The Temple of Artemis of Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the world, but has not survived to this day in its original form. Moreover, only a small part of this masterpiece of architecture remains, which reminds that the once ancient city of Ephesus was famous for its beauty and honored the goddess of fertility.
A little about the details associated with the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Temple of Artemis of Ephesus was located on the territory of modern Turkey. In ancient times, there was a flourishing polis here, trade was carried on, prominent philosophers, sculptors, painters lived. In Ephesus, Artemis was revered, she was the patroness of all the gifts that animals and plants presented, as well as an assistant in childbirth. That is why a large-scale plan for the construction of a temple was drawn up in honor of her, which at that time was not easy to build.
As a result, the sanctuary turned out to be quite large, with a width of 52 m and a length of 105 m. The height of the columns was 18 m, there were 127 of them. It is believed that each column was a gift from one of the kings. Today you can see the wonder of the world not only in the picture. In Turkey, the great temple has been recreated in a reduced form. For those wondering where the copy is located, you can visit the Miniaturk Park in Istanbul.
The temple to the goddess of fertility was erected not only in Ephesus, because the building with the same name was on the island of Corfu in Greece. This historical monument was not as large-scale as Ephesian, but it was also considered an outstanding piece of architecture. True, today little has remained of it.
History of creation and recreation
The Temple of Artemis of Ephesus was erected twice, and each time a sad fate awaited it. A large-scale project was developed by Khersifron at the beginning of the 6th century. BC e. It was he who chose an unusual place for the construction of the future wonder of the world. There were often earthquakes in this area, so a marshland was chosen for the foundation of the future structure, which reduced tremors and prevented destruction from natural disasters.
Funds for the construction were allocated by King Croesus, but he never managed to see this masterpiece in its finished form. The work of Khersifron was continued by his son Metagenes, and finished by Demetrius and Paeonius at the beginning of the 5th century. The temple was built of white marble. The sculpture of Artemis was made of ivory, adorned with precious stones and gold. The interior decoration was so impressive that the building was rightfully considered one of the most beautiful in the world. In 356 BC. the great creation was enveloped in tongues of fire, which made it lose its former charm. Many of the construction details were wooden, so they burned to the ground, and the marble turned black from soot, because it was impossible to extinguish the fire in such a massive structure in those days.
Everyone wanted to know who burned down the main building in the city, but it didn't take long to find the culprit. The Greek who burned the temple of Artemis gave his own name and was proud of what he had done. Herostratus wanted his name to be forever preserved in history, so he decided to take such a step. For this advice, the arsonist was punished: to erase his name from all sources so that he did not get what he wanted. From that moment on, he was nicknamed "one madman", but it has come down to our times who burned down the original building of the temple.
By the III century. at the expense of Alexander the Great, the temple of Artemis was restored. It was dismantled, the base was strengthened and again reproduced in its original form. In 263, the holy place was plundered by the Goths during an invasion. With the adoption of Christianity, paganism was banned, so the temple was gradually dismantled in parts. Later, a church was built here, but it was also destroyed.
Interesting about the almost forgotten
Over the years, while Ephesus was abandoned, the sanctuary was destroyed more and more, and its ruins were drowned in a swamp. For many years not a single person was able to find the place where the sanctuary was located. In 1869, John Wood discovered parts of the lost property, but it was only in the 20th century that it was possible to get to the foundation.
From the blocks pulled out from the swamp, according to the description, they tried to restore one column, which turned out to be slightly smaller than it was before. Every day, hundreds of photos are taken by visiting tourists who dream of at least partially touching one of the wonders of the world.
We recommend reading about the Parthenon Temple.
During the excursion, many interesting facts are told about the temple of Artemis of Ephesus, and the whole world now knows in which city the most beautiful temple of the ancient period was located.
