DRAFT
Temple Grove of Apollo
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
- K. Tuchelt, "Didyma" in ed. E. Meyers, Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Oxford,1996 : p.160 (worldcat)
- Birge,D E. Sacred Groves in the Ancient Greek World. PhD. Dissertation. University of California at Berkeley, 1982, 394-395. (worldcat)
- B. Haussoullier, "le temple d'Apollon didymien" Revue de Philologie 22 (1898) 50-51.(worldcat)