The traces of first settlement in Didim goes back since 16000 year B.C. This geography hosting Ions, Persians, Romans, Byzantium, and Turks have evidenced numerous historical events during 160 centuries. Although there is not abundant information on the phases experienced in Didim before Hellenistic era, region has been the stage of archeological excavations enlightening periods following the period of Alexander the Great .
Ions, considering Aegean Region of nowadays as hometown for themselves has been lived as a union consisted of 12 cities governments other than colonies ( including Miletos, Myos, Priene, Ephesus, Kolophon, Lebedos, Teos, Erythria, Klazomenia, Phokia, Samos and Khios). These “city governments” established on the intersection points of commercial routes of their era have became rich within a short time period thanks to agriculture and marine trade. Another distinctive nature of Ion states from others is to embrace sufficient number and qualified authors, philosophers and scientists who can feed their cultural heritage. Thanks to this embracement, Ions have established most developed administrative structure and civilization among all other Anatolian civilizations.
In cities and regions of Ion society, unforgettable names of philosophy such as Anaxagoras, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Antisthenes, Aristotle (Aristo), Democritus, Sinope’s Diogenes, Epicurus (Epikür), Empedocles, Heraclitus, Leucippus, Gorgias, Parmenides, famous Plato, Protagoras, Pythagoras, Socrates, Thales and Zeno have lived.
Among the authors of Antique era living in these cities established among trees of olive, strawberry, locust, Judas trees, rosebays and green and Calabria pines are the names of Aeschylus, Aesop (Ezop), Aristophanes, Euripides, Herodotus (Heredot), Hesiod, Homer, Lucian, Menander, Pindar, Plutarch, Polybius, Sappho, Sophocles (Sofokles), Megara Theognis Thucydides and Xenophon appear at the forefront..
While Ion Piers of Aegean Shores knitted like a lace look for the fish men to approach them with their boats for centuries, on the other side, this region have welcome the persons who have lead the historical events or who have written the events of their era like Alexander The Great, Lycurgus, Leonidas, Alcibiades, Demosthenes, Pericles, Solon, Themistocles, Archimedes, Hippocrates, Aspasia, Milo from Croton.
According to researches on the remainders since 1858, Didymaion is a resident of a diviner loyal to Miletus and his gods and became a residential location by considering the temple where they pray as the center. It is documented during archeological and anthropological researches that construction of archaic temple has been initiated at the mid of VI. Century B.C., by Ion people. The temple remainders we can see nowadays are the remainders of the archaic temple which was smaller than its successor and started to be constructed just after the victory of Alexander The Great against Persians. However, again according to the findings, the construction of this magnificent temple, remainders and three columns of which we can see nowadays, have never been completed due to various reasons.
“Twin Brothers” meant by “Didyma” term in Greek are the God Apollo and Goddess Artemis. As known the location called as “Artemis Temple” built in Efes for Artemis is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. One of the important antique elements in the region is the “Holy Path” designed as a straight line between Miletus and Apollon Temple in Didim (although not remained materially today) and “Holy Area of Artemis” located at the end of said path.