Apollo Temple 

The earliest inscriptions found on the site date to about 600BC, which show it was already functioning as an oracle by that time. Herodotus mentions Didyma in his account of the Greek oracles tested by Croesus as the Lydian king was contemplating his fateful invasion of Persia, although the historian refers to the shrine as Branchidae (1.46), after the noble family who were in charge of the cult of Apollo there during its early days. The shrine is mentioned again shortly after Croesus' defeat, when Aristodicus visited on behalf of the Cymeans in order to find out whether his fellow citizens should continue to offer asylum to the rebel Lydian Pactyes (1.158-9).

The traditional approach to the oracle in antiquity was by the Sacred Way, which was lined with a number of 6th century statues, most commonly the seated, rather stiff figures, identified as Branchid priests, who can now be seen in the British Museum. 

Since Didyma came under the administrative control of neighbouring Miletus, its temple was included in the Persian destruction of that city in 494BC as punishment for its leading role in the Ionian revolt. The thoroughness with which the Persians flattened the temple at Didyma is strongly suggested by the fact that we hear of almost no activity taking place there until the 4th century, when the dried up prophetic spring is said to have flowed with water once more in favourable acknowledgement of Alexander the Great as he passed through the region. However, the city's real revival came with the building works commissioned in about 300BC by Seleucus, one of Alexander's successors. It was this man who is responsible for the imposing monuments still visible today, despite raids by Gauls and pirates. After the earthquake of 1493, it is thanks to the reconstruction work of Didyma's excavators that the temple to Apollo now stands in a good state of repair, with the exception of its colonnade, making it one of the most rewarding sites to visit in Asia Minor.

The temple was built in the Ionic order, with a double row of 10 columns across the front and back. In all, including the pronaos, there would have been 120 columns, making the temple a rival for the temple of Artemis at Ephesus if it had ever been completed; indeed both monuments shared the same architect, Paionios. A unique aspect of the temple is its antechamber, from which 3 doors lead the visitor down a flight of stairs into the cella. The size of this central area meant it was never covered by a roof and would have functioned as an enclosed courtyard. The cella is also accessible by a sloping tunnel from the pronaos. Within the cella stands the remains of a smaller, 4 columned Ionic temple which contained the cult statue of Apollo and the oracular spring. Fragments of the Medusa frieze which ran above the architrave still lie amidst the ruins around the temple and, together with the varied, intricate decoration around the column bases of the pronaos, give us some idea of the ornate grandeur of this monumental temple. 

We have a reasonably good idea of how this oracle would have functioned. There appears to have been a priestess, inspired by the sacred spring, who conveyed the god's prophecy to clients through words, rather than nods or the rustling of trees used by other Greek oracles. The clients themselves were not permitted to come into direct contact with the priestess, but received her responses in hexameter verse from the prophet of Apollo, who was appointed by lot for the year as the most senior official of Miletus. As at Delphi, the temple is surrounded by offerings and votive tablets from grateful clients who appear to have received the answer they were seeking. These responses would often have been ambiguously phrased, allowing their recipients to interpret them as the pleased. On matters of policy, the oracle would have been well informed on the affairs of state across the Greek world, since priests at famous sites such as Didyma and Delphi would have come into contact with so many visiting dignitaries. As a result, much of the oracles advice could well have been based on human, rather than divine intelligence.

As with Delphi, the modern visitor would find it difficult not to be impressed by the site of this ancient, if slightly less famous oracle. Indeed, both sacred locations would have intended to inspire a sense of awe in all who came to consult Apollo, hoping that an imposing setting might suggest the presence of the god. However, whereas the unique atmosphere of Delphi is largely created by nature's own insurpassably impressive backdrop of Mount Parnassos; Didyma has no such impressive geographical feature and therefore relies on the sheer towering magnitude of its manmade temple of Apollo. It is not without reason that the Professor G E Bean refers to the site as "the most impressive single ancient monument on the west coast". 

Temple of Apollo location

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