Gleason, K. (2026). "Temple Grove of Apollo." Gardens of the Roman Empire, accessed October 2, 2026. https://roman-gardens.github.io/id/f218fa055f/

Temple Grove of Apollo

Published: 2026-10-01
Last modified: 2026-10-01

Dates

unspecified

Excavation Dates

unspecified

Garden Description

The sanctuary of Apollo at Didyma was a regional sanctuary that lay on the border of Caria and Ionia (Strabo 12.1.2). The Temple of Apollo, attested by Strabo (12.1.5), was built on the site of the spring and oracle of Apollo mentioned by Herodotus (1.92.159) and Pausanius (7.2.6). Inscriptions found in the area of the sanctuary attest to a "sacred grove" (CIG 2885d) and Strabo (14.1.5) specifies that in his day a grove (alsos) was planted inside and outside the temple precinct.

The precinct has been well-defined archaeologically, but the archaeologists identified no traces of the trees.

Bibliography

  • Birge, D.E. 1982. Sacred Groves in the Ancient Greek World. Ph.D. diss. University of California, Berkeley, pp. 394-395. (worldcat)
  • Haussoullier, B. 1898. “Le temple d’Apollon didymien.” Revue de philologie 22:50–51. (worldcat)
  • Tuchelt, K. 1996. “Didyma.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, edited by E.M. Meyers, 160. New York: Oxford University Press. (worldcat)

Keywords

Places