Didyma was an ancient Greek city, located in Turkey, near the modern village of Yenihisar (Yoran) near the town of Söke in the province of Aydýn. Just outside of Didyma was the sanctuary containing a temple and oracle of Apollo. It was a neighbor of Miletus, to which it was connected only by sea, and those arriving by ship would land at the harbor of Panormus and follow the Sacred Way to Didyma. Until its destruction by the Persians in 494 BC, Didyma's sanctuary it was administered by the family of the Branchidae, the descendants of Bronchos, a youth beloved of Apollo. For the last two kilometers of its length the Sacred Way was lined with the seated statues of members of the Branchidae family, male and female. The Greeks began to build monumental temples in the first half of the eighth century BC. The temples of Hera at Samos and of Poseidon at Isthmia were among the first erected. ... An Oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion; an infallible authority, usually spiritual in nature. ... Worship Apollo is considered to have dominion over the plague, light, healing, colonists, medicine, archery, poetry, prophecy, dance, reason, intellectualism and as the patron defender of herds and flocks. ... In Greek mythology, Miletus was the founder of the city described below. ...

After his capture of Miletus in 334 B. C. Alexander the Great placed the administration of the oracle in the hands of the city. Bust of Alexander III in the British Museum. ...

External link

• Site of Didyma (http://www.turizm.net/cities/didyma/)