Artemis Temple, Ephesus

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The Temple of Artemis lies just off the road that leads to Ephesus, to the west of Selcuk but all that remains of the once described Seventh Wonder of the World is a single column capped with a stork's nest. It was originally built around 550 BC and was said to be the largest temple in the world, eclipsing even the Parthenon at Athens, with some 127 columns, each 17.5 meters high.

The temple was dedicated to Artemis, a Greek Goddess, the virginal huntress and twin of Apollo, who supplanted the Titan Selene as goddess of the Moon. The statue of the multi-breasted Artemis was the symbol of the temple but also of abundance, hunting and wildlife. The genuine statue of Artemis was removed during a fire and is today exhibited in the Ephesus Museum in Selcuk. Many copies of this statue found during the latest excavations date back from the Roman period. The temple itself was rebuilt several times following fires and earthquakes but then destroyed during a raid by the Goths in AD 262. Over the course of the fourth century, all temples were declared closed by Theodosius I in 391. In 401, the temple in its last version was finally destroyed by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom, and the stones were used in construction of other buildings. Some of the columns in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul originally belonged to the Temple of Artemis.

Admission: Free.

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Approx two to three hundred meters from the Ephesus museum you will come across a large hole, which turns into a pool of water in the spring months, this is where the temple of arthemis use to be. Most of the remnants which have architectural value, and belonged to the temple are now in the British Museum. Some made of gold and ivory are in the Archaeology Museums in Istanbul and at Ephesus. This was the place of one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

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The ruins of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is located across the highway from the ruins of Ephesus. In its day, the temple was huge, with over 120 columns supporting it. The temple was built around 550 BC by the Lydians (financed by the legendary King Croessus), and then rebuilt by the Greeks after a fire around 350 BC.

The temple was severely damaged by the invading Goths in the 3rd century, and then destroyed further by a Christian mob in the 5th century. Earthquakes and floods finished it off, leaving almost nothing standing. Today, you can see parts of the foundation remaining, as well a single column, which was assembled from the fragments of a number of the temple's columns. Admission to the site is free.

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Artemis was a 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.

The temple was described as 377 feet long and 180 feet wide, made almost entirely of marble, making its area about three times as large as the Parthenon. The temple's cella was enclosed in colonnades of 127 Ionic columns, each 18 meters (60 feet) in height. The Temple of Artemis housed many fine works of art. 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 were said to have founded the city of Ephesus.

The temple of Artemis at Ephesus was destroyed on July 21, 356 BCE 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. The Ephesians, outraged, announced that Herostratus' name never be recorded.
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 BCE. After sixty years of searching, the site of a the temple was rediscoved in 1869 by an expedition sponsored by the British Museum led by John Turtle Wood

The goddess Diana was very highly worshipped in ancient Rome. Her greek counterpart, fell under the name Artemis. Diana in Roman worship, was known as well as a maiden huntress, protector of all that is wild and free. She is also welknown as the goddess of Fertility and one of the topic statues in the national museum of Tripoli in Libya

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One of the Wonders of the Ancient World,this temple is no longer standing,although you can get a glimpse and have a good time imagining how it is.The only standing column can be seen.

The Greek mother-goddess Arthemis and her temple brought much fame to the city of Ephesus back in those days.

One interesting fact of the temple was that it held the function of a BANK! High Priest Megabysos was in charge of the budget of the temple ; he gave credit and received the gifts made to the goddess.

There's not much left to see of the great temple of Diana, one of the wonders of the ancient world. Earthquakes weakened the structure, then builders throughout the centuries pilfered the site (supposedly some of the columns in the Hagia Sophia are from this temple) and finally foreign museums have finished off the job. Only one column is left standing (with stork's nest on top). The terrace at the Church of St. John offers as good a view as any of the site. Incredible to think that the temple was so large that the Parthenon could have been placed within it.

One of the 7 wonders of the world was also once built here in Ephesus :
The TEMPLE OF ARTEMISAnd what you see on my pic is all that is left over of it.
The temple is a bit outside of the excarvation-area, and you would certainly pass by it without notice, if your guide would not tell you.
Sorry for the bad quality of the photo - it is a scanning of my Super-8-film, that is actually a slide with a size of just 4mmx8mm

This temple stands at the beginning of the Selcuk-Kusadasi road going to Kusadasi on the right-hand side. It was built in the 7th century BC and destroyed seven times. This temple was dedicated to Artemis of Ephesus and is considered to have been one of the seven world wonders.

A stump of a pillar heralding one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Wow factor... well... out of this world? well out of the coach for a quick photo and back into the air conditioned bliss and off to the pools of cleopatra for a nice bathing session.