(Note: Click on small pictures to see a larger version)

After visiting Ephesus in the morning, we drove due south for about an hour and stopped for lunch in Didyma, the site of the temple of Apollo. This temple was supposed to be just like the nearby temple of Artemis, but was never completed. Ironically, there is more left of this temple than of the temple of Artemis. Much of the destruction did not occur until an earthquake in 1493.

We can not only get a good feel for just how massive these temples were, but we can also learn a lot about ancient construction techniques by examining the incomplete sections of this temple. For example, some of the columns had been assembled, but not yet fluted: the carving of the vertical grooves was done after assembly. But even more intriguing are the construction plans scratched into one of the interior walls!

It was still raining when we got here, and Fritz was feeling a little under the weather, so he stayed in the bus while Marie went down and gawked at the ruins.

	Looking down into the excavation. Note the size and number of the columns. This building was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide and 60 feet high, about twice the size of the Parthenon in Athens.
	This temple would have been one of the wonders of the ancient world, along with its sister, the temple of Artemis.
	There is a person in this picture. Now do you understand how massive these columns were?
		These capitals may never have been mounted on top of the columns for which they were carved.
		Beautifully carved pediments
	The temple of Apollo has an oracle. It takes a while for your turn to come up, so here is a game board, for use while waiting, that was carved in a step.