Didyma

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Didymaion Apollon Temple, which you will see on the right of the road on the way from Yenihisar to Didim, is one of the well-preserved works in our country. It is open every day and can be visited between 08:00 and 19:30. If you are passing by and you have little time, you can stop and look from the outside. You will see a fisherman's shelter and Tavşanburnu Forest Dinlemne Camp along the way. A suitable place to relax a little in the summer heat. But if you want to eat too, we recommend the restaurants opposite the Temple of Apollo. The mosque, which is still used next to the restaurants, used to be a church, and when you look at it later, it is immediately obvious.

Miletus is even older than the first Ionian cities. It was famous as the city of the seers (soothsayers). Kings used to come here all the time before they decided on a war, wanting to know their future.

Didyma was the holy place of the city of Miletus. It was connected to Miletus by a holy road with statues on both sides. British Wod, who was excavating in the holy city between 1863-1874, took the statues of priest, nun, king, queen and lying lion to his country. These works, called Brankhit, are still in the British Museum. Researches on the first temple BC. VIII. It shows that it was built at the end of the 19th century and turned into a large temple in 560 BC. The Temple of Apollo also suffered from the Persian destruction we talked about in Miletus. Alexander's BC. The city, which gained its independence after defeating the Persians in 334, rebuilt its temple. The construction of the great temple BC. III, and II. It lasted throughout. A part of it could only be completed in the Roman period. B.C. In 300, the Syrian King Seleukos presented the statue of Apollo, which was taken by the Persians, to the temple. The temple, which was built by the Ephesian architects Paionios and Daphnis, was the largest building after Ephesus and Samos. Prof Ekrem Akurgal says that with the parts found in the surrounding, the temple can be completely rebuilt.