Priene is where you will find The Temple of Athena, but only after a steep climb up a stone stairway that seemed like it would never end. Once amongst the ruins, the first building you arrive at is the theatre, this one a little smaller than those seen as Pergamon and Athesus, with a seating capacity of 5000.
The theatre was constructed in the 4th century BC.
Priene is also notable for the layout of the city. This was one of the first cities to use a grid pattern to lay out the city streets, and standing above all the houses was The Temple of Athena, an imposing structure made from the basalt rock mined from the local hillside.
Large sections of broken columns are evident all around the site.
At Didyma the three remaining columns of the ruined Temple of Apollo stand 25 meters above the surrounding area, an area strewn with giant carved stone pieces from the 70 columns that have fallen to the ground.
The soaring 25 metre columns are all that are left standing.
The original plan for the temple called for 122 columns and it is thought that only 72 were ever completed.
The skill of the stonemasons can be seen on every stone surface.
The column sections, some more than one meter across, lie on the ground near to where they fell.
We now realise that the ancient world comprised more than Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire.
D2
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