Didyma

Didyma was an ancient Ionian city that now corresponds to the modern Turkish town of Didim. Didyma was the site of a stupendous temple to Apollo, occupied by an oracle as important as the one at Delphi. But ancient Didyma was never a real town; only the priests who specialized in oracular temple management lived here. Originally from Delphi, they had a pretty easy life, sitting on the considerable temple treasure. Modern Didim is a popular stop for tour groups, and carpet shops gush forth touts at the approach of each new bus.

The ruins of the Temple of Apollo you see today belong to a late 4th century BC temple built to replace the original one (destroyed by the Persians in 494 BC), and a later construction sponsored by Alexander the Great. It was never finished, although its oracle and priests continued hard at work until Christianity became the state religion, thereby bringing pagan practices to an end. The temple porch held 120 huge columns with richly ornamented bases. Behind the porch is a great doorway where oracular poems were written and presented to petitioners. The grounds contain fragments of rich decoration, including a head of Medusa. Also, there used to be a road lined with statues that led to a small harbor but after standing unmoved for 23 centuries the statues were taken to the British Museum in 1858.