Der Altar des Apollon von Didyma

Abstract

In front of the east facade of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, no altar has ever been found that corresponds to the monumental Hellenistic building in terms of size, quality and dating. Textual and pictorial sources provide evidence of a sacrificial altar that consisted of blood and ashes. Moreover, the sanctuary’s topography as well as Greek sacrificial practice attest that the altar of Apollo can only have stood in the forecourt east of the temple. There, in the first excavations, a circular structure was discovered and was interpreted as an edifice enclosing the blood-and-ash altar. Just a short time later, doubts were voiced about this interpretation, and they partly persist to this day; hence the question of the altar at Didyma has apparently remained unanswered.

Analysis of all the sources reveals, however, that the late Archaic circular structure accommodated a blood-and-ash altar presumably until the end of antiquity. Consequently an early form of altar was retained at Didyma throughout antiquity, and no direct parallel can be found for it anywhere else. The antiquated altar, completely unsuited to the immense Hellenistic building, in the end probably served to enhance the credibility of the oracle of Apollo.