The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Temple of Artemis at Ephesus measured 300 by 150 feet, with columns 60 feet high. This great temple dedicated to the goddess Diana was begun about 555 B.C. by Croesus, king of Lydia. Avandal burned down the original temple in 356 B . C., but it was rebuilt by Alexander the Great.

The Temple of Artemis, also known less precisely as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to a goddess Greeks identified as Artemis and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was sited at Ephesus (the modern town of Selçuk in present-day Turkey), and was completely rebuilt three times before its eventual destruction in 401.



The Shrine to the Goddess Artemis


The first shrine to the Goddess Artemis was probably built around 800 B.C. on a marshy strip near the river at Ephesus.  The shrine was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the next few hundred years. By 600 B.C., the city of Ephesus had become a major port of trade and an architect named Chersiphron was engaged to build a new, larger temple. He designed it with high stone columns.


According to one story in 550 B.C., King Croesus of Lydia conquered Ephesus and the other Greek cities of Asia Minor and during the fighting, the temple was destroyed.This next temple dwarfed those that had come before it. The architect is thought to be a man named Theodorus. Theodorus's temple was 300 feet in length and 150 feet wide with an area four times the size of the previous temple. More than one hundred stone columns supported a massive roof. 


The new temple was the pride of Ephesus until 356 B.C. when tragedy struck. A young Ephesian named Herostratus, who would stop at nothing to have his name go down in history, set fire to the wooden roof of the building. He managed to burn the structure to the ground. The citizens of Ephesus were so appalled by this act that after torturing Herostratus to death, they issued a decree that anyone who even spoke of his name would be put to death.