Architekturforschungen in Didyma I

Fußmaßwert und Maßplanung am Jüngeren Apollontempel: unterlassene Zahlenharmonien

Abstract

The Temple of Apollo at Didyma (Turkey) presents an unparalleled opportunity to examine the metrology of an ancient monument with precision and methodological stringency – not merely as an end in itself but to gain a deeper understanding of the extant built evidence. The method applied here was first established in 1890 by Wilhelm Dörpfeld at the Erechtheion: the direct comparison of actual structural measurements with the respective values provided in the building’s ancient accounts. At Didyma, multiple attempts have been made since 1904 to determine the ancient foot unit for the temple, and today there is no doubt that an Attic-Cycladic foot of ca. 29.5 cm was applied. Now, the exact length of that unit at the temple has been securely established at the slightly higher value of 29.8–29.9 cm. This result confirmed, in 2021, that a truly unheard-of planning error had occurred within the Didyma construction works when the drums of the temple’s unfinished, standing column were inscribed with the diameters for the shaft outline.