Perseus Art and Archaeology Browser

ID:

aa_179

Type:

Building

Date:

ca. -540 — ca. -530

Period:

Archaic

Context:

Didyma

Region:

Ionia

Dimensions:

The walls of the late geometric sekos were 10.3 m. apart in the west, and 9.60 m. apart in the east. The surviving foundations of the archaic adyton walls measure ca. 33 m. in length by ca. 19.90 m. in width at the west. Width of pilasters of archaic adyton wall 3.00 - 3.50 m. Gruben's reconstruction proposes a crepidoma ca. 89 m. in length, with an interaxial intercolumniation of 4.36 m., and a restored column height of ca. 15.5 m. Tuchelt's reconstruction proposes a crepidoma ca. 72 m. in length, with an interaxial column spacing of 4.36 m. Fehr reconstructs a crepidoma ca. 72 m. long, with an interaxial intercolumniation of 3.27 m.

Type:

Temple

Date Description

The evidence for the date of the late geometric sekos is provided by ceramic finds. The archaic temple is dated on the basis of the style of its architectural sculpture (female figures in relief, ovolo moldings, Ionic capitals etc.), and its overall architectural form (through analogy with other Ionic temples such as the Heraion at Samos and the Artemision at Ephesos). A curved retaining wall at the east of the temple complex was surmounted by an Ionic ovolo which is dated to ca. 540 B.C.; this provides further evidence for the date of the construction of the temple. Literary references mention dedications made at the temple by the pharaoh Necho (609-594 B.C.) and the Lydian king Croesus; these dedications indicate the existence of an oracular sanctuary at Didyma before the construction of the archaic dipteros.

Plan

The plan of the first built structure at Didyma, the so-called sekos (Temple I) dating to ca. 700 B.C., consisted of a simple rectangular enclosure, open to the sky; the foundations of this sekos have been found within the adyton of the Hellenistic temple. The walls of the sekos were not parallel, but converged towards the east. No columns are associated with the earliest sekos, and its eastern extension is unknown. In the sixth century B.C., a naiskos or small shrine was constructed inside the sekos, towards the west (rear) wall; whether or not this naiskos was built before the construction of the archaic temple (Temple II), or was contemporary with Temple II is disputed. The plan of the archaic temple is uncertain, and a number of reconstructions have been proposed. Within the Hellenistic adyton were found the north, south and west foundation walls of the adyton of the second temple, Temple II. This archaic adyton was larger than the entire sekos of ca. 700 B.C. One reconstruction of the archaic temple Gruben 1963, fig. 1 proposed a dipteral temple on a two-stepped crepidoma, with 21 columns along the flanks, 9 across the rear, and 8 across the facade. The deep pronaos contained two rows of columns, with four columns in each row; a staircase led down to the long adyton, whose interior walls were articulated by eight projecting piers. Within the adyton, towards the west rear wall, stood the naiskos which Gruben reconstructs as distyle in antis. This naiskos and the archaic temple are reconstructed as being on axis with the archaic circular ash altar located to the east. Subsequent excavations, Drerup 1964, 364-367, have revealed that the adyton walls did not extend as far to the east as Gruben indicated, and thus the following reconstruction was proposed Tuchelt 1970, 203-205, Tuchelt 1973, fig. 3: a dipteral colonnade with 17 columns along the flanks, 9 across the rear, and 8 across the facade, surrounding a deep pronaos with two rows of four columns each, and an adyton, approached by a staircase from the pronaos. The interior walls of the adyton, being shorter than those imagined by Gruben, were thus articulated by only five projecting piers. In Tuchelt's reconstruction, the archaic temple is oriented on axis with the archaic circular altar ca. 40 m. to the east, whereas the naiskos, thought by Tuchelt to belong to Temple I, is out of alignment with Temple II and the archaic altar. A third reconstruction, Fehr 1972, 16-29, sees the archaic temple as containing some of the complexities apparent in the Hellenistic temple, in particular additional chambers and passages between the pronaos and the adyton. Fehr accepts the shorter crepidoma proposed by Tuchelt, but, employing a shorter interaxial intercolumniation, proposes a dipteral colonnade of 21 columns along the flanks and, as in the Hellenistic temple, 10 across both front and back. According to Fehr, the pronaos was five-aisled, with four rows of columns containing three in each row. Between the pronaos and the adyton was a complicated system of east chamber (in which stood two columns), transverse hallway with stairs leading to an upper floor, and an antechamber at the west, also containing two columns. Fehr also proposes that vaulted passages led from the pronaos to the adyton, the prototype for the Hellenistic arrangement.

History

The earliest building phase at the temple site is represented by the fragmentary stretches of converging walls located within the Hellenistic adyton. These remains are interpreted as the foundations of a late geometric sekos or open enclosure, whose superstructure was of mudbrick, constructed ca. 700 B.C. In the early sixth century, a naiskos was built inside this sekos. The remains of this naiskos are interpreted as later than the exterior walls of the sekos, due to the use of a [...]

Citations and Bibliography

Wiegand and Knackfuss 1941, 121-129; Gruben 1963, 78-177; Drerup 1964, 333-355; Hahland 1964, 144-240; Drerup 1969, 59; Fehr 1972, 14-69; Tuchelt 1970, 203-205; Tuchelt 1971, 13-15; Voigtlnder 1972, 93-112; Dinsmoor 1975, 133-134; Lawrence 1983, 166; Tuchelt 1984, 326-343 (Schneider); Tuchelt 1986b, 33-50; [...]