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The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is a lost wonder of the world. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Artemision) Message about the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is a lost wonder of the world. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Artemision) Message about the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

The image of Artemis (in the ancient Greek pantheon, the goddess of hunting, who also personified the Moon), here, in Asia Minor, merged with the ideas of the pre-Hellenic population about the even more ancient Carian goddess of fertility and fertility, who, by the way, was also the patroness of the Amazons.

A religious building dedicated to Artemis has existed in Ephesus since time immemorial. In any case, the most ancient relics that belonged to the sanctuary date back to the 8th century BC. e. They are today in the British Museum. Presumably, the first temple of Artemis was destroyed by the Cimmerians.

Between 550 and 460 B.C. e., at a time when Ephesus reached an unprecedented flourishing, a new temple was built, which at that time was the most grandiose structure ever built of marble. The Ephesians, who decided to honor Artemis with a sanctuary surpassing in beauty all other religious buildings known at that time, entrusted the construction of the temple to the famous architect Kheirsifron from Knossos.

The architect chose a swampy lowland on the outskirts of Ephesus, near the mouth of the Caistre River, as a place for the construction of Artemision (as the temple was called here). This choice was due to the fact that earthquakes often occurred in this area, and on springy swampy soil, earth vibrations would be less destructive. In order to negate even the smallest risk of damage to the temple by an earthquake, Hersiphron ordered to dig a deep pit and fill it with a mixture of charcoal and cotton, and already on this foundation, designed to dampen tremors, to establish the foundation of a grandiose sanctuary.

The construction of the Temple of Artemis lasted 120 years. All the cities and states of Asia Minor took part in it. For example, the Lydian king Croesus, the very one whose wealth was included in the proverb, sent marble columns decorated with relief images of the gods, as evidenced by two inscriptions on the surviving bases of the columns. When, finally, the construction of the temple was completed, it caused surprise and delight among everyone who happened to admire the majestic and at the same time elegant marble structure. The facades were decorated with sculptures and bas-reliefs created by famous masters of those times.

But that Artemision stood for no more than a hundred years. In the summer of 356 BC. e. City madman named Herostratus, eager to glorify his name, set fire to the temple. There is no reliable data on how he managed to do this, but it is known that the fire quickly engulfed the ceiling, made of precious Lebanese cedar, and soon the sanctuary turned into a mountain of red-hot stone.

According to legend, it was on the night of the burning of the temple that the Macedonian queen Olympias gave birth to a boy who was destined to become the ruler of the ancient world. The happy father, Tsar Philip, named his son Alexander.

When, after 23 years, Alexander the Great, already consecrated by the glory of the great conqueror, approached the walls of Ephesus, work to restore the sanctuary of Artemis was in full swing. The Greeks of Ephesus greeted Alexander in a friendly manner, and the king decided to thank the new allies with significant monetary donations for the restoration of Artemision. At the same time, the commander wished that a marble stele was installed in the temple, on which his great deeds would be recorded. However, in the eyes of the Ephesians, the Macedonian Alexander remained a barbarian, that is, a man whose native language was not Greek. And to glorify a barbarian in a Greek temple was unacceptable.

In order not to anger the powerful king with a direct refusal, the Ephesians resorted to a diplomatic trick: they proclaimed Alexander equal to God. This made it possible for the priests of Artemis to indicate to the king that it was not acceptable for a god to build temples to other gods, so Artemision was completed without the participation of the king of Macedonia.

The work was headed by the architect Heirocrates. He took the project of his predecessors as a basis, but made the temple higher.

Artemision, built according to the plan of Cheirocrates, occupied a huge area - 110 by 55 meters. According to the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder, the temple was surrounded by 127 marble columns. Their height reached 18 meters. This is approximately the level of the roof of a modern six-story building.

In the temple, built of snow-white marble slabs, there was a 15-meter statue of the goddess, created from precious wood, ivory and gold. For a long time it was not known what kind it actually looked like, until in the 50s of the last century a gold antique coin was found with the image of a temple statue of Artemis of Ephesus, and over time, archaeologists discovered a small copy of the statue.

Many prominent Greek artists and sculptors decorated Artemision with their creations. The famous Athenian sculptor Praxiteles created the bas-reliefs on the friezes. Another famous craftsman, Scopas, made a wonderful carving of the columns. A special place was occupied by paintings by Apelles, an outstanding artist who was originally from Ephesus. Thus, Artemision was one of the largest and most celebrated museums of antiquity. His art gallery was no less famous than the collection of paintings in the propylaea of the Athenian Acropolis.

However, not only paintings and sculptures were kept in the Ephesian temple. The sanctuary has long been also a treasury and a bank. They entrusted their money, gold, precious jewelry to the temple of Artemis for the preservation of not only private individuals, but also the state.

The Greek commander Xenophon, who is more famous for his historical works, mentions that, going on a campaign, he left a large amount of money here. While he was absent, the priests had the right to freely dispose of the money, and in the event of the death of the depositor, everything remained to the temple. Military luck did not turn away from Xenophon, he returned with a victory, and as a token of gratitude he built in Greece with the saved money a small temple of Artemis, which was an exact copy of Ephesus.

Much later, in the 2nd century AD, when Ephesus became the capital of the Roman province of Asia, the Temple of Artemis lost neither its significance nor its riches. The Romans recognized it as the "treasury of Asia". Here is what the Roman writer Dion Chrysostom reports about this: “A lot of money was invested in the treasury of the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, not only by Ephesians, but also by foreigners, as well as money that belongs to other cities and kings. They keep money here for safety, the writer continues, because no one will ever dare to desecrate or ruin this sacred place, although there were numerous wars during which Ephesus was repeatedly taken.

To this we add that both under the Greeks and under the Romans, the sanctuary of Artemis possessed the sacred right of refuge and protection. On the territory of the temple, no one dared to detain either a state criminal or a slave who had escaped from a cruel master, because they were under the protection of Artemis.

The fame of the beauty and treasures of Artemision spread throughout the ancient world. And this fame in 263 AD. e. attracted hordes of Gothic tribes here. By that time, the Roman Empire had lost its former power, and no longer had the opportunity to defend its borders and provinces. The Goths captured Ephesus and plundered the famous sanctuary.

Soon Christianity came to Asia Minor. The cult of Artemis was replaced by the worship of the Virgin Mary, and the devastated sanctuary of the goddess was perceived by Christians only as a temple of a pagan idol. The governors of the Byzantine emperors allowed the townspeople to take marble slabs from the ruins of Artemision to build their houses, as if from a quarry. A church was also built from the ruins of the Hellenic temple. A small Byzantine chapel stands here today. By the way, when the Cathedral of St. Sophia (VI century) was erected in Constantinople, it was decorated with columns of ancient temples, which were collected throughout the empire. There are also several columns in the cathedral that once adorned Artemision.

The marshy ground, which, according to the plan of the architect Cheirocrates, was supposed to protect the structure from earthquakes, caused no less harm to the Temple of Artemis. All that was left of the sanctuary was swallowed up by a viscous swamp. The Caistre River silted up not only Artemision, but also the port of Ephesus (today, Ephesus separates 6 km of land from the Mediterranean coast).

Once deprived of access to the sea, the flourishing city quickly fell into decay, and when the Turks captured Ephesus in 1426, only ruins appeared before them. The conquerors did not begin to restore Ephesus, but built the town of Selcuk in the valley, using the marble of ancient ruins as a building material. Now the swamp that swallowed up the remains of the Temple of Artemis is on the outskirts of this provincial Turkish city.

The only reminder of the once magnificent Temple of Artemis is a lone Ionic column built in the 19th century from rubble among the reeds. Until that time, no one could indicate exactly where the legendary wonder of the world was located. History owes confirmation of the exact location of the Temple of Artemis to the English architect and engineer John Turtle Wood, an employee of the British Museum. He began his exploration work in 1863, and they continued for several years.

The key to unraveling the location of the temple was an inscription discovered during excavations of the ancient theater in Ephesus. It indicated that the temple of Artemis of Ephesus lay in the direction of the Sacred Way, directly to the north. John Wood succeeded in pumping out the swamp waters, and at a depth of more than six meters, the foundations of the temple were found, and under them - traces of the sanctuary burned by Herostratus.

Excursions to the Temple of Artemis

The historical area where the temple of Artemis once amazed people with its grandeur is located within the town of Selcuk, 700 meters from the bus station and 20 km from the popular resort of Kusadasi.

It is better to get from Kusadasi to Selcuk by dolmush (Turkish minibus). It is more convenient than taking a bus and cheaper than a taxi (about 5 TL).

Entrance to the attraction itself is free.

In addition, this place can be seen by going on a bus tour to Ephesus from any resort town in Turkey. The ancient city itself, thanks to restoration work, is getting prettier from year to year, and the object called the "Temple of Artemis" is included in the traditional list of historical attractions of the popular tourist route. A quarter of an hour is enough to see it, but, of course, this historical area is worth a visit.

If you are lucky, you will see a touching and symbolic action here: from time to time, one of the boys living in the neighborhood comes here, and, sitting on the shore of a swamp that has swallowed up the ruins of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, diligently displays notes of national Turkish melodies on a simple pipe . This paradoxical scene is a kind of epitaph to the ancient era, and it really makes an impression. The musician, in turn, quite rightly counts on generous encouragement.

It is said that Herostratus burned the temple of Artemis on the very night when Alexander the Great was born. This was a clear omen that the fate of Asia Minor was decided: the great commander was destined to completely subdue it - it was not for nothing that Artemis, being present at his birth, was distracted and could not protect her home.

The Temple of Artemis of Ephesus is located in Turkey, near the city of Selcuk, which is located in the south of the province of Izmir. The city in which the temple was installed, Ephesus, does not exist now, while several thousand years ago more than two hundred thousand people lived here, and therefore it was considered not just a big city, but at that time was a real metropolis.

The first settlements appeared here long before the appearance of the city (about 1.5 thousand years BC) - the area near the Kaistr River was ideal for this. Ephesus appeared later, in the 11th century. BC, when the Ionians came here and, having seized the territory, discovered that the cult of the ancient goddess "Great Mother" is extremely revered here.

They liked the idea, and they only slightly modified it according to their mythology: they began to worship Artemis, the goddess of fertility and hunting (the ancient Greeks considered her the patroness of all life on earth, female chastity, happy marriage and the guardian of women in childbirth). And several centuries later, a chic temple was built for her, which contemporaries almost immediately included in the list of the Seven Wonders of the World.

How the temple was built

The sanctuary was built twice - it took about one hundred and twenty years to build the first temple (it was built in the middle of the 6th century BC), and it was burned down three centuries later, in 356 BC. It took less time for restoration work, but, like the previous building, it also did not stand for long, in the 3rd century. it was plundered by the Goths, and in the IV century. Christians first closed it, and then dismantled it, and today only one fourteen-meter-high column remains from it.

The construction of the first sanctuary of the goddess, given that three generations of architects were engaged in it, can be divided into three stages.

Architect Hersifron

The money for the construction of one of the most magnificent sanctuaries of the ancient world was given by Croesus, the last king of Lydia, who became famous for his legendary wealth. Hersifron from Knossos worked on the project of the building, he encountered a number of unexpected problems during the construction of the sanctuary, and therefore applied several non-standard, atypical and original solutions.

It was decided to build the temple of marble, however, no one knew where exactly it could be obtained in the required quantity.

They say that chance helped here: sheep were grazing near the city. Once the animals started a fight among themselves, one of the males “missed”, didn’t hit the opponent, but hit the rock with all his might, from which a huge piece of marble fell off due to a strong blow, and the problem was solved.

The second unique feature of the Temple of Artemis was that it was built on a swamp. The architect Khersifron came to such a non-standard solution for one simple reason: earthquakes often happened here - and houses, including churches, were often destroyed for this reason.

While developing the project, Khersifron came to the conclusion that the swampy soil would soften the tremors, thus protecting the temple. And so that the structure would not settle, the builders dug a huge pit, filled it with coal and wool - and only after that they began to build the foundation from above.

Another problem encountered during the construction of the temple was the delivery of huge and heavy columns: loaded carts simply got stuck in the swampy soil. Therefore, Khersifron decided to use an unconventional method: builders hammered metal pins into the upper and lower parts of the column, after which they sheathed it with wood and harnessed oxen, which dragged it to the construction site.

Since the column was large enough, it rolled over the viscous soil without problems and did not fall through.

Another unexpected problem that the builders faced was the fact that it took a long time to install massive and heavy columns vertically. It is not known exactly how Hersifron solved this problem, but a legend has survived to this day that when the architect, in desperation, wanted to commit suicide, Artemis herself came to the rescue and helped the builders install the structure.

Alas, Hersifron did not manage to see his offspring: he died long before the completion of construction work - more than one hundred and twenty years were spent on the construction of a grandiose building. Therefore, the building was completed first by his son Metagen, and the construction work was completed by Peonit and Demetrius.

Architect Metagen

The next non-standard move had to be used by Metagen: a beam (architrave) had to be carefully placed on the columns without damaging the capitals. To do this, the builders put loose bags filled with sand on top of them. When installing the architrave, he began to put pressure on the bags, the sand spilled out, and the crossbar neatly occupied the place intended for it.

Paeonite and Demetrius

Building work around 550 BC graduated from the architects Peonit and Demetrius. As a result, a chic building made of white marble, decorated with sculptures by the best masters of ancient Hellas, could not but arouse the admiration of the townspeople. Despite the fact that a detailed description of the building has not come down to us, some data is still available.

What did the sanctuary look like?

The Temple of Artemis was considered the largest sanctuary of the ancient world: its length was 110 m, and its width was 55 m. Along the walls on the outside of the temple, the roof was supported by 127 columns 18 m high. The walls and roof of the sanctuary were decorated with marble slabs. The walls of the temple were decorated from the inside with sculptures made by Praxiteles and reliefs carved by Skopas.

In the middle of the temple was a fifteen-meter sculpture of the goddess, which was made of ebony and ivory, and decorated with precious stones and metals. Since Artemis was revered as the patroness of all living things, animals were depicted on her clothes.

On the statue found during excavations, scientists discovered a huge number of convex formations, the purpose of which scientists did not really determine. But since vessel-shaped beads were found during the excavations, archaeologists tend to think that these “bulges” are also beads that the priests hung on the sculpture during rituals (or they hung there all the time).

The role of the temple in the life of the city

the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, unlike other similar structures, was not only the cultural and spiritual center of the city, but also a financial and business center: there was a local bank, negotiations took place, transactions were made. It had complete independence from local authorities, and was ruled by a college of priests.

The destruction of the first temple

The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus did not last long - about two hundred years. In 356 BC. e one of the inhabitants of the city, Herostratus, wanting to become famous, set fire to the sanctuary. It was not difficult: despite the fact that the building itself was built of marble, many of the works in the middle were made of wood.

It should be borne in mind that it was extremely difficult to put out the fire because of its huge size: they simply did not have the necessary equipment to extinguish fires of this magnitude. After the fire, only columns and walls of white marble remained from the sanctuary, which turned black so much that the inhabitants of the city decided to completely dismantle the temple.

The offender was quickly identified - he did not hide at all and stated that he set fire to the building so that the descendants would not forget about him. To prevent this, the city council decided that the name of the offender should be completely removed from the documents and sink into oblivion. Despite the fact that in the documents they wrote about him as “one madman”, the human memory turned out to be tenacious, and the name of Herostratus entered the history of the ancient world forever.

Recovery

The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was restored quite quickly - already by the beginning of the III century. BC. - while the construction of a new sanctuary was financed by Alexander the Great. Construction work was entrusted to the architect Alexander Deinocrates (according to another version, his last name sounded like Cheirocrates). During the reconstruction, he completely adhered to the previous building plan and only slightly improved it, raising the temple a little higher, on a higher stepped base.

The second temple of Artemis was in no way inferior to the first and looked no less magnificent. Therefore, the Ephesians, in order to thank Alexander the Great for patronage, decided to install a portrait of the commander in the temple and ordered work from Apelles, who portrayed the commander with a lightning bolt in his hand.

The picture from the hands of the painter came out so perfect and reliable that the inhabitants of the city, when they came for the order, it seemed as if a hand armed with lightning really protruded from the canvas. For such work, the Ephesians generously thanked Apelles by paying him 25 gold talents (it is interesting that in the next few centuries not a single artist managed to earn so much for one picture).

Sanctuary doom

The restored temple of Artemis at Ephesus stood a little longer than the first. Its destruction began in 263, when it was completely plundered by the Goths. And a century later, in the IV century. AD after Christianity was adopted, paganism was prohibited - and the sanctuary of the goddess of fertility was destroyed: the marble was dismantled for other buildings, after which the roof was demolished, violating the integrity of the building, due to which the columns began to fall - and they were gradually sucked in by the swamp.

To date, only one fourteen-meter column has been restored, which turned out to be four meters lower than it was originally. Subsequently, on the foundation of the destroyed temple of Artemis, the Church of the Virgin Mary was erected, but it also has not survived to this day - because of which the location of the ancient temple was completely forgotten.

Scientists for a long time could not find the exact location of the temple of Artemis. This was done only in 1869 by the English archaeologist Wood, and a year later the British Museum organized an expedition that managed to find only a few fragments and small details of the ancient sanctuary. It was possible to fully excavate the foundation only in the last century, and under it were found traces of the first temple burned by Herostratus.

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A lost miracle - this is how the guide will poetically call what you will see on the site of the once majestic temple of Artemis of Ephesus. The spectacle is rather pitiful - almost nothing remains of the ruins, except for one column restored from the wreckage. But there were 127 of them! Each 18 meters high is a gift from one of the 127 kings.

The Temple of Artemis is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world described by historians. It was located in the Greek city of Ephesus, now it is Turkish Selcuk. From the once majestic temple today there is a barely visible foundation and one column - out of 127!

The temple, which had no equal in beauty and grandeur, as historians wrote, is one of the seven wonders of the world. It was located in the Greek Ephesus. Today it is the city of Selcuk, in the province of Izmir, in Turkey. The first temple in honor of the goddess of hunting Artemis was built in the middle of the 6th century BC. According to legend, in 356 BC, there was a fire at night - a citizen of Ephesus set fire to the temple to become famous.

The name of Herostratus has since become a household name, although everyone tried to forget him. In official documents, the criminal is not named, he is designated as "one madman."

By the beginning of the 3rd century BC, the temple was completely restored. Money for the construction of a new wonder of the world was allocated by Alexander the Great. The previous plan was preserved, only the building was raised on a high stepped base. One of the columns was made by the famous sculptor of that time Skopas. It is assumed that the altar is the work of the sculptor Praxiteles.

In 263, the sanctuary of Artemis was sacked by the Goths. During the time of Emperor Theodosius the First, all pagan cults were banned, because the temple of Artemis in Ephesus was closed. Marble lining from it began to be taken away by local residents for their buildings, the columns began to fall, and their fragments were sucked in by the swamp on which the temple stood. Even the place was gradually forgotten. The English archaeologist Wood managed to find traces of the best temple of Ionia in 1869. The foundation of the sanctuary was completely uncovered only in the 20th century. And under it were found traces of a temple burned by Herostratus. Fragments of columns decorated with reliefs are now in the British Museum.

Temple of Artemis of Ephesus is the third wonder of the world. Perhaps some will not immediately understand what was amazing about this structure. But we will give some interesting facts that will allow you to give an objective assessment of one of the seven wonders of the world. By the way, the name itself hides the origin of the famous temple - this is the ancient Greek city of Ephesus.

If it existed to this day, then you would have to go to, in the city of Selcuk, Izmir province, to see it with your own eyes. But we are forced to be content only with photographs of reconstructions and engineering models of the temple of Artemis of Ephesus.

We note right away that on the site of the architectural structure, where one of them appeared, there were two temples. In the VI century BC. e., a unique cult center was built there. However, he was betrayed to the fire by a man who decided to become famous in this way. Do you know who burned the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus? The name of this Greek is Herostratus.

As you know, in 356 BC. e., was born. It is believed that it was then that the mad Greek committed his atrocity. The city authorities decided to consign his name to oblivion, but it, nevertheless, went down in history.

After that, the building was restored to its original form, with the help of funds allocated by himself. In gratitude, the inhabitants of Ephesus ordered a portrait of the commander for a huge amount of money to hang a picture in one of the interior of the temple.

The dimensions of the third wonder of the world - the temple of Artemis of Ephesus, were as follows. Width - 52 meters, length - 105 meters, and height - 18 meters. The roof lay on 127 columns.

There is information that at the opening of the temple of Artemis, the townspeople were indescribably delighted. This is not surprising, because the best sculptors, artists and masters of the ancient world worked on the decoration of this wonder of the world. The statue of Artemis of Ephesus consisted of gold and ivory.

Do not think that the described object had an exclusively religious purpose. In fact, the temple was the largest economic, business and cultural Greek center in Ephesus.

In the middle of 263, the religious building was plundered by the Goths. At the end of the fourth century AD, when pagan religions were banned, a Christian church was built on the site of the temple. However, after some time it was destroyed. It is unlikely that we would have known anything about the place of former Greek glory, if not for the titanic work of the English archaeologist John Wood.

In 1869, he managed to find traces of one of the seven wonders of the world - the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus. Despite many problems, and the swampy terrain at the excavation site, Wood managed to find the remains of the once majestic building. Unfortunately, little has been preserved, and today you can see a single, restored column proudly standing on the site of the Temple of Artemis.

The history of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus dates back to the 12th century BC - it was then that its construction began. As it developed, the city flourished and eventually turned into the largest trading center in Asia Minor, and for good reason, because Ephesus was patronized by Artemis, the beautiful goddess of fertility and the protector of animals, hunters and expectant mothers.

The devout townspeople who revered her decided to build a temple to worship her and in her honor. When planning the construction of this unique structure, they pursued two goals, one of which was to have a place to worship a revered deity, and the other was to attract tourists to their city, which could increase the city budget.

Of course, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was not built by the hands of the townspeople - for its construction, the most famous architect in those distant times named Harsephron arrived from Knossos, and according to his idea, the building was planned to be built from real marble. But it was supposed to be not an ordinary building that received parishioners, but a real temple, surrounded by two rows of columns, striking in their impressive size. The great master Harsephron was distinguished by outstanding engineering talents, so he put into his project the most daring and original ideas that could only be implemented at that time in real conditions. But the intervention of the specialist did not hit the city budget at all - the ruler of Ephesus could afford to fork out for the construction of such a solid building.

Subsequently, the built temple was not subject to the authorities of Ephesus. It was an independent political unit, and it was ruled by a college of priests. If any of the townspeople wished to acquire the right of immunity, he had to enter the territory of the temple without a weapon in his hands.

Features of the construction of the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus

However, not everything went as smoothly as the architect wanted. And the first difficulty he had to face was the lack of a large deposit of marble and limestone. But the city authorities did everything possible to ensure that the necessary materials were found in sufficient quantities, and after a while the temple was successfully built. As for the 127 marble columns, which were the "face" of the unique design, they were taken to the construction site directly from the quarries, and the workers traveled ten kilometers to deliver them, because the construction site and the quarries were located far from each other.

In order to prevent the destruction of the temple during an earthquake, and the history of Hellas has many of them, it was decided to erect a structure for the worship of Artemis on a swampy area. Construction began with the digging of a huge pit, which was later filled with charcoal and wool. Such a "stuffing" of the foundation of the temple was supposed to serve as a guarantee of its stability under any circumstances, since the tremors during earthquakes in that area had a very different power and were capable of destroying any structures.

The supporting structures of the temple were represented by marble columns, the height of which reached 20 m. The heavy blocks from which they were assembled were first put in place with the help of special blocks, and only after that they were fastened with metal pins. When the building was fully erected, and a roof appeared on it, artists set to work, decorating it with ornaments and sculptures.

Why did the Temple of Artemis eventually become one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World? The fact is that the decoration of its main hall was a 15-meter statue of the goddess, inlaid with gold and precious stones. And the most talented sculptors and artists, famous for their skill throughout ancient Hellas, had a hand in decorating the premises. Rumors about the shrine of unprecedented beauty almost instantly spread throughout the ancient land. So the Temple of Artemis, due to its unusualness, was ranked among the wonders of the world. And to this day it is considered the largest temple of ancient classics., exceeding the size of the Parthenon itself - a landmark of Athens. The greatness of the Temple of Artemis can be judged even by the size of its platform alone - it occupied 131 m in length and 79 m in width.

Legends associated with the construction of the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus

Like any structure of ancient antiquity, the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus is shrouded in legends. According to one of them, the history of the appearance of the temple begins with a collision of two rams, who did not have the intelligence to disperse peacefully, and one of them ran into a rock with strong horns at a gallop. She could not withstand the force of the blow, and a piece fell off her. The shepherd, who witnessed the skirmish of the rams, saw a cut of the whitest marble on the rock. Shortly after this event, the ruler of Ephesus decided to build a temple, and marble for this purpose was taken from the indicated place, and the shepherd himself, called Pixodorus, was later included in the Gospel as the one who brought the good news to the people.

And here is another story related to the construction of the temple directly. Due to the fact that its construction was planned next to the Kaistra River, which is surrounded by swampy soils, all additional work was carried out 12 km from the construction platform itself. The heaviest and huge columns intended for the temple had problems with their transportation. But the architect Harsephron showed ingenuity here too, proposing to make holes in both ends of the columns. Metal rods were inserted into these holes, to which wheels were attached. So the uncomfortable columns were delivered to the platform of the future temple - on wheels, but by bulls, stubbornly moving them with the help of cables.

However, the talented Harsephron did not have time to complete what he started to the end - he did not have enough life. The case was continued by the architect Metagen - his son. Whatever it was, but about by 430 BC the construction of the temple was completed, and more than a thousand names of sculptures created by the most famous artists appeared on display for the city residents and guests of Ephesus. Of course, most of the sculptures were represented by the figures of the Amazons, because, according to another ancient legend, it was they who once founded the city of Ephesus.

The following can be said about whether the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus could replenish the city's budget. Given its location at the main economic crossroads, from the very first days of its existence, the temple was remarkable for all residents and guests of the city, who did not skimp on donations. And they left them in the form of the most expensive goods and valuable jewelry.

Who destroyed the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus?

According to historical chronicles, for the first time the temple suffered at the hands of Herostratus in July 356 BC. e. He explained his barbaric trick by the emergence of a wild desire to become famous at any cost. As one of the legends testifies, on the night of the burning of the temple, the goddess Artemis was busy giving birth to her son Alexander the Great, so she could not save the temple built in her honor. Subsequently, Alexander, who had matured, decided to restore the construction that had suffered at the hands of a barbarian, but the townspeople did not support him. And only when the son of Artemis was no longer alive, the Ephesians nevertheless restored the divine temple on their own.

The adventures of the majestic wonder of the world do not end there. In 263 AD it was destroyed again, but this time the Ephesians bothered to restore it quickly. Their desire to put the temple in order was explained by the fact that many townspeople became Christians immediately after they saw the split of the altar of Artemis into many parts. This event is described in the book of the Acts of John in the 2nd century by one of the Apostles. So in the 4th century AD. many Ephesians converted to Christianity, but the Roman emperor Theodosius desired to close all pagan temples. And in 401 AD. the temple suffered for the third time - now from a group of people headed by John Chrysostom. But the enterprising Ephesians adapted the remains of the temple for the construction of other new buildings. Nature itself mourned because of the perfect looting, and hid the structure underground, washing it away with the waters of an underground river. Gradually, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was forgotten.

Restoration of the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus

However, after one and a half thousand years, the archaeologist Wood, who studied the area of \u200b\u200bthe ancient Hellas, discovered the place on which the majestic temple stood, and even found some of its remains, including the foundation. In more detailed studies, it was possible to find traces of the version of the temple that was burned by Herostratus.
Today, the site of the Temple of Artemis is marked by a single restored pillar surrounded by ruins. According to historians, if the temple had not been destroyed and preserved in its original form to this day, it would easily overshadow any masterpiece of modern architectural art. However, all that our contemporaries can admire on the land of ancient Hellas is one surviving column.