origin of Ecbatana to the legendary Semiramis or Jamshid . Ecbatana has also been mentioned by other Greek historians such as Polybius , Ctesias , Justin and Xenophon . The Assyrians do not seem to mention Ecbatana, and it

11286-439: Was consecrated to the gods Apollo , Artemis , Leto , Zeus , the emperor Hadrian and the people of Miletus . But it is not known who dedicated this building. As emperor Hadrian visited Miletus and Didyma in 129 AD the scene building was probably complete by that time. The winners of the musical contests , organized to worship Apollo, were honoured in several inscriptions from the Roman period . These competitions took place in

11400-404: Was constructed 100 meters north of the temple of Apollo, at approximately the same location where today the mosque stands. This church also employed the use of ancient blocks salvaged from the temple of Artemis nearby and the previously mentioned Doric stoa above. Its later history is not yet clear, but in 1830 their remains were used to erect a new church (dedicated to Saint Charalambos ) for

11514-413: Was designed with Apollo's naiskos as a model, drawn upon the wall behind the naiskos in the 2nd century BC. The only existing problem was to find a foundation with the width of the drawing (10,71 meters). The foundations of the temple of Artemis were discovered in 2013 directly behind the mosque and former Greek Orthodox church of Saint Charalambos 100 m north of the temple of Apollo . In contrast to

11628-409: Was found on the architectural members? Older inscriptions from the 6th century BC show that beside Apollo, both Artemis and Hekate had been worshipped in Didyma. Another inscription from the 3rd century BC mentions the cult statue of Artemis. In later inscriptions reconstruction works of the temple of Artemis are reported. Therefore, there can be no doubt that Artemis had her own temple in Didyma. She

11742-594: Was looted by pirates in 67 BC. After Pompey had reorganized the East of the Roman Empire, the Didymeia were permitted again in 63 BC. Some years later Julius Caesar expanded the area under asylum in Didyma. Apparently the Roman emperor Caligula tried to complete the huge temple of Apollo. Emperor Trajan renewed the Sacred Way between Miletus and Didyma as inscriptions prove in 101 AD. His successor Hadrian visited Miletus and Didyma in 129 AD and acted as Prophet -

11856-474: Was made with blocks from the naiskos and other small buildings from outside the temple around 500 AD. After a serious earthquake in the 7th century AD, a reconstruction of the three-aisled basilica was erected. In the 11th century AD, another earthquake occurred and the church in the sekos collapsed. This was replaced by only a small chapel which was used for the Christian cult . Another early Christian church

11970-414: Was not situated in the naiskos, but in the eastern half of the sekos. It was found beneath the early Byzantine church. The inner walls of the sekos were articulated by pilasters . The capitals of them are ornamented with griffins and flowers. Among them a long frieze with griffins decorated the whole sekos. Between the two tunnel exits in the sekos a monumental staircase leads up to three openings into

12084-521: Was orientated to the west because generally the altar was situated in front of Greek temples . This supposition is strengthened by the fact that the two most famous temples of Artemis in Asia Minor, at Ephesus and at Magnesia ad Maeandrum , were also faced to the west. During excavations in 1994, to the south of the mosque, an Ionic architrave and frieze blocks of an unknown building had been excavated. These blocks of white marble bear almost

12198-472: Was settled by the Achaemenid rulers. The city became the summer capital and a treasury of the Achaemenids. As mentioned in several sources, the city was also used as a royal archive. In ancient times, Ecbatana was renowned for its wealth and splendid architecture. In 330 BC when Darius III faced Alexander , Ecbatana was in ruins, but Darius III ordered the construction of hundreds of hiding places in

12312-416: Was surrounded by a double file of Ionic columns . From the pronaos lead two tunnels to the inner court. This was the location of the oracle spring, the sacred laurel tree and the naiskos - which was itself a small temple. It contained in its own small cella the bronze cult image of Apollo, brought back by Seleucus I Nicator from Persia about 300 BC. In the Hellenistic period , beside Alexander,

12426-486: Was the keystone to solve the riddle. For architrave, frieze and cornice are derived from a wider temple than the naiskos. Further they match perfectly to the construction drawing in the sekos. Finally this construction drawing matches the proportions of the new temple foundation. That means the Ionic temple of Artemis had four front columns and its length was exactly three times longer than its width. Another difference between

12540-404: Was the main deity beside Apollo, and to no other deity worshipped in Didyma is a temple documented. Furthermore, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo. All this leads to the conclusion that this temple designed according to Apollo's naiskos must be the one of Artemis and it stood originally on the promontory north of the temple of Apollo. In the end these results contradict Klaus Tuchelt's view that

12654-435: Was to build a palace worthy of the dignity of a king. After choosing Ecbatana as his capital, Deioces decided to build a huge and strong palace in the form of seven nested castles. Herodotus says that each of them was in the color of a planet. The royal palace and the treasury were located inside the seventh castle. The outer perimeter of the castle wall was almost the size of the city wall of Athens. The royal palace, which

12768-494: Was used until the end of antiquity, whilst to the east and south of the temple stood a stoa for storing some of the famous donations of Apollo. The ramifications for the temple after the Ionians lost the naval battle off of the islands of Lade in 494 BC were that most of the buildings of Didyma were heavily damaged by the Persians. The planning for the new Hellenistic temple started after 334 BC. The Milesians resolved to build one of

12882-439: Was worshipped in nearby Miletus under the name Delphinius (the same name was also used at Delphi). At Didyma, he was worshipped as Didymeus (Διδυμευς). His other names in the area were Philesios ( Φιλήσιος ), Helios , and Carinus ( Καρινος ). It is supposed that until its destruction by the Persians in 494 BC, Didyma's sanctuary was administered by the family of the Branchidae, who claimed descent from an eponymous Branchos ,

12996-487: Was written; at Didyma, inquiries and answers were written and some inscriptions with them were found. In Didyma a small structure, the Chresmographion featured in this process; it was situated outside the temple because according to inscriptions it was used for storing architectural members for the temple there. Although the construction work continued for over 600 years the temple of Apollo was never completed. But

#311688