A visit to The Temple of Apollo which can be seen as the petrification of the curiosity to know the future that man couldn’t have resisted for thousands of years, is a must if you are in Yenihisar region of Didim, the touristic district of Aydın. Although it is not as well known as much as the Artemis temple in Miletos, one of the seven wonders of the ancient age, it is in fact almost as important as it is. And in fact, the Temple of Apollo is a better place to see because it is in a better condition than the Temple of Artemis, which has only one column remaining. However, since this region was not an ancient settlement and was only used as a sacred temple area, there are no ruins of a city as developed as the ancient city of Ephesus. This place was used only as a center of prophecy.
16 km long sacred road from Miletus was coming to this temple, and the last 2 kilometers of this road was decorated with lion statues and statues of important figures of that period and with Branchids’ , the priests in charge of the temple. But we can not see them now neither in Didim nor even in Turkey unfortunately because a British archaeologist named Newton came to Turkey in 1800 and smuggled them to England. They are currently exhibiting at the british museum.
People slaughtered sacrifices on this road until they came here from Miletus. Before completing this sacred road in 4 days with rituals and chants they stopped at some points on the way and demanded prophesy about their future here at the end of the way namely The Apollon Temple.
The Temple of the Twins
Another name of the temple is Didymaion, which means twins. It comes from the Aramaic Tomae (also twin) because Apollo and Artemis are twins. Because of this connection this temple was constructed similar to the temple of Artemis, so it is called Didymaion. The concept of twin is very important to pagan culture, like Castor-Pollux, Romus-Romulus, even Jesus-Apollonius !!
The merchants or the commanders who were going to go to war came to the entrance section where the huge columns were located, , presented their sacrifices to the temple, who were cleaned with holy water before, and demanded prophecy about their future. When the offered sacrifice was first washed with holy water, if the animal did not move, it was thought that Apollo did not accept the sacrifice, and if it moved, the sacrifice was accepted and the prophecy request was admitted only in this case.
The Temple of Apollo, one of the three largest temples of the ancient world, together with the Artemis temple in Miletus and the Hera temple in Samos, dates back to 800 BC. In the 800s, the temple was built as the center of prophecy of Ionian cities such as Miletus, Ephesus and Priene but it was never completed because many times it was looted in wars and sometimes destroyed by earthquakes, but it still preserves its glory.
The Temple of Apollo, which owes this splendor to its planning similar to the temple of Artemis, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient age, as Apollo and Artemis are twin brothers, basically consists of two parts. The first section is the entrance section where the huge columns are located, and in this section the people presented their sacrifices and gifts to the temple when they came for divination. The other part is where only priests and officials were allowed to enter, and where the Pityas (also called Cybill) , known as the brides of the god prophesied. This section is in the shape of a temenos, surrounded by high walls and with an open top. And a smaller temple surrounded by smaller pillars in the center of this temenos was reserved for the oracles, the pityas, sitting on three-legged stools, probably at the fountain of a thermal water coming from fault fractures. The hot water containing sulphurous and hallucinogenic gases made them dreamy and by this ecstatic state they were making prophecies about the future for the visitors. This scenery may remind you the oracle’s 3-legged stool in the movie The Matrix and the prophets in the Minority Report movie living in the water.
In the center section surrounded by smaller columns where the prophets were located, there was a 4-5 meter statue of Apollo made of bronze and this statue was moved to the capital of Persians Ekbatana after the Lade Sea battle in 494 BC, when the Persians captured Miletus. The kidnapped statue of Apollo, which is of great importance to the local people, was later brought from the place where it was kidnapped by Alexander and from then on Alexander was nicknamed as the son of Apollo.
The Brides of the Gods
Only priests or nuns could enter this section where the priests, namely Pityas or Cybills, the brides of God prophesied. On the other hand the people could only get close to the first section with huge pillars and presented their sacrifices and gifts. This large part of the prophets is called the cella, the heart of the temple. This is where the Sibil or Pityas were intoxicating themselves by chewing a bay leaf or breathing in the smoke of laurel incense, to be able to hear from the god Apollo about the future. And the god whispered to them according to their beliefs, from the well in the middle of Cella, which was thought as the center of the world, the place where the fault breaks.
It was believed that a meteor fell into this well and that is why it was thought as a sacred place. Just like in many cultures, we see here that natural formations such as rocks, caves or wells are considered sacred and even considered the center of the world. Actually, this temple was built on a fault line. Going into the trance of the prophetic nuns was accelerated by inhaling the water steam mixed with sulfur and various gases which was coming to the surface from a fracture in this fault line.
The Pityas Who Know the Future
So how did the oracles know the future? I guess this temple could not have survived for centuries, if they did not know, or did not appear to know. The prophecies are given in the form of hexagrams, that is, poems consisting of six sentences, and these prophecies were given in ambiguous meanings so that they could be understood in many ways, and in a way that would not prove the temple unjust.
For example, Croesus, the king of Lydia, came before the war with the Persians, and he was told by the prophets that a great kingdom would collapse, and he entered the war, thinking that the kingdom to be destroyed would be the Persian kingdom, and at the end of the war his own kingdom was destroyed. So the oracles were not mistaken again!
The Mythology of Apollo
In fact, as an Anatolian god the origin of Apollo goes back to Apulunas in the Hittites. Like almost all Greek gods and goddesses, Apollo came from the East. Apollo, the god of music, poetry and art in Greece, was the son of Leto of Zeus, the god of the gods. Her twin sister was Artemis, the goddess of the moon. Apollo was depicted as a blonde young man because he was the god of the sun and fire. At the same time, Apollo, who was responsible for the prophecy, also protected the shepherds and their herds.
According to Heredo, the Branchids showed disloyalty to their gods Apollo and gave many things of the temple to the Persians after the sea battle of Lade in 494, during the Persian invasion, including the huge bronze statue of Apollo in the place where the Pityas prophesied… And this gigantic statue was taken to Ekbatan, the Persian capital of that time, until Alexander defeated the Persians 150 years later and restored the statue. This is why Alexander was so loved by the local people and took the title of the son of Apollo. The temple reached its final shape during the time of Alexander, but its construction couldn’t be completed.
Until the period of Marcus Aurellius, this temple was used very actively but with the rise of Christianity it began to lose its importance after the 3rd century. The temple was turned into a castle due to the invasions of the Goths. According to an inscription found in the temple, Apollo gushed a spring from the ground for those who remained inside and were thirsty during the invasion. This story seems like to be a narrative about the well in the Oracle region (Naiskos).
Medusa and the Gorgons
Medusa was one of the three monster sisters of the Greek underworld, known as the Gorgos. In antiquity, Medusa statues or figures were used in many important places and sacred places to protect that area like an amulet or magic. The purpose of the Medusa head here is also the same. At that time Medusa pictures and reliefs were used even on the shields of the soldiers to protect them.
The famous Medusa head at the entrance cracked into two and the other Medusa heads on the feet of the columns were made for the protection of the temple. Medusa heads were used for the same purpose in many places such as Yerebatan Cistern in İstanbul.
If you happen to be in Didim, we strongly recommend you to visit this incredibly rich historical Apollo temple still standing with almost all its glory.
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