Corresponding depressions in the substructure of the temple suggest that the wooden predecessor building erected around 400 BC was integrated into the newly erected temple building. The cella itself was largely destroyed. During the excavation work, a Hellenistic floor mosaic of high quality was uncovered. From the motifs it can be concluded that the temple was dedicated to Apollo. It shows attributes of the god in three fields: a rosette, a lyre and a bow with quiver. The mosaic visible today on the temple floor is a copy. The original is in the archaeological museum in Fethiye.

In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo is the god of light, healing, spring, moral purity and temperance, as well as prophecy and the arts, especially music, poetry and song; he was also the god of healing and the god of archery. Born in Didyma, the son of Zeus, the father of the gods, and Leto, the goddess (Latin: Latona), like his first-born twin sister Artemis (Latin: Diana), he belonged to the Olympic gods, the twelve main gods of the Greek pantheon. The sanctuary in Delphi, the most important oracle site of antiquity, was consecrated to him.