Monday 20 October 2008

The Temple of Apollo


Sunday we went to Didim, my uncle has a house there and my mum will stay there for a week, so after a 3 hour trip we went to the temple of Apollo.

The Apollo Sanctuary has been constructed between 334 B.C. till the 4th Century A.D. A church has been incorporated in the 5th Century, a huge demolition happened by an earthquake around 1500.


Here you can see the columns fallen down.


Everywhere are amazing details, like reliefs depicting Artemis, Leto, Zeus and Apollo.


To get inside you past a tunnel.


Al thought we are almost in November it was extremely hot, about 35 Celsius (95 F).

We saw a lot of turtles walking around, sometimes it looked like the stones where moving.



A small precaution against graffiti (and it helps)...


...only graffiti from a long time ago.






Originally a series of Medusa heads would have appeared in the frieze on top of the tripartite architrave. Depictions of monsters like Medusa served to protect temples from harm.



And some information giving their:

With a length of 120m and a height of 25m, the so-called 'younger Didymeion' was one of the largest temples of the ancient world. The ruins preserved today gives a striking impression of the quality of the architectural workmanship required to build it. Despite being under construction over a very long period of time, the temple was never completely finished. Only 72 of the intended 122 columns were actually erected, and some of those standing are missing final decorative elements. For example, one of the three upright standing columns is missing its fluting and the entablature has been finished only on the front face of the building.
Those pieces which have been preserved still show outstanding quality of architectural decoration.

16 comments:

  1. Oh, this is so bautiful star! What a wonderful part of the world you live in surrounded by such beauty.

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  2. Utterly and totally amazing this could be made without big machines! Just muscle power...unbelievable.
    But still I prefer the turtles :-)

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  3. Now I'm sure I'll spend my next holidays in Tukey! Exploring ancient ruins is my most favorite thing to do!

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  4. What an inspiring place, Star! Super! :)

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  5. Star thank you so much for this post! I have enjoyed my tour very much and now have another ancient monument to add to my list of Must See:)

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  6. this is beautiful ! I want to see that too. Will tell my hubby about this when he is back; we have to visit Turkey

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  7. Wow Star, look much better than Forum in Rome!
    I didn't realised we can find something like that in Turkey!
    Lucky you:)

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  8. yes, the turtels are funny!!!
    I envy you living in a country wich such a beautiful heritage,
    need to go there soon again!!!

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  9. What a wonderful place this must be!

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  10. very interesting to read, and 35 degrees - oh, i wish i was in Turkey right now!

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  11. What is it about ruins that we find so beautiful? I'm sure it was breathtaking while standing... complete...but to me it is all the more fascinating in its tumbled down glory.

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  12. i love your blogs ,... incredible stuff

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  13. I love this photos!! thanks for sharing :)

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  14. lovely pics!I felt like I was there myself!Thanks for sharing!

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  15. Turkey is so amazing, except for the banning of the blog! Thanks for sharing your beautiful part of the world!

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  16. Great blog...from another Didim resident here. Great photos! Id recommend that anyone loving ancient sites come and stay in Didim (marketed as 'Altinkum' from the UK but rest of the world call the area 'Didim') as it is central to numerous fantastic sites - Ephesus, Heraklia, Iassos, Priene, Milet, to name just a few

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