A Bit On The Side

Hang on, you lot... Side is a place in Turkey! It's pronounced see-day and after our time at the Manavgat Waterfall, described in the previous entry, this is where we came to on the excursion from the Thomson Celebration which had docked in nearby Alanya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

Side has some wonderful Roman remains, including temples, a massive amphitheatre, a gateway and a few arches of an acqueduct. Above can be seen the scant upright remains of a Temple to Apollo, behind our merry bunch. The guide here is making up for the fact that there wasn't much to say at the waterfall and is now assaulting us with the most banal commentary...

A sample: "Behind us is the harbour, it was very important for trade..." Inspiring stuff... I have a foolproof guide for tour guides. They can say whatever they like but it should be in this order:

1. tell tourists what they need to know - meeting times and places, where the loos are, directions to stuff they might want to see that you won't come to.
2. Tell them when they can wander off on their own if they like
3. tell them stuff they might want to know (that isn't just bloody obvious!)
4. tell them the stuff that interests you personally (this comes last!)

All around us are massive columns from the temple. This place had a chequered history. Alexander the Great came here without any great opposition and left a small garrison. For a time it was under the control of his General, Ptolemy, who decided to proclaim himself King of Egypt in 305 BC and started a chain of kings called Ptolemy (and incidentally a chain of co-rulers called Cleopatra), one of whom we still remember far more than we do any of the Ptolemys. She probably knew this place too - we'll meet her again in the next entry at Alanya, just up the road where the ship is waiting for us.

Side was captured by the Seleucid Empire (it covered a lot of today's Arab states and as far east as north western India). They in turn were defeated by Rhodes, working together with Pergamum and Rome (who must have been pleased as this event saw the defeat of the fugitive Hannibal, he of the elephants across the Alps jaunt). In the first century BC the place was captured by pirates who set up their slave trading centre there. The Romans booted them out twice, the second time being by General Pompey but they quite liked the slave trade and kept it going. From the 4th century AD, Side was plagued by raids from the mountain people, Arab fleets, Christian zealots and also suffered several earthquakes. Small wonder that the population thought "bugger this..." and fled. It remained deserted but for a stubborn open-all-hours corner shop (clothes pegs, slaves and fridge magnets) until around the 1100s when people came to see if the raids had stopped and started to rebuild the city.

The Temple of Apollo has a fine mesh fence all round it apart from one aspect which has the view blocked by a construction hut and one corner where I stretched to my full height (I know... laughable...) and poked the lens through a gap in the fence.

There is a large amphitheatre which I wanted a look at. We asked directions and made our way up the busy shopping street and found ourselves back opposite the coach park. We walked up to the ticket booth all excited and found they only took Turkish Lire (we only had euros) or credit cards - and of course we had left that behind...

A bit deflated, we walked around the outside of the theatre anyway. Steel supports have been added under the Roman arches that support the massive public gallery. The theatre seated around 15,000 spectators and hosted all sorts of events including gladiatorial combat.

But then a wonderful thing happened. We came to the edge of the theatre, passed through the city gate and came to the site of a temple to Dionysus outside the theatre.

And having walked around the temple, by looking back, we get a really good view of the galleries of seating in the theatre. Miss Franny wouldn't let me go back to the ticket office to gloat...

In front of the seating is a wall, which would be the back of the stage or orchestra - this was an amphitheatre not a full arena, so a semi-circle of seating with a stage at the front. On the bit of grass in the centre of the temple site is a reconstruction of a fountain that stood before the main entrance of the temple.

A closer look at the fountain. Dionysus is the Greek version of the Roman Bacchus - the god of grapes, harvest, wine, etc... He'd do well in Blackpool...

Things got a bit too giddy at his last debauch and the temple ended up strewn about like skittles... On the other side of the temple to the amphitheatre were several old ruins, one with some mosaic flooring and a rather taller ruin of a 6th century hospital.

We walked back through the Vespasian Gate to the old city and realised that we were back at the coach half an hour early. We walked back to the top of the shopping street and bought a few bits and pieces and most importantly a cool drink each.

We bought them here. The owner was a very helpful chap whose mother (I presume) worked in the shop. I was taken with the miniature Turkish carpets on the stand outside the front door. A more practical souvenir than some of the real full size Turkish carpets that are very very nice but with price tags in direct proportion to niceness!

We bought cans to drink and sat on benches in a little square with the view above. Very pleasant indeed. Some familiar faces started to drift by us and we realised it was time to head back to the coach again.

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The Oracle and Temple to Apollo, Didyma

25 May 2012. After we left Miletus we motored for a short while admiring the rain before arriving at Didyma. Here are the remains of a massive Temple to Apollo which, although never fully completed, would have rivalled that of Artemis, not too far away that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The original temple was run by the Branchidae family claiming descent from Branchos, a youth loved by Apollo. The wooden steps were quite slippery from their soaking and Fran was not best pleased I stopped her and expected her to turn round for a photo! In ancient times, once at the temple, a High Priestess answered questions in an unknown tongue which was translated by the Branchidae family members. This gave the family a certain degree (i.e. total) of opportunity to influence the advice given by the oracle!

It was the main temple of Miletus and was reached from there via a 17km Sacred Way, which had ritual waystations and statues of the Branchidae family including their animals. They were making sure of their franchise...

The marble has been badly marked by fire - hence the blackened state of the remains. The Persians under Darius invaded in 493 BC and presumably having had unpalatable advice offered by the Oracle promptly threw a wobbly and kicked out the Branchidae family and set fire to the place saying things like "Stuff your Oracle!" and "From now on we'll go to Delphi...!"

Once a visitor had climbed the steps and puffed themselves out, they then found themselves breathing in the heady fumes of incense mixed with certain other additives that left them feeling, shall we say, a touch light-headed...

On a high they were then directed down a narrow steeply sloping passage that was not only dark but narrow, the steep marble flooring requiring them in their befuddled state to reach out to touch both walls in the dark to keep their balance.

Arriving here in an enclosed temple space, but open to the sky, they then had to climb back up the steps shown at the far end.

If they were breathing heavily before, by now they were positively gasping and therefore drawing in yet more of the intoxicating fumes. At the top of these steps they found the room of the Oracle. A High Priestess, also somewhat off her head, wailed and garbled whilst members of the ever accomodating Branchidae family ("An offering? How kind!") translated the utterances of the Oracle out of the goodness of their hearts and to the growth of their purse.

Alexander the Great captured Miletus in 334 BC and began a restoration of the temple and started the tradition of the Oracle again. It was said that the sacred spring which had dried up a couple of hundred years before the Persians burnt the place, started to flow again once Alexander had visited. He probably made sure of it by digging...

There was by now a 160 year gap in the Oracle's tradition. Luckily someone was found who knew how to wail incoherently and someone learned to interpret this. Just over 600 years later, Rome was leaning heavily on the Christians and in 302 AD Galerius urged Diocletian to step it up somewhat.

Uncertain, Diocletian asked the Oracle for guidance. At Didyma the Oracle's utterings were given in written form. At Delphi they were merely spoken. The record shows that the response was interpreted as in favour of the persecution, marking the beginning of what has become known as the Great Persecution of 303, lasting for ten years.

You may get slightly biassed guidance from a High Priestess of one religion if wondering whether to persecute another... A few people from our party climbed the steps expecting to find themselves able to simply walk down the steps of the temple on the other side. And as the Oracle's rooms are no more they would have been able to do that had they been willing to jump the 12 feet or so to the floor of the first platform.

Instead we had to climb up the steep passage again. I've brightened the photo considerably, it was very dim in there. Miss Franny blinked at the wrong moment - it wasn't so dim that she could see just as well with her eyes shut...

A couple of gorgons' heads sculptures are displayed here but most of the sculpture including some statues from the Sacred Way have been removed to the museum. A few of the Sacred Way statues are apparently to be found in the British Museum in London. By the way, although we were told they were Gorgons' heads, I think they just had wavy hair - those are not snakes...

Once back at the ticket office, the current High Priest came looking for an offering...

We say goodbye to Didyma and Apollo and head back to the ship which is next to Princess Danae and a Saga Cruises ship.

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