Didyma is located in the village of Yenihisar. 4 km Inland from the coast called Altinkum (Golden sand) and 15 kms south of Akköy, near Soke. Didyma was actually a sacred site and not a city, in whose centre was a great temple built in the name of the sun god Apollo.
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However much Apollo may be considered as one of the twelve deities dwelling on Mount Olympus in Greek mythology, he is actually an Anatolian god, the counterpart of the Hittite god, Apulunas. The finding of records which show him racing with King Midas or the satyr shepherd Marsyas who gave his name to the river Cine, are evidences that he is a very ancient god of Anatolian origin. Apollo is the son, of Zeus and twin brother to Artemis, the Moon-goddess. According to the legend their mother, Leto, gave birth to the twins in the Ortega woods north of Kusadasi. The word "Didymaion" means "twins" and this is the reason why the place the Temple of Apollo stands was called so. The Greeks, believing in fate, looked upon Apollo as an oracle as well. The oracles received from the priests in the temple of Apollo at Delphoi influenced and changed the lives of people to a great extent. The Ionians built the temple in Didyma as the second oracle centre, and they constructed it with such care that it was one of the most magnificent temples of the times. The temple flourished under the guardianship of the city of Miletus. Pausanius, one of the writers of the first century informs us that the cult seen in this region existed long before the Ionians arrived in Anatolia.
The first temple we know of was built in the 8th century B.C. It was surrounded by columns at the beginning of the 6th century B.C. This temple which had all the characteristics of archaic art, was finally completed around 550 B.C. Those who built the temple and took its guardianship upon themselves, who acted as priests and oracles were people called "Brankhid. This word was derived from the name of a person Apollo loved, "Branchos"; The Brankhids ruled in this region for a very long and peaceful period and founded a theocratic administration. The biggest classical temples were formed by surrounding an inner space with columns in two rows, and were called "dipteros". The dipteros of the archaic Didymaion measured 38.40 X 85.15 meters. The columns with Ionic capitals and fluting 8 in the short rows and 21 in the long rows. The idol statue in the inner space was made by the famous sculptor, Kanachos. Sacred goods and valuable gifts were kept hidden here. For example, Herodotus writes that the Egyptian King, Necho II, gave the outfit he had on in the battle against the Syrians to the temple as a gift to the oracle. In front of the temple, there was a round sacrifice altar. The walls surrounding the sacred room are the walls we see now. These were 3.5 meters high and were built in 550 B.C.
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