The Temple of Artemis
was a magnificent place of worship
in the city of Ephesus in present-day
Turkey, dedicated to Artemis, the
Greek goddess of the hunt. Although
earlier destroyed and rebuilt, it
was completed, in its most famous
phase, around 550 B.C.E. under the
Achaemenid dynasty of the Persian
Empire. It was rebuilt again several
centuries later and endured into the
end of the fourth century C.E. It
is considered one of the Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World.
The temple was described
by Philo of Byzantium:
I have seen the walls
and Hanging Gardens of ancient Babylon,
the statue of Olympian Zeus, the Colossus
of Rhodes, the mighty work of the
high Pyramids and the tomb of Mausolus.
But when I saw the temple at Ephesus
rising to the clouds, all these other
wonders were put in the shade.
The temple became a
worship center for people of all faiths
from many lands, including a sect
of Ephesians who worshiped Cybele,
the Greek Earth Mother goddess. It
was also known as the Temple of Diana,
the equivalent Roman goddess to Artemis.
The temple was said to be a fantastic
structure made of marble, with gold
and silver decoration and the finest
art and statuary of the age. It was
burned down on July 21, 356 B.C.E.
by agents of a man called Herostratus,
who reportedly sought worldwide fame
by destroying the world's most beautiful
building. It was later rebuilt several
times. Its ultimate destruction occurred
at the hands of a Christian mob led
by St. John Chrysostom, then archbishop
of Ephesus, in 401 C.E.
Seven Wonder of The
Ancient World-Temple of Artemis
Test holes have confirmed
the temple site was occupied as early
as the Bronze Age. Included in the
find were layers of pottery that extended
forward to later times, when the clay-floored,
classical temple, surrounded by a
single row of columns, was constructed
in the second half of the eighth century
B.C.E. The temple at Ephesus was the
earliest known example of a colonnaded
temple on the coast of Asia Minor,
and perhaps the earliest Greek temple
anywhere surrounded by colonnades.
In the seventh century,
a flood destroyed the temple, depositing
over 1.6 feet of sand and scattering
flotsam over the former floor of hard-packed
clay. In the flood debris were the
remains of a carved, ivory plaque
of a griffin, the fabled monster with
the head and wings of an eagle and
the body of a lion, and the Tree of
Life, apparently North Syrian. More
importantly, flood deposits, buried
in place a precious find against the
north wall that included drilled amber,
tear-shaped drops with elliptical
cross-sections, which had once dressed
the wooden image of the Lady of Ephesus.
Bammer (1990) notes that the flood-prone
site was raised about six and one-half
feet between the eight and sixth centuries
B.C.E., and almost eight feet between
the sixth and the fourth centuries
B.C.E. This indicates that the site
itself must have had sacred meaning,
since it would have been easier to
move the temple
The Great Temple
The new and most famous
temple was constructed around 550
B.C.E. by the Cretan architect Chersiphron
and his son Metagenes. It was built
of marble, with its colonnades doubled
to make a wide ceremonial passage
around the central structure of the
classical temple. A new ebony or grape
wood statue of Artemis was created
and a small, classical temple to house
it was erected east of the open-air
altar.
This enriched reconstruction
was sponsored by Croesus, the wealthy
king of Lydia. More than a thousand
items have been recovered from the
temple, including what may be the
earliest coins of the silver-gold
alloy, electrum. The temple became
a tourist attraction, visited by merchants,
kings, and sightseers, many of whom
paid homage to Artemis in the form
of jewelry and various goods. It was
also a widely respected place of refuge,
a tradition that was linked in myth
with the Amazons who reportedly took
refuge there, both from Heracles and
from Dionysus.
Initial destruction
The temple was destroyed on July 21,
356 B.C.E. in an act of arson. The
crime was initiated by a man named
Herostratus, whose motivation was
fame at any cost: "A man was
found to plan the burning of the temple
of Ephesian Diana so that through
the destruction of this most beautiful
building his name might be spread
through the whole world."[1]
The citizens of Ephesus,
outraged at the act, intended that
Herostratus' name never be recorded.
The historian Strabo, however, later
noted the name, which is how it is
known today.
Rebuilding efforts
On the very same night the temple
was destroyed, Alexander the Great
was born. Plutarch remarked that Artemis
was too preoccupied with Alexander's
delivery to save her burning temple.
Alexander later offered to pay for
the temple's rebuilding, but the Ephesians
refused. Eventually, the temple was
restored after Alexander's death,
in 323 B.C.E.
This reconstruction
was itself destroyed during a raid
by the Goths in 262, in the time of
Emperor Gallienus: "Respa, Veduc
and Thuruar, leaders of the Goths,
took ship and sailed across the strait
of the Hellespont to Asia. There they
laid waste many populous cities and
set fire to the renowned temple of
Diana at Ephesus," reported the
historian Jordanes (Getica 20:107).
The temple was again rebuilt, however,
and continued to be known as one of
the wonders of the world until well
into the Christian era.
