New Edition of the Building Reports of Didyma

The monumental temple dedicated to Apollo in the sanctuary of Didyma, Asia Minor, was built over a period lasting more than five centuries from ca. 300 B.C. to ca. 200 AD. The sheer size of this construction makes it among the most prominent temples in the Greek world. Its construction is organized in the impressive plan with rows of 120 columns surrounding the central courtyard, which comprises the smaller, proper temple. The Temple has been relatively well preserved, which gives us a good impression of how it originally appeared, how it was constructed, and which challenges the original architects faced. As a particular stroke of luck, the administration of the sanctuary decided around 230 B.C. to publish annual reports on the progress of building activities concerning the temple. They are carved as inscriptions into large steles from stone and they continued until ca. 100 B.C. The intention was to inform visitors of the sanctuary as well as the citizens of the nearby city Miletus about the building activities. Fortunately, many of these reports have been preserved even if sometimes only partially. Recent excavations carried out by the German Archaeological Institution have also led to the discovery of newly uncovered inscriptions. The project approaches the material from two sides: On the one hand, a new edition of the texts concerning the building reports will be generated, containing all relevant inscriptions both those which have been known for more than a century, as well as those which have only recently been unearthed. The texts will be translated and annotated. On the other hand, starting from the textual evidence, we will explore and rewrite the temples building history using the methods of archaeological research. The texts and building elements give insights into many different issues of life and work in the ancient world. It is possible to determine who was involved in the construction site, how work was organized and how long the construction progress took. Moreover, they reveal the history of more than 2000 years ago: political events, wars and economic crises which have all left their mark on the building and its ancient documentation. The projects aim is to understand the ancient world in a better way by researching one of the most fascinating temples of antiquity and, at the same time, disclosing what its construction can reveal about ancient history.

For a good half a millennium, from around 300 BC to 200 AD, a monumental temple was built for the god Apollo in the oracle sanctuary of Didyma in Asia Minor. Its sheer size alone makes it one of the most important temples in the Greek world, and its extraordinary design one of the most important Greek sacred buildings of antiquity. We are not dealing with the traditional type of Greek temple, as its cella had no roof, so that the double ring of 120 columns concealed a large open courtyard with a floor level four metres lower than that of the peristasis. In this courtyard stood a second smaller temple known as the "Naiskos", the actual cult building, and in it a statue of the god Apollo. Relatively much of the monumental temple has survived, so that we can get a good idea of what it looked like, how it was built and what difficulties the architects encountered. It is fortunate that the administration of the sanctuary decided to publish annual reports on the progress of construction around 240 BC, as inscriptions carved into large stone stelai. These construction reports were written until around 120 BC. The texts were intended to inform visitors to the sanctuary and the citizens of Miletus, who were responsible for supervising the construction work. We have approached the material from two sides. Firstly, we have produced a new text edition of the inscriptions. The texts have been translated and annotated. A particularly important result is the combination of several previously separately published fragments into three new, more complete stelai. This puts the textual tradition on a completely new footing. We have also included all the stone marks - these are name abbreviations that were written on the marble cuboids. They indicate who quarried and delivered the stones. Secondly, we reconstructed the construction history of the temple on the basis of these texts and with the help of construction researchers. This enabled us to gain a new understanding of the construction process of the temple. The texts also give us an insight into many areas of ancient life and work. We can see how quickly people worked, who worked on the construction site and how the work was organised. We also gain an insight into the historical events over 2000 years ago: Political crises, wars and periods of economic prosperity and adversity have all left their mark on the building and its ancient documentation. In our project, we have gained a better understanding of one of the most fascinating ancient temples on the basis of contemporary sources and have learnt what its construction can teach us about ancient history.