The oracle of Apollo had great fame in the archaic period. The belief in gods had reached enormous proportions by erecting the great numbers of temples in Anatolia. The most important of the temples were dedicated to Apollo were the Didymaion in Anatolia and Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece.

Pausanias claims that the Apollo temple at Didyma had been built before the Greek colonization. It is believed that the existence of Didyma goes back to the 2nd millennium BC like that of Miletus and Priene. However the earliest temple remains date back to the end of the 8th century BC, according to the results of excavations research work undertaken up to the present day.

The ruins of the Temple of Apollo belong to the 4th century BC temple that you see today. The temple porch held 120 huge columns with richly carved bases reminiscent of Karnak in Egypt. There is a great doorway behind the porch where poems about oracle were written and presented to petitioners. On both side of the porch covered ramps lead down to the cella (inner room) where the oracle sat and prophesied. The grounds include a photogenic head of Medusa and contain fragments of rich decoration. There used to be a road lined with statues that led to small harbor, but the statues were taken to the British Museum in 1858 after standing unmoved for 23 centuries.

It is believed that the archaic temple was started to be erected in the mid 6th century BC and was completed at the end of the 6th century BC. The Didymaion was administered by a priestly caste named Branchidis in the same century. The temple flourished and went through its most brilliant era during this period which lasted about 100 years.

The Persians burned and plundered it completely during the battle of Lade.The priests of the temple were driven to Susa, and the cult statue of Apollo was taken to Ecbatana. The statue of Apollo was made by the sculptor Kanachus of Sicyon and reflects Anatolian –Hittite characteristics which was dated back to 500 BC.

After the victory of Alexander the Great over the Persians, the Hellenistic temple began to construct. Besides this Hellenistic temple was not completed as it was understood from the remains. The construction of the temple continued during the reigns of Emperor Julian.

Emperor Theodosius built a church in the sacred courtyard in the beginning of the 5ht century AD. This church was destroyed in an earthquake which had the appearance of a three-winged basilica and rebuilt later as one wing (9th century).

In later years local people used the temple as a quarry and many of its architectural elements were used as building material in the construction of dwellings and other buildings.