Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: morning view of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkiye.
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the adyton of the temple of Apollo at Didyma - one of the great oracular temples of the ancient world. The view is taken close to the great stair that leads to the pronaos.
Impression de Voyage
Oscar Wilde - composed during a visit to Greece (1877), which included a trip to the Temple of Apollo, at Bassae.
The sea was sapphire coloured, and the sky Burned like a heated opal through air, We hoisted sail; the wind was blowing fair For the blue lands that to the eastward lie. From the steep prow I marked with quickening eye Zakynthos, every olive grove and creek, Ithaca’s cliff, Lycaon’s snowy peak, And all the flower-strewn hills of Arcady. The flapping of the sail against the mast, The ripple of the water on the side, The ripple of girls’ laughter at the stern, The only sounds: - when ’gan the West to burn, And a red sun upon the seas to ride, I stood upon the soil of Greece at last!
Today’s photo: the Temple of Apollo at Bassae.
It’s been undergoing restoration for 20+ years, under a great tent. It is a structure of great architectural importance - displaying the first use of Corinthian order in Greece (a single column), and utilising all three architectural orders in its construction. It is attributed to Iktinos (of Parthenon fame), and dated to the mid 5th BCE.
The view is taken from the north propylon (temple is orientated north/south).
Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits: the Naxian Sphinx, in the Archaeological Museum in Delphi.
The sphinx stands over 2 metres high. It was originally set up on a stele around 560 BC as an offering to the Temple of Apollo by Naxos, one of the richest Cycladic islands at the time. The overall height of the statue, the column and its base topped 12.5 metres. Note, too, the Ionic capital - one of the earliest.
Today’s Flickr photo with the most hits: this monumental lion, at the Temple of Apollo, Didyma, Turkey.
Today’s photo with the most hits: the remaining Ionian capitals and pillars, in situ, at the Temple of Apollo and Didyma.
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the absolutely awesome Temple of Apollo at Didyma, in Turkey.
Visit. Stay at the Oracle Pension.
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits continues the run of archaeological popularity. It shows the Temple of Apollo Epikourios, at Bassae.
The same trip that took me to Messene and Sparta also brought me here.
In a remote part of the Peloponnese, surrounded by mountains, sits this 5th BCE temple. It was designed by Iktinus (of Parthenon fame) and - uniquely - features columns in all three orders - Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. It is the first building to use the Corinthian order.
Undergoing restoration, the temple is shrouded in a great canopy. I don't know if it will ever re-emerge into the daylight. One would hope so.
The first glimpse you get of the site is of the canopy on a far-distant horizon - it shows as a small, white speck, slightly to the right of centre in the first photo.
When you arrive and go inside, the temple begins to show its grandeur. It's small but shows impressive preservation, and clearly merits the lavish attention it is receiving. The third photo shows the pronaos and part of the peripteral columns (Doric). And a worker enjoying his spanakotyropita!
Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: the recently uncovered mural I painted 20 years ago, and subsequently wall-papered over when I refurbished the flat. The great white voids are the result of plumbing work.
The portrait takes its inspiration from the sculpted head of Medusa from the Temple of Apollo, in Didyma, Turkey.
My intention is to bring the two frescoes (the bronze bust of the Greek athlete, and Medusa) out of their 15 year obscurity and carry them forward into the current refurbishment plan.
Today’s Flickr Photo with the most hits - sunset at the Temple of Apollo at Didyma
Today’s Flickr Photo -
detail from Ionic column at the Temple of Apollo, Didyma, Turkey.
You can see how the column was fluted - the top drum and bottom drum were carved first, the flutes were then carved on the intervening ones. The temple took centuries to complete - Alexander the Great gave it an endowment in the 3rd BCE when he invaded Persia: so, too, did Caligula when he was emperor - some 300+ years later.
Know Yourself - a Roman memento mori mosaic...
γνῶθι σεαυτόν
Socrates - “know yourself”
My choice from the Flickr picks for today: sunset at the Temple of Apollo in Didyma, Turkey.