Priene- Miletus- Didyma

Within a few Kilometers of the famous ruins of Ephesus are the ancient cities of Priene and Miletus and the temple of Apollo at Didyma. These cities were originally founded prior to the Persian occupation of Asia Minor in the 6th century B.C. These and 9 others in this region formed an Ionian League, but were nonetheless defeated and subsumed into the Persian Empire. Afterwards, on account of Alexander’s liberation of the Greek city states in Asia Minor in the 4th century, the cities experienced a rebirth, resulting in the ruins that exist today. All three of these ancient Ionian cities that I have seen were originally sea ports, but due to silting, they are now a fair distance from the sea, and as such they gradually lost their importance. Izmir, which was once Smyrna, is still by the sea, and is a large port town, but there are almost no traces of its historical past as a result.

PRIENE
The first one I saw was Priene. It was notable as an early example of geometrical street systems and city planning. It was not an important ancient city, but there were a number of ruins, which greatly aided the imagination in reconstructing the ancient settlement.

a small theatre

A few remaining pilars to the Temple of Athena

MILETUS
A few kilometers from Priene is the site of the once famous city of Miletus. It was an important city in its day, but it is remembered most for being the home to the most important school of philosophy in Asia Minor. Some important pre-Socratics came from here including Thales and Anaximander. There was not much of the old city remaining aside from the Theater, which was quite large. We did, however, receive some lavender from a local shepherd who grazes his sheep there and supposedly knows the site better than nearly anyone alive.

Baths of Faustina

Another Temple of Athena

The temple from another angle

This theatre was massive and was designed to hold animal fights and gladiator contests

DYDIMA

Didyma was an incredible spectacle. It was a Temple of Apollo 20 km from Miletus. In its day it was the second most important place for oracles next to Delphi, as Apollo was the god of Prophecy. Those who came for prophetic utterances would make a sacrifice in Miletus and then walk to Didyma to inquire of the oracle. What made it amazing to see is that it was by and large in tact, many of the pillars have fallen, but the basic floor plan has remained undisturbed. The pillars were unbelievably huge and for those that were still standing, remarkably tall. The temple was almost the same size as the Temple of Artemis, so one could use this temple as a reference.
Inside the temple

A small car could fit on one of these

The famous relief of Apollo

A view of the columns