APOLLO SMINTHEION SANCTUARY

55,5 Km

The Apollo Smintheion Sanctuary is the shinning star of the region. The temple is in Gürpınar, which is 30 kilometers away from Assos and it was constructed as the worshipping area of the people of Alexandra Troas. The area, in which new findings come to light in each passing day, was very important for the ancient world people. The peoples' desires to know the future and their affections to their health have provided the sanctuary to become quite famous. The temple was made in the name of sun and prophecy god Apollo. The visitors have delivered the things that they wanted to learn about the future to the priest prophet by writing them on a paper and he was making prophets related with the future by looking at the water source in the temple. Of course these prophets were in a characteristic that was malleable, just like the coffee fortune telling today. The remains of the hammam in the sanctuary show that the visitors did not only come here for prophets but also for health. Apollo was called as "smintheus" that means "the master of the mice" as because he was ruling the mice that went the people down like ninepins with the plague. At the first part of the Iliad, the temple priest begs Apollo saying that "The powerful king of the Tenedos, Smintheos, listen to me"

Antandros