Miletus, Didyma, and Priene

Today was our tribute to philosophy. We visited the ruins of Miletus. Pre-socratics anyone? Thales? I think our professors were all geeking out. I think us students were more interested in the puppies roaming around the ruins. I have to admit, the site was pretty awesome. The amphitheater was still preserved from the roman period, and when we walked down the hill we got to see a roman Turkish bath. You could still see the basic structure of the bath, and a lion fountainhead representing Roman authority was still in tact. Soon the archeologists will begin clearing out the floor in order to find the mosaics. After the bath, our brief visit to the mothership of philosophy was complete.

Next stop of the day was the Didyma temple of Apollo. I think this is the largest temple we've seen thus far. This is where Ben, our residential architecture student, started geeking out. Even the casual observer would find this architecture stunning. It's just so big! It took all six of us students to encircle one of the columns.

After lunch in Didyma we went Priene. We had to walk uphill for a while, but the site was worth the walk. We visited the theatre, which was pretty well preserved. Unlike the other theaters we've seen, this one had five large chairs around the outside. We saw the church in Priene which was located right by the theatre. The church sill has a large marble pulpit in the centre. After the church it was on to the pagan temple. Apparently when Alexander the Great visited Priene he had his name inscribed in the temple of Athena. I liked this site. Around the temple of Athena there were lots if large columns we could climb on.