The Ancient City Of Didyma
Didim is a small town, popular seaside holiday resort, and discrit of Aydın Province on the Aegan coast of western Turkey, 123 km (76 mi) from the provincial capital city of Aydın. Didim is the site of the antique city of Didyma with its ruined Temple of Apollo.
Didim takes its name from ancient Didyma, situated close to the modern town. During the Ottoman Empire era, the town was known as Yoranda or Yoran, and under the modern Republic of Turkey, it was originally named Hisar ("Castle"). Following its destruction in an earthquake in 1955, the town was rebuilt and renamed Yenihisar ("New Castle"). The town was part of Söke district until 1991. The area became a top-level district of Aydın Province and was given the ancient name Didim in 1997 to distinguish it from the many other places in Turkey named Yenihisar.
See Didyma for a full account of the ancient city.
The area was settled in the neolithic period, established as colony of Crete and then Mycenae in the 16th century BC and subsequently possessed by Lycians, Persians, Seleucids, Attalids, Ancient Romans, and Byzantines as part of the province of Caria. The area came into the hands of Turks following the defeat of Byzantium at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1086. The town was captured again by the Byzantines in 1098, by Menteşe in 1280, and then Aydinids in 1300. Didim was brought into the Ottoman Empire by sultanMehmed I in 1413. At Ottoman Empire Didim's name Was "Yoran".
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