Apollo had other oracles on the Greek mainland, yet the majority of Apollo shrines there were not oracular, or their oracles faded because they could not sustain competition with Delphi. One district with a strong independent oracular tradition was Boiotia, where the sanctuary of Apollo Ptoios thrived in spite of its relative proximity to Delphi. The hero Ptoios, named for the triple-peaked Mt. Ptoion, may have preceded Apollo as the resident deity of the sanctuary. Its most prosperous period began in the late seventh century, when kouroi became fashionable dedications. Typical Archaic gifts to the gods, these stiffly frontal, sculpted nude youths made especially appropriate votives for Apollo, himself a divine kouros (youth). About a hundred kouroi were dedicated during the seventh and sixth centuries and discovered in the excavation of the site, providing a treasure trove for the study of Archaic sculpture.28 The sanctuary attracted attention outside Boiotia, particularly from the neighboring Athenians. Visitors included Hipparchos, son of the Athenian tyrant Peisistratos, who left an inscribed dedication. Herodotus (8.135) gives our only account of the oracular procedure in his story of a barbarian named Mys who consulted the oracle during the Persian wars. As soon as Mys entered the shrine, the male prophet shocked the Greeks present by uttering words they could not understand. But Mys declared that the oracle was responding in his own language, Karian, and left satisfied.
Other mainland Apollo oracles included the Ismenion of Thebes and the sanctuary at Abai in Phokis, while at the Argive shrine of Apollo Pythaeus, a female prophet gave oracles after tasting the blood of a sacrificed ewe.29 Yet these sanctuaries were exceptional. In the Greek colonies of Asia Minor, the situation was reversed. The entire Aegean coast was dotted with oracular Apollo shrines. The East Greeks had rich Apolline traditions influenced by their non-Greek neighbors, and were distant enough from Delphi to require their own oracle centers. The most famous was Didyma, but it never achieved the prominence of Delphi in Greek affairs because its interests were too closely aligned with nearby Miletos, a powerful Ionian city. In the Archaic period, Didyma was run by a family of prophets, the Branchidai, who traced their ancestry to the beautiful herdsman Branchos. Once, Apollo spotted Branchos with his flocks and immediately fell in love with him. The god kissed Branchos and bestowed on him a crown, a laurel rod, and the power of prophecy, which he passed down to his descendants. The story explains one of Apollo’s cult titles at Didyma, Philesios (Loving). When Apollo became angry with the Milesians and sent a plague, Branchos saved the people by striking or sprinkling them with the purifying laurel branch.
Didyma and Miletos remained close partners throughout the history of the sanctuary. The patron god of Miletos was Apollo Delphinios, and his priests, the Molpoi (Singers), began every year with a grand procession, which traveled from the Delphinion along the Sacred Way to Didyma. The sanctuary itself can be traced archaeologically to the eighth century, when the sacred spring used to induce the prophetic trance was enclosed. Around 600 a portico was added to shelter visitors and display the increasing number of offerings. These included the Pharaoh Necho’s gift of a royal garment, worn at his victory over Josiah, King of Judah, in the battle of Megiddo (609). Didyma also received treasures from the rich Lydian king Kroisos, who sent gifts to a number of Greek oracles. In the sixth century, a huge temple was constructed in the tradition of the colossal Ionic temples of Hera at Samos and Artemis at Ephesos. Differing from temples in mainland Greece, it was designed as an unroofed courtyard enclosing a grove of laurels and the sacred spring. At one end a small roofed shrine (naiskos) was provided to house the cult statue of Apollo Didymeus, commissioned from the sculptor Kanachos. He created a roughly life-sized, cast bronze figure of the nude god in a standing, frontal pose with one leg forward. In the left hand was a bow; in the outstretched right palm, the god held a stag. With respect to ritual practice, osteological analysis of the finds from Didyma has revealed that the sacrificial procedure was nonstandard: thigh bones of cattle were not burned on the altar, but were deposited unburned and whole in special places. The accumulation of these bones, like the “horn altars” of other sanctuaries, must have formed an impressive visual record of the gifts allotted to the gods in the sanctuary.
The Milesians and their neighbors consulted the oracle for much the same reasons as other Greeks consulted Delphi. Didyma, or Branchidai as it is often called, played an important role in Miletos’ vigorous colonization program. A few sixth-century consultations are recorded in inscriptions: one petitioner asked for advice on whether to engage in piracy and was told to follow the practices of his ancestors, while another query dealt with whether women should be permitted in the sanctuary of Herakles. A recently discovered Archaic inscription from Olbia, found on a bone tablet, preserves an enigmatic text linking the colony’s fate with multiples of Apollo’s sacred number, seven, and different aspects of the god:
7: Wolf without strength. 77: Terrible lion. 777: Bowbearer, friendly with his gift, with the power of a healer. 7777: Wise dolphin. Peace to the Blessed City (Olbia). I pronounce her to be happy. I bear remembrance to Leto.
A second inscription on the same tablet mentions Apollo of Didyma, and the tablet has therefore been interpreted as a record of an oracular response. It is also possible that the tablet represents a hitherto unattested Apolline cult with Orphic or Pythagorean connections.32
The highly prosperous operations of Didyma came to an abrupt end in 494, when Darius captured Miletos. The sanctuary was pillaged and burned, and the Branchidai were deported according to the usual Persian policy of resettling war captives far from home. After about a hundred and fifty years of silence, the oracle was revived under state-appointed priests to welcome Alexander the Great when he took the city. Alexander is said to have discovered the descendants of the Branchidai when he arrived in Bactria, but instead of restoring them to their ancient role, he cruelly slaughtered them.
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