Priene occupies a stunning location on pine-scented terraces below the nearby hilltop Acropolis, right at the edge of the Soke plain. This dreamy, intimate ancient site bears the considerable remains of an industrious Greek settlement whose population probably never grew beyond 60,000. Until the silting up of the Meander River it was an active port city. The streets are laid out interestingly on a grid pattern; back then it was the model city during the construction of the ancient Athens at one time. Explore the Temple of Athena, noticeable for many standing ionic columns and plenty of the column drums lying around such as discarded stone clogs, and also look for the typical earlier Greek theater, with its amazing marble thrones for the important town rulers round the stage.
Until the 5th century BC, ancient Miletus was the greatest maritime leading power of the entire regional developing cities back then. It was built right on the the Aegean coast, but now is landlocked by the River Meander’s silts under a sea of famous Soke’s cotton, with its old harbor frequently turning into frogs and terrapins filled marshes. The ancient remains are mainly from its imperial Roman years; definitely the most impressing is the Graeco-Roman theater, which is held up to 16,000 spectators and whose vaulted passages are superbly preserved. It’s hilltop Byzantine fortress attached on behind offer a bird’s eye view of the scattered site.
Didyma contains just one monument at the present. An oracle-temple to Apollo of massive proportions, even in ruins it overwhelms the surrounding modern village size. During the Persian invasion, the most of it was destroyed and later a replacement of the temple was gradually reconstructed from Alexander’s time into Roman period, but was never completed due to its massive size. In the site, several columns standing to their full height and the scattered huge marble stumps convey its earlier size. People would travel far corners of the ancient world to seek advices and solutions for their sufferings from the temple’s sacred oracle which is located at its heart. It was arranged by the pagan priestess after inhaling vapors from the underneath temple sacred creek, from the well in the high walled inner courtyard at the backside, reached via covered ceremonial marble passages.
