The Temple Of Artemis At Ephesus In Turkey
Adam Carr/Wikimedia CommonsThe ruins of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, Turkey.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was one of the unluckiest buildings of the ancient world — it was destroyed on at least four separate occasions. But each time, it was rebuilt more beautiful than the last iteration, until Antipater of Sidon, one of the Greek chroniclers of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, said it blew all the others away.
The original temple dates back to the Bronze Age. The people of Ephesus believed it had originally been built by the Amazons, the fierce huntresses of Greek legend. That temple was destroyed in the 7th century BCE in a flood — a danger the site was especially vulnerable to.
But that didn’t stop Ephesians of the 6th century from rebuilding it in the exact same location. Croesus, the rich Lydian king who famously misunderstood the oracle’s prediction that his war was going to destroy a great empire, reportedly funded the new temple’s construction.
Arkiyolok/Wikimedia CommonsA column at the Temple of Artemis.
Sadly, like many of Croesus’s efforts, the reconstruction ultimately proved futile. This temple too was destroyed, this time in 356 BCE by a man called Herostratus, who was hoping to go down in the annals of history as a famous arsonist. (It worked, despite the efforts of outraged city officials who tried to scrub his name from the records.)
The temple was rebuilt again 30 years later, and this time the Ephesians were determined to make it last. No expense was spared, and it was built larger than either of its predecessors.
Ancient descriptions inform us that the building was made of marble, had 127 columns, all 60 feet high, and a marble staircase leading to a high terrace. The inside was adorned with golden pillars, paintings, and silver statuettes, and the whole temple overlooked a large new courtyard.
The temple became a religious sanctuary where visitors, merchants, tourists, and kings paid homage to Artemis, and it also doubled as a marketplace. Some came seeking sanctuary, after the tradition of the Amazons who famously fled to Artemis to beg for her protection from angry persecutors.
Dguendel/Wikimedia CommonsThe ruined temple was once one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.
For 600 years, the temple survived floods, storms, and wars. It finally met its end in a raid by the Goths in 268 CE. Repairs were attempted, but the following years saw Christians shut the temple down. After that, the building was left to time’s mercies.
