The Temple of Apollo has to be the most impressive old world architecture that I have ever seen. The columns have such a large circumference that they seem like they have to have been made by giants. A large stone hallway still leads to the center of the temple. There is no way to truly convey the vast scale of the site, When you get dos to the still standing columns, they are over whelming. There was a large puddle at the base of the steps to the temple. Thousands of tiny tad poles swam in the puddle frantically. I imagined the sun must be evaporating the water making it an imperative that they sprout legs an adapt to life on dry land. A turtle lumbered along across the path I wag on, as I sketched.
The ruins of Didyma are located at a short distance to the northwest of modern Didim in Aydin Province, Turkey, whose name is derived from Didyma’s. Greek and Roman authors refer the name Didyma to temples of the twins, Apollo and Artemis, whose own cult center at Didyma was only recently established.
Excavations by German archaeologists have uncovered a major sanctuary
dedicated to Artemis, with the key ritual focus being water.
The 6th century Didymaion, dedicated to Apollo, enclosed a
smaller temple that was its predecessor, which archaeologists have
identified. Its treasury was enriched by gifts from Croesus. To approach the temple, visitors would follow the Sacred Way to Didyma, about
10 miles long. Along the way, were ritual way stations, and statues of
members of the Branchidae family, male and female, as well as animal
figures. Some of these statues, dating to the 6th century BC, are now in
the British Museum, taken by the British archaeologist Charles Newton in the 19th century