Ephesus, Didyma, Miletos Tour
Tour Information
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Ephesus, Miletos, Didyma Tour Itinerary : Ephesus Ruins, Miletos, Didyma Port : Kusadasi Duration : 7 Hours Service Level : Private Tour Season : 01.01.2010 - 01.06.2010 |
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Prices
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| Tour Plan Meet your guide at the pier of Kusadasi, you will have half hour drive to Ephesus Ruins for your first stop of the tour. Upon reaching the once powerful city, passing by the Magnesia gate, you will enter the administrative section of ancient Ephesus. The guided walking tour will take you through one of the most magnificent excavations in the world. See the Odeon, the Fountain of Trajan; enter a section of the steam baths of Scholastika, the temple of Hadrian and the impressive library of Celsius. The library is adorned with columns and statues. The Grand Theater, where the Apostle Paul preached, is the largest theater in antiquity with a capacity of 24,000 people. You will visit Miletos. These ancient ruins lie on a hill near the Aegean Sea. Explore the ancient theater, built circa 4th century BC. The theater could accommodate over 15,000 spectators. Visit the well-preserved Bath of Faustina, named after the wife of Marcus Aurelius, who ordered their construction. Continue to Didyma. In antiquity, Didyma was connected to Miletus by a sacred road. Visit the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, one of the largest temples from the Hellenistic Period. Despite extensive construction, the temple was never fully completed. You will go back to pier of Kusadasi. |
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| Including * Professional, English speaking, state licensed guides for the guided tours included * Arrival and departure transfers in pier of Kusadasi * Tour transportation with A/C van * All entrance fees as per the itinerary * All service fees and local taxes |
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| Distances from Kusadasi Port Ephesus Ruins: 9.85 Miles Didyma: 40.1 Miles Miletos: 38.9 Miles |
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Information Didyma
Didyma (Greek: Δίδυμα) was an ancient Ionian sanctuary, the modern Didim, Turkey, containing a temple and oracle of Apollo, the Didymaion. In Greek didyma means "twin", but the Greeks who sought a "twin" at Didyma ignored the Carian origin of the name. Next to Delphi, Didyma was the most renowned oracle of the Hellenic world, first mentioned among the Greeks in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, but an establishment preceding literacy and even the Hellenic colonization of Ionia. Mythic genealogies of the origins of the Branchidae line of priests, designed to capture the origins of Didyma as a Hellenic tradition, date to the Hellenistic period.
Didyma was the largest and most significant sanctuary on the territory of the great classical city Miletus. To approach it, visitors would follow the Sacred Way to Didyma, about 17km long. Along the way, were ritual waystations, and statues of members of the Branchidae family, male and female, as well as animal figures. Some of these statues, dating to the 6th century BC are now in the British Museum, taken by Charles Newton in the 19th century.
Greek and Roman authors laboured to refer the name Didyma to "twin" temples — not a feature of the site — or to temples of the twins, Apollo and Artemis, whose own cult center at Didyma was only recently established, or whether, as Wilamowitz suggested[5] there is a connection to Cybele Dindymene, "Cybele of Mount Dindymon", is mooted. Recent excavations by the German team of archaeologists have uncovered a major sanctuary dedicated to Artemis, with the key ritual focus being water.
The sixth-century Didymaion, dedicated to Apollo, enclosed its smaller predecessor, which archaeologists have identified. Its treasury was enriched by gifts from Croesus.