I came all the way to Turkey to see the temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and here it is... There's nothing left, only that column, but the interesting thing is that a few kilometers away from here is the ancient Greek city of Didyma, and there they had a temple just like this one, but that one is preserved, so let's go there and let's get an idea of what this Temple looked like all those years ago. Located on the western coast of Turkey, this region is known as Ionia, and in ancient times, it was home to several Greek city-states such as Ephesus, Smyrna, Miletus, and Priene. In the ancient city of Ephesus, in the time of Alexander the Great, the Ephesians erected the Temple of the goddess Artemis, which stands as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and the largest Greek temple ever constructed. Not far from Ephesus, south of the great city of Miletus, there was the sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma. This place was one of the most important oracles in the Mediterranean. There was a rivalry between the two cities that led the people of Didyma to the construction of a temple dedicated to the god Apollo, twin brother of the goddess Artemis, hence the name of the site, Didyma, which in Greek language means twins. Architecture of the Temple: They constructed the temple of Apollo with the purpose of competing with the Temple of Artemis in the neighboring city, so they made it as similar as they could to the Ephesian temple, but this structure may even surpass it in magnificence. Notably, the Temple of Apollo at Didyma is unique in that it is decastyle, boasting ten columns on both its front and back, in contrast to the octastyle Temple of Artemis, which has eight columns. This makes the Temple of Apollo at Didyma a truly unique example, as no other Greek temple was ever built in the decastyle configuration. This temple is very rare and unique for other reasons too. It is so large that it has a dipteral arrangement, meaning that it’s surrounded by two rows of columns, while most of the great Greek temples are usually surrounded by a single row of columns. And as you approach the temple, it’s as if the rows of columns extend from the portico into the building, giving the impression of being a forest of huge columns. This specific space was copied from the Temple of Artemis which also had it, since Artemis was the goddess of hunting, of trees, and of forests, thus, the forest of columns resembles the sacred forests that Greeks used to consecrate to the gods. And just the density of the columns, I mean they're very close to each other, they're huge, it's almost as impressive as an Egyptian hypostyle hall, just in a Greek ionic style, which makes it very unique and very particular in its essence. Craft of the Columns: Another oddity is that the bases of the surrounding columns are adorned with varied design, having twelve faces with carved panels on each face. The craftsmanship of these panels adds a touch of majesty to the overall splendor. This feature, they probably got it too from the temple of Artemis, which also had sculpture at the bases of its columns, some of which you can find in the main halls of the British museum, along with many of the remains. Enormous Scale: The temple is very large, just look at the size of people walking next to it. The temple was 118 meters long, and 60 meters wide. The interior of the naos was 23 meters wide and each column stood over 19 meters high, making the whole building just over 25 meters high. So if you put it side by side with the Parthenon which is considered the perfect canon of Greek architecture, and is already a very large Greek temple for its time, you can see that the temple of Didyma is almost twice as large, it’s one of the largest temples of the ancient world, and there’s a reason why they were able to make such an enormous temple. While exploring the ancient cities of Greece today, one will notice that most of the Greek temples were constructed in the Doric order, as it is the oldest and originated in the west of mainland Greece. However, in the region of Ionia, the Ionic order emerged, marking a significant architectural innovation that allowed for taller structures due to its more slender and taller proportions. These are some of the Ionic temples that are known for their monumental scale, side by side with the Parthenon, of Doric order. These are the apex of Ionian power, affluence and cultural innovation. No temples of such grand scale existed in mainland Greece at the time. And just so you get a sense of the size of this Temple, just look at the size of this column, I mean, I cannot even fit the whole column in the frame, it's so big, look at all the details, all the carvings, it's just incredible, and every column is like this, they all have special carvings, special sculpture, it's very, very impressive. Spectacular. Interior the Naos: There is an unusual antechamber placed between the pronaos and the naos. To go into the naos, the sacred room of the temple, you don’t thread through the center of the building. This opening that you see in plan, although 14 meters high, is not a door, as the level of this antechamber is a meter and a half above the level of the pronaos. Instead, two small doorways to either side lead to narrow, sloping vaulted passages which run direct to the naos, whose floor is at the ground level, not, as is usual, at or a little above the level of the stylobate. This is because there was a natural spring underground that had to be accesible from the naos for ritual purposes. The naos was a hypaethral space. In architecture, hypaethral means a space with no roof. This was likely due to the fact that it’d be almost impossible to roof this huge space without columns. Other temples with a hypaethral naos include the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus and the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, both in a much more ruined state. In Greek temples, the naos typically housed a cult statue of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated. In this temple, the cult statue of the god Apollo was placed in an inner shrine, a small Ionic temple within the temple, known as ναΐσκος, located at the western end of the naos. There’s not much left of this small temple, but you can still see its foundations. It was 14 meters by 8 meters, and it had four columns on its front. The walls that you see today are only a third of their original height, so imagine how small you would have felt inside this monumental structure. Some of the capitals that once crowned the pilasters, the square columns engaged in the walls, are today exhibited in front of the walls, and you can appreciate how masterfully crafted this temple was, showing pairs of griffin lions and floral ornaments. As

I’ve showed in other sites such as the acropolis of Athens or the sanctuary of Delphi, Classical Greek architecture is characterized by making a close connexion with nature. This temple, however, was not built during the Classical period of Ancient Greece, but during the Hellenistic period, that is, from the time of Alexander the Great, around 330 BC. And architecture from this period is characterized by creating an artificial environment. There is not as much dialogue between architecture and nature as in the classical period. So the huge walls of the naos isolate you from the outside, and sacred olive trees and a spring of water would be placed, making this court an interior world within a world and cutting you off from nature. In case of flooding, there is a small hole in the left corner of the back wall for the water to drain. Oracle Chamber: At the east end of the naos, a splendid wide staircase of twenty-four steps leads up to the antechamber through three doorways flanked by engaged Corinthian columns. This peculiar arrangement may have been connected with the oracular purpose of the shrine. So this space was probably where priests, known as Βραγχίδες, used to interpret the oracles of the gods. To either side of the antechamber are stairs, now ruined but leading as high as the building is preserved; their purpose is uncertain, but they may reflect influence from Egyptian temples. Stylobate: The temple stands on a stylobate of seven steps, and at the main entrance, there’s a section with a stairway of thirteen steps. This temple, just like the Parthenon in Athens, incorporates optical corrections to trick our eyes, such as a very slight curvature on its elements that make it look more horizontal rather than curving downward towards the center. There are many ancient graffiti on the walls, and especially on the stylobate. The southern steps of the temple were used as seats for spectators to watch the games held in a stadium that no longer exists, and people marked their seats by engraving their names in them, like here: Hγημαναρου, the seat of Hγημαναρος, and Λάμπρου, the seat of Λάμπρος. And there are even construction drawings carved in the walls and pavement of this temple. Ornaments and Details: Every single part of this temple has detailed carvings, the architrave had carved motifs of plants and lions, the cornices and the bases had detailed carvings, and even the capitals of the corner columns had the heads of gods and animals sculpted, replacing the volutes that characterize the Ionic order. Originally a series of Medusa heads would have appeared on the frieze on top of the architrave; images of monsters, like Medusa, served to protect temples from harm against the enemies of Apollo. Since the temple is ruined, you can see many of these elements scattered in the surrounding space of the temple. The remains of a large circular altar can be seen in front of the temple’s main facade. Its sculpted reliefs probably matched the quality of the temple. Sacred Way: Every ancient Greek sanctuary had a sacred way, through which a procession passed in ceremonies. The sacred way at Didyma, was 5 meters wide, and connected the temple of Apollo with the port-city of Miletus, 18 km north. The ritualization of public space signified the firm bond between religion and politics in Ancient Greek cities. Every year the people from Miletus made a New Year procession to the sanctuary of Apollo, where they celebrated a festival with games and musical competitions. Every four years other Greek cities were invited to join the procession and the following festival called Didymeia. Construction Process: Other than the temple, there were several more buildings in this sanctuary such as stoas, baths and even a theater. But since most of these lie beneath the modern town of Didim, not a lot of excavations have been made. Work on the temple was carried out with periods of inactivity during the 3rd century BC, with later resumptions. Some of the construction belongs to the Roman period around the year 130 AD, but the temple was so large, that it was never fully completed. The main body of the building was finished, but only 72 of the 122 intended columns were actually built, and some are missing their final decorative elements. For example, of the three columns that are standing at their full height, one is missing its fluting. The roof and pediments were not finished by the time that Theodosius, the emperor who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity, closed the temple and ended the oracle, causing the temple construction to stall. Middle Ages: In the Middle Ages, a Byzantine church was built inside the naos of the temple of Apollo. The last remains of this church were demolished in 1925 to get a better understanding of the original Hellenistic temple, however, you can still see old photographs of the remains of the byzantine church. A Wonder of the World: The Temple of Apollo at Didyma emerges as a colossal masterpiece of ancient Greek architecture. The monumental scale of its towering columns and expansive courtyard leaves an indelible impression, highlighting the grandeur and ambition of its builders. The remarkable craftsmanship allows us to step back in time, offering a rare glimpse into the awe-inspiring grandiosity of the ancient world. It's very difficult to show on camera how enormous this building really is, but being here, you really understand how this was considered a wonder in the ancient world, and even the Temple of Artemis, which was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was even a little bit bigger than this Temple. So it's very, very impressive and very astounding to be in this place. This really was a very impressive site to visit, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did please like this video and subscribe to my channel so that I can continue to produce these videos, because they take months to make. If you like Ancient Greece, I have a full playlist on my channel about Ancient Greek architecture, so make sure you go check that out. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you very soon in the next episode. Goodbye!