Turkey is an amazing and unique country, a storehouse of world history and a burial vault of ancient civilizations, a place where great legends were born, the birthplace of biblical and ancient Greek epics, sung by Homer.
This fabulous land takes you into the world of incredible stories and legendary events.
Epic Troy, the great city of Halicarnassus, antique Pergamum and Ephesus, stone sculptures on Mount Nemrut, unique underground cities, rock monasteries and landscapes of Cappadocia, unique Istanbul - the capital of four great empires …
This is just a short list in a kaleidoscope of fascinating places in Turkey, which combined the cultural and historical values of Ancient Greece and Rome, Venetian merchants and early Christians.
On the territory of Turkey, there were once many ancient states with a great history. From the peoples of the past, there are magnificent monuments that can be admired even today. Many of the structures indicate that the ancient peoples possessed unique construction technologies.
Ancient Temple of Apollo in Didim
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Didyma is an ancient city on the territory of modern Turkey, founded long before our era.
The city has preserved a unique temple-sanctuary of Apollo, one of the largest in Ionia, with a sacred oracle with him. Currently, the Temple of Apollo in Didyma is one of the best-preserved large buildings of antiquity.
The second "name" of the temple of Apollo is Didimeion and gave the name of the modern resort town. In translation "didyma" means "twins". This is due to the fact that in ancient times, not far from the Temple of Apollo, the sanctuary of Artemis, the twin sister of the Greek god, towered.
The drawing of the temple, made by G. Niemann during excavations in 1912, depicts the temple in the form in which it could have been at the time of the cessation of construction.
The Temple of Apollo at Didyma looks majestic even when in ruins. This is one of the best preserved large buildings from the times of antiquity. Didyma was created near the large commercial and maritime center of Ionia - Miletus, with which it was connected both by sea communication and laid in the 4th century BC. e. "Sacred road".
According to some reports, Didyma was founded at the very beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Already by the 7th century BC. e. the temple oracle is gaining international prominence. As Herodotus wrote, even the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II sent gifts to the temple.
Along with Delphi, Dodona and Claros, Didyma was one of the most famous temple oracles of ancient Greece. According to legend, in Didimeion the beautiful Leto gave birth to a son from Zeus - the god Apollo.
Since Apollo was considered the patron saint of newly founded cities, it was customary to turn to the oracle before starting a new expedition.
The appeal to the will of the gods arose every time there was a need to cope with the troubles caused by the natural elements, crop failure, disaster, and the oracle's prophecies became a guide to action.
Thanks to this, the Temple of Apollo was the center of politics controlled by the priests of the oracle. How the prophecy took place has not been established for certain. It is only known that it was pronounced by the priest in poetic form.
Despite the fact that the construction of the temple in Didim lasted for over 600 years, it was never completed. If the plan of its creators succeeded, then the sanctuary could rightfully bear the title of the eighth "wonder of the world." Strabo reports that, due to its enormous size, the roof was not laid over the temple. The walls of the temple were also not subjected to final polishing. They are covered with numerous carved drawings and signs dating back to the antique period.
The temple of Apollo in Didim began to be erected several times. On the territory of the temple, before the construction of its latest version, archaeologists discovered two of its previous versions, of which the first dates back to about 700 BC. e., the other - by the VI century BC. e. Construction of the current, partially preserved temple began in the Hellenistic era, around 330 BC. e. The construction of the sanctuary was carried out under the guidance of the greatest architect of his time, Peony of Ephesus.
The temple had two colonnades - the outer one, which consisted of 10x21 columns, and the inner one, of 8x19 columns. The colonnades are on a seven-step pedestal. A 14-step stone staircase leads to the temple. The lower part of the temple structure measures 51 × 109 meters.
In ancient times, the Temple of Apollo consisted of 120 Ionic columns 19.7 meters high, arranged in two rows. It took the builders of those times more than a year to make only one of them. At the top of the columns you can see the heads of the Gorgon Medusa and griffins - mythical creatures with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. To date, only three columns survived, which were able to withstand for more than two millennia.
The Temple of Apollo amazes with its size, amazing architecture, carefully crafted blocks and a mysterious cut column. Here you can see traces of skillful processing of stone blocks.
The researchers are interested in a huge column, as if cut into identical pieces by an unknown tool. It lacks the characteristic grooves on the marble, apparently the builders of the Temple of Apollo did not have time to process it or cut it into pieces when they did not succeed (after all, the temple was built for more than 600 years).
Excavations in Didim are still ongoing. Archaeologists have more questions than answers. The columns of Didimeion are not inferior in size to similar columns from Baalbek in Lebanon - the symbol of Roman gigantomania. The columns of the Temple of Bacchus in Baalbek are 19 meters high - one and a half times higher than in the Parthenon, but just below the columns in Didyma.
What technologies of stone processing and construction existed among the ancient peoples of Ionia BC? Who, when and with what tool could cut the giant column so smoothly - remains a mystery?
Read the continuation here.