But when I saw the sacred house of Artemis that towers
to the clouds, the [other Wonders] were placed in the shade, for the Sun
himself has never looked upon its equal outside Olympus. 

Greek-Palestinian Poet Antipater. 



Is it simply a temple? How could it take its place among other unique
structures such as the Pyramid, the Hanging Gardens, and the Colossus of
Rhodes? For the people who actually visited it, the answer was simple.
It 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. 


Location

The ancient city of Ephesus
near the modern town of Selcuk, about 50 km south of 
in Turkey. 

History
Although the foundation of the temple dates back to the seventh century
BC, 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 s
tatues 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... artifacts from as far as Persia and India
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, Alexanderthe Great was born the same night. The Roman 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
262 AD, the Ephesians vowed to rebuild. By the fourth century AD, most
Ephesians had converted to Christianity and the temple lost its religious
glamor. The final chapter came when in 401 AD 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.
ergeben sich viele Möglichkeiten

Description
The foundation of the temple was rectangular in form, similar to most
temples at the time. Unlike other sanctuaries, however, the building was
made of marble, with a decorated façade overlooking a spacious courtyard.
Marble steps surrounding the building platform led to the high terrace
which was approximately 80 m (260 ft) by 130 m (430 ft) in plan. The columns
were 20 m (60 ft) high with Ionic capitals and carved circular sides. There
were 127 columns in total, aligned orthogonally over the whole platform
area, except for the central cella or house of the goddess. 

The temple housed many works of art, including four ancient bronze statues
of Amazons sculpted by the finest artists at the time. When St Paul visited
the city, the temple was adorned with golden pillars and silver statuettes,
and was decorated with paintings. 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.