The Temple of Diana at Ephesus

The Temple of Artemis was not just a temple... It was the most beautiful structure on earth... It was built in honor of the Greek goddess of hunting and wild nature. That was the Temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus. The temple is located in the ancient city of Ephesus near the modern town of Selcuk, about 50 km south of Izmir  (Smyrna) in Turkey

The foundation of the temple dates back to the seventh century BC. But the structure that earned a spot in the list of Wonders was built around 550 BC. Referred to as the great marble temple, or temple D, it was sponsored by the Lydian king Croesus and was designed by the Greek architect Chersiphron. It was decorated with bronze statues sculpted by the most skilled artists of their time: Pheidias, Polycleitus, Kresilas, and Phradmon.

The temple served as both a marketplace and a religious institution. For years, the sanctuary was visited by merchants, tourists, artisans, and kings who paid homage to the goddess by sharing their profits with her. Recent archeological excavations at the site revealed gifts from pilgrims including statuettes of Artemis made of gold and ivory... earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

On the night of 21 July 356 BC, a man named Herostratus burned the temple to ground in an attempt to immortalize his name. He did indeed. Strangely enough, Alexander the Great was born the same night. The historian Plutarch later wrote that the goddess was "too busy taking care of the birth of Alexander to send help to her threatened temple". Over the next two decades, the temple was restored and is labeled "temple E" by archeologists. And when Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor , he helped rebuild the destroyed temple.

When St. Paul visited Ephesus to preach Christianity in the first century AD, he was confronted by the Artemis' cult who had no plans to abandon their goddess. And when the temple was again destroyed by the Goths in AD 262, the Ephesians vowed to rebuild it. By the fourth century AD, most Ephesians had converted to Christianity and the temple lost its religious glamour. The final chapter came when in AD 401 the Temple of Artemis was torn down by St John Chrysostom. Ephesus was later deserted, and only in the late nineteenth century has the site been excavated. The digging revealed the temple's foundation and the road to the now swampy site. Attempts were recently made to rebuilt the temple, but only a few columns have been re-erected.

The foundation of the temple was rectangular in form and was made of marble, with a decorated façade overlooking a spacious courtyard. Marble steps surrounding the building platform led to the high terrace The size has been estimated at 104 meters in length, 50 meters in width, with 127 large stone columns more than 18 meters tall. The columns were aligned orthogonally over the whole platform area, except for the house of the goddess. The temple housed many works of art sculpted by the finest artists at the time.  There is no evidence that a statue of the goddess herself was placed at the center of the sanctuary, but there is no reason not to believe so.

About the Goddess

Isis was the daughter of the God Geb (Earth) and the Goddess Nut (Sky) according to the Heliopolitan genealogy. She was the wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus - God of day. She is the mistress of words and the Goddess of Nature.