Following news that the fabled Sacred Road could be re-opened next year, Voices columnist Glenn Maffia reflects on the recent archaeological findings around Temple of Apollo
AUGUST is always, but always, a time I so look forward to with great relish and anticipation, for the German archaeologists’ return to our town for yet another month of excavation work.
My interest was initially excited some four seasons ago when they disinterred a theatre dating from the 1st or 2nd century CE, and since then I have followed their line of inquiry with ever increasing fascination.
This year proved to be yet another success to whet the appetite of history aficionados with some exhilarating finds and prompting theories to entice imaginations.
First of all, it has constantly been a nagging question as to why Apollo’s Temple resides upon a north-east axis as opposed to an eastern one thus aligning with the rising sun.
Most other ancient temples conform to this dictum. Well, now it appears that we have a glimpse of a beautifully crafted piece of logic to inspire us all.
The present day mosque, an ex-Greek Orthodox church, sits upon a structure of even older theology. Last year’s digging revealed substantial foundations burrowing under the current place of worship; indeed, within the mosque itself it is possible to observe the result of a previous excavation that lies beneath the present building.
Naturally, current religious sensibilities must be taken into consideration, thus a part of this year’s dig focused upon the surrounding area outside of the mosque. And with tremendously exciting discoveries.
The foundations continued to extend ever outwards, crossing the threshold of the mosque’s boundaries into the adjacent school-yard. Almost certainly the finely chiselled stonework speaks of the austere Roman model of architecture.
Far too large, I feel, to be the treasury which I postulated last year, it appears plausible to suggest the archaeologists have successfully unearthed another temple.
Its dimensions tantalizingly echo that of an inscribed drawing on the west wall of Apollo’s Temple which depicts a pediment upon an architrave. There are a number of these plan drawings upon the temple’s walls, though only observable under certain lighting conditions. The architects obviously left exact and detailed information for their site foremen to implement.
If this freshly unearthed structure is indeed a temple, and there seems little reason not to believe so, situated upon a prominent position of a natural hill as one would expect, the direction of its axis corresponds precisely with that of Apollo’s Temple; north-east. Though why this strange discrepancy of the usual alignment?
Evidently, for I am no authority upon astronomy, the direction in which the entrances of these two temples are aligned point towards the constellation of Gemini, Latin for “Twins”.
The two most prominent stars in this constellation are named after the ancient mythological deities Castor and Pollux in Latin, Kastor and Polydeukes in Greek; the twins that give Gemini its appellation.
These ‘divinities’ were of such eminence to the Romans that one of the first monumental structures in the vicinity of Rome’s Forum, and for a long time the most imposing was dedicated to them.
Apollo also possessed a twin, a sister, Artemis; originally a mother goddess of Asia with a long held cult at Ephesus.
Could this unusual configuration, which repeatedly murmurs “Twins”, including the name Didyma, “twins” in ancient Greek, allow us to think that this year the archaeologists may have uncovered the Temple of Artemis?
I am inclined to believe so. And if so what more treasures linger merely a couple of metres beneath the streets upon which we walk?