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Temple of Artemis

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   The site of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Turkey: Some stacked
   remnants recreate columns, but nothing remains of the original temple.
   Currently, a stork nests on the top of the column.
   Enlarge
   The site of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Turkey: Some stacked
   remnants recreate columns, but nothing remains of the original temple.
   Currently, a stork nests on the top of the column.

   The Temple of Artemis (in Greek — Artemision, and in Latin —
   Artemisium), also known as Temple of Diana, was a temple dedicated to
   Artemis completed around 550 BC at Ephesus (in present-day Turkey)
   under the Achaemenid dynasty of the Persian Empire. Nothing remains of
   the original temple, which was considered one of the Seven Wonders of
   the Ancient World.

   The temple was a 120-year project started by Croesus of Lydia. It was
   described by Antipater of Sidon, who compiled a list of the Seven
   Wonders:

          I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road
          for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the
          hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge
          labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but
          when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds,
          those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, 'Lo,
          apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught (anything) so
          grand." (Antipater, Greek Anthology [IX.58])

   The temple was also 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.

Location

   The Temple of Artemis was located in the ancient city of Ephesus, about
   50 km south from the modern port city of Izmir, in Turkey. Like the
   other wonders, Antipater chose the temple for his list not only because
   of its beauty or size, but also because it rested near the border of
   the Greek world. This inspired a sense of mystery and awe for the
   Greeks, and emphasized Alexander the Great's vast empire.
   Artemis of Ephesus: an 18th-century engraving of a Roman marble copy of
   a Greek original
   Enlarge
   Artemis of Ephesus: an 18th-century engraving of a Roman marble copy of
   a Greek original

Ephesian Artemis

   Artemis was the Greek goddess, the virginal huntress and twin of
   Apollo, who supplanted the Titan Selene as Goddess of the Moon. Of the
   Olympian goddesses who inherited aspects of the Great Goddess of Crete,
   Athene was more honored than Artemis at Athens. At Ephesus, a goddess
   whom the Greeks associated with Artemis was passionately venerated in
   an archaic, certainly pre-Hellenic icon. The original—of which many
   copies and reductions circulated in Antiquity— was carved of wood, with
   many breasts denoting her fertility (rather than the virginity that
   Hellene Artemis assumed). Most similar to Near-Eastern and Egyptian
   deities, and least like Greek ones, her body and legs are enclosed
   within a tapering pillar-like term, from which her feet protrude. On
   the coins minted at Ephesus, the many-breasted Goddess wears a mural
   crown (like a city's walls), an attribute of Cybele (see polos). On the
   coins she rests either arm on a staff formed of entwined serpents or of
   a stack of ouroboroi, the eternal serpent with its tail in its mouth.
   Like Cybele, the goddess at Ephesus was served by hierodules called
   megabyzae, and by ( korai).

   A votive inscription mentioned by Bennett (see link), which dates
   probably from about the 3rd century BC, associates Ephesian Artemis
   with Crete: "To the Healer of diseases, to Apollo, Giver of Light to
   mortals, Eutyches has set up in votive offering (a statue of) the
   Cretan Lady of Ephesus, the Light-Bearer."

   The Greek habits of syncretism assimilated all foreign gods under some
   form of the Olympian pantheon familiar to them, and it is clear that at
   Ephesus, the identification that the Ionian settlers made of the "Lady
   of Ephesus" with Artemis was slender.

History

   The sacred site at Ephesus was far older than the Artemisium. Pausanias
   understood the shrine of Artemis there to be very ancient. He states
   with certainty that it antedated the Ionic immigration by many years,
   being older even than the oracular shrine of Apollo at Didyma. He said
   that the pre-Ionic inhabitants of the city were Leleges and Lydians.

   The Temple was designed and constructed around 550 BC by the Cretan
   architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes. This early construction
   was built at the expense of Croesus, the wealthy king of Lydia. The
   rich foundation deposit of more than a thousand items has been
   recovered: it includes what may be the earliest coins of the
   silver-gold alloy, electrum. Marshy ground was selected for the
   building site as a precaution against future earthquakes, according to
   Pliny the Elder. 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. Its splendor also attracted
   many worshippers, many of whom formed the cult of Artemis.

   The temple was a widely respected place of refuge, a tradition that was
   linked in myth with the Amazons who took refuge there, both from
   Heracles and from Dionysus.

   The temple of Artemis at Ephesus was destroyed on July 21, 356 BC in an
   act of arson committed by Herostratus. According to the story, his
   motivation was fame at any cost, thus the term herostratic fame.

          "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."

                ^Source: Valerius Maximus, VIII.14.ext.5

   The Ephesians, outraged, announced that Herostratus' name never be
   recorded. Strabo later noted the name, which is how we know today.

   That very same night, 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 BC.

   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 Jordanes in
   Getica (xx.107).

   Over the next two centuries, the majority of Ephesians converted to
   Christianity, and the Temple of Artemis lost its religious appeal.
   Christians tore down the remenants of the temple, and the stones were
   used in construction of other buildings.

   The main primary sources for the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus are in
   Pliny the Elder's Natural History XXXVI.xxi.95, Pomponius Mela i:17,
   and Plutarch's Life of Alexander III.5 (referencing the burning of the
   Artemisium).

   The site of the temple was rediscovered in 1869 by an expedition
   sponsored by the British Museum led by John Turtle Wood, and while
   several artifacts and sculptures from the reconstructed temple can be
   seen there today, as for the original site, only a single column
   remains from the temple itself.

Architecture and art

   Most of the physical description and art within the Temple of Artemis
   comes from Pliny, though there are different accounts and the actual
   size varies.

   Pliny describes the temple as 377 feet (115 meters) long and 180 feet
   (55 meters) wide, made almost entirely of marble. The Temple consists
   of 127 Ionic-styled columns, each 60 feet (18 meters) in height.

   The Temple of Artemis housed many fine artworks. Sculptures by renowned
   Greek sculptors Polyclitus, Pheidias, Cresilas, and Phradmon adorned
   the temple, as well as paintings and gilded columns of gold and silver.
   The sculptors often competed at creating the finest sculpture. Many of
   these sculptures were of Amazons, who are said to have founded the city
   of Ephesus.

   Pliny tells us that Scopas, who also worked on the Mausoleum of
   Mausollos, worked carved reliefs into the temple's columns.

   Athenagoras of Athens names Endoeus, a pupil of Daedalus, as the
   sculptor of the main statue of Artemis in Ephesus.

Cult and influence

   The Temple of Artemis was located at an economically robust region,
   seeing merchants and travellers from all over Asia Minor. The temple
   was influenced by many beliefs, and can be seen as a symbol of faith
   for many different peoples. The Ephesians worshipped Cybele, and
   incorporated many of their beliefs into the worship of Artemis.
   Artemisian Cybele became quite contrasted from her Roman counterpart,
   Diana. The cult of Artemis attracted thousands of worshippers from
   far-off lands. They would all gather at the site and worship her.
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