The myth has it that Leto, the pregnant lover of Zeus, so feared the wrath of Zeus’ wife Hera that she took refuge on the island of Delos to give birth to her twins, Apollo and Artemis. During her labor, light burst from the skies and the sun appeared. Hence, Apollo came to be known as the god of light. His most important skill, however, was his oracular prowess. One day Apollo struck a close friendship with a shepherd, Branchos, and taught him the secrets of prophecy. Branchos built a temple in his native city, Miletus, to honor Apollo.

That’s how the Temple of Apollo’s story is being told today in what is now Turkey’s Aegean district of Didim, a popular destination for both Turkish and foreign holidaymakers. The monumental structure — the largest of the surviving oracular centers built in Apollo’s name in Asia Minor — leaves the visitor awestruck.

The temple was an important site for the Ionian civilization, to which Miletus belonged. In nocturnal rites held at the temple, Ionians keen to know their future marched on the sacred road leading to the sanctuary, holding torches and singing hymns. The priests descended to the sacred court, performed ritual ablutions in a sacred spring and then drank from the water. Then, in a state of trance, the priests made mysterious utterances, believed to be conveying Apollo’s words to the audience.

That’s how my guide described the nocturnal rites as I toured the temple, dazzled both by the mythical stories and the imposing structure. I entered the site from the sacred gate as the Ionians did. The still magnificent entrance, marked by two 14.5-meter-tall (47.5-foot) stone columns on both sides, opens out onto a marble courtyard. More ornamented columns are seen inside. The original structure had a total of 124 very tall columns, but not all of them have survived. I noticed iron cages placed on some of the columns, which looked rather ugly and disturbed the ancient fabric of the site. The members of a restoration team working on the site explained that the cages were remnants of reinforcement work conducted five decades ago and would be soon be removed.