DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4324#0079
DIDYME.
39
which he is celebrated, and of his regard for the temple at Branchidae, was this, that he restored
to it a brazen image of the god, which in the time of Xerxes had been carried away to Ecbatana
in Media.*
The two kings and brothers, Seleucus and Antiochus, displayed a like disposition in their vene-
ration for this deity, and munificence to his temple; as appears from a curious record copied by
Consul Sherard, who visited this spot in 1709, and again in 1716, published by Chishull.-f It
was inscribed on a square piece of marble, beneath a shed, on the north side of the temple; and
is an epistle of king Seleucus to the Milesians, with a catalogue of the royal donations which
accompanied it; the cups, bowls, and utensils, of various sizes and denominations, of gold and
silver, exceeding in value one thousand three hundred and fifty pounds sterling; besides precious
incense and costly ointments, of which no estimate can be made, and the dedication of twelve
altars, with a thousand victims for sacrifice : the occasion being the unexpected safety of Seleucus
when supposed to be killed in battle; together with a peace for ten years, agreed on between them
and Ptolemy Euergetes.J Demodamas also, their general, after penetrating beyond the borders of
the Sogdiani, where Alexander had founded a third city called by his name, and altars were
placed by Bacchus, Hercules, Semiramis, and Cyrus, as memorials of the extent of their expedi-
tions, remembered, thus afar off, the favourite deity of his masters, and on the mutual boundary of
the Persian and Scythian territories, erected his altars to Apollo Didymaeus.§
Among the benefactors mentioned in another inscription, is Prusias the Third, surnamed
Cynegus, or the Hunter, King of Bithynia, who dedicated || certain first-fruits, probably of the
Attalic spoils, as the learned Chishull conjectures; the royal pillager, who had carried offyEscu-
lapius on his own shoulders when he sacked Pergamus, hoping, it is likely, to compensate for his
impieties there by his liberality here. The share which this Apollo was reputed to have had in
his prosperity, with the veneration shown by his successor for so propitious a deity, is commemo-
rated in verses addressed to his son Nicomedes by Scymnus the Chian. f
Such were the offerings of ancient art, with which this temple also, according to Strabo, ** was
most sumptuously adorned.
From these specimens it may be concluded, the additions made to the sacred repositories, con-
tained, with the Oracle, in distinct cells, ++ were inscribed annually on marble ; and the curious
will regret that so authentic a register, though committed to so durable a substance, has yet not
escaped to us entire and legible. It was hoped, the remnants already published might have been
enlarged by farther transcripts ; but after diligent search among the ruins and rubbish which cover
* Pausan. L. i p. 39. f Antiquitat. Asiat. p. 65. To. ryg fiuiriXeixs Kpojepov, us aKvopev,
X Ante Ch. Ann. 243. § Solinus, Mem. Asia?, p. 104. n«P« voi n, /3«<nXsu, yW>»s riftufievov
|| Ante Ch. 15(5. Chish. Antiquitat. Asiat. p. 94. Kafet v»v\»- Tov AxoXXcom rov i» Aifytwff Xeyu,
f A<0 »«/ TJ *>K&e<r« crv^HXov WK^W To„ *«, fyuofawfa. *«' ^<^V V. 55.
Tov frxry^oftwuSl* xcv ™ <r« Traf/p * * P- 634. ft Strab. p. 634.
39
which he is celebrated, and of his regard for the temple at Branchidae, was this, that he restored
to it a brazen image of the god, which in the time of Xerxes had been carried away to Ecbatana
in Media.*
The two kings and brothers, Seleucus and Antiochus, displayed a like disposition in their vene-
ration for this deity, and munificence to his temple; as appears from a curious record copied by
Consul Sherard, who visited this spot in 1709, and again in 1716, published by Chishull.-f It
was inscribed on a square piece of marble, beneath a shed, on the north side of the temple; and
is an epistle of king Seleucus to the Milesians, with a catalogue of the royal donations which
accompanied it; the cups, bowls, and utensils, of various sizes and denominations, of gold and
silver, exceeding in value one thousand three hundred and fifty pounds sterling; besides precious
incense and costly ointments, of which no estimate can be made, and the dedication of twelve
altars, with a thousand victims for sacrifice : the occasion being the unexpected safety of Seleucus
when supposed to be killed in battle; together with a peace for ten years, agreed on between them
and Ptolemy Euergetes.J Demodamas also, their general, after penetrating beyond the borders of
the Sogdiani, where Alexander had founded a third city called by his name, and altars were
placed by Bacchus, Hercules, Semiramis, and Cyrus, as memorials of the extent of their expedi-
tions, remembered, thus afar off, the favourite deity of his masters, and on the mutual boundary of
the Persian and Scythian territories, erected his altars to Apollo Didymaeus.§
Among the benefactors mentioned in another inscription, is Prusias the Third, surnamed
Cynegus, or the Hunter, King of Bithynia, who dedicated || certain first-fruits, probably of the
Attalic spoils, as the learned Chishull conjectures; the royal pillager, who had carried offyEscu-
lapius on his own shoulders when he sacked Pergamus, hoping, it is likely, to compensate for his
impieties there by his liberality here. The share which this Apollo was reputed to have had in
his prosperity, with the veneration shown by his successor for so propitious a deity, is commemo-
rated in verses addressed to his son Nicomedes by Scymnus the Chian. f
Such were the offerings of ancient art, with which this temple also, according to Strabo, ** was
most sumptuously adorned.
From these specimens it may be concluded, the additions made to the sacred repositories, con-
tained, with the Oracle, in distinct cells, ++ were inscribed annually on marble ; and the curious
will regret that so authentic a register, though committed to so durable a substance, has yet not
escaped to us entire and legible. It was hoped, the remnants already published might have been
enlarged by farther transcripts ; but after diligent search among the ruins and rubbish which cover
* Pausan. L. i p. 39. f Antiquitat. Asiat. p. 65. To. ryg fiuiriXeixs Kpojepov, us aKvopev,
X Ante Ch. Ann. 243. § Solinus, Mem. Asia?, p. 104. n«P« voi n, /3«<nXsu, yW>»s riftufievov
|| Ante Ch. 15(5. Chish. Antiquitat. Asiat. p. 94. Kafet v»v\»- Tov AxoXXcom rov i» Aifytwff Xeyu,
f A<0 »«/ TJ *>K&e<r« crv^HXov WK^W To„ *«, fyuofawfa. *«' ^<^V V. 55.
Tov frxry^oftwuSl* xcv ™ <r« Traf/p * * P- 634. ft Strab. p. 634.