Magnificent Ionic capitals, the Temple of Apollo at Didyma

Ruins and two great columns of the Temple of Apollo at Dydima. Located in the south of the ancient port city of Miletus on the western coast of modern-day Turkey, the Temple of Apollo at Didyma or Didymaion was the fourth largest temple in the ancient Greek world. The temple’s oracle, second in importance only to that at Delphi, played a significant role in the religious and political life of both Miletus and the greater Mediterranean world; many rulers, from Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) to the Roman emperor Diocletian (244-313 CE) visited or sent delegations to this oracle seeking the guidance and favor of Apollo. The temple was destroyed by Persia in 494 BC; oracle and cult were restored under Alexander the Great after 334 BC; new temple was begun ca. 300 BC, but not completed. The temple is unusual with its hypaethral and without a roof. Raised on a high, stepped podium (as seen in this image) and surrounded on all four sides by a double row of columns (double peristyle or dipteral), twenty-one along the sides and ten across the front and rear façades (decastyle), the interior cella was exposed to the sky, providing a large open sanctuary.135 film (36×24 mm