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ALL TURKEY TOURS |
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INFORMATION |
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ARTEMIS TEMPLE
The Artemis Temple or Artemision
was one of the Seven Wonders of the World and located in
Ephesus. Throughout the excavations in Ephesus, the actual
location of the temple was presumed in different places. Its
ancient cult dedicated to Artemis was famous in antiquity
and made ancient Ephesus a much-visited pilgrimage place.
Each year one month was considered a holiday and set aside
for the religious ceremonious observations.The first temple
was built in the 6C BC
and was Ionic dipteros with two rows of columns on both
sides and three rows in the front and rear. There were
totally 127 Ionic columns with a height of 19 m / 62 ft
each. 36 of columns were bearing sculptures in relief. In
356 BC a madman known as Herostratus set fire to the temple
in order to make his name immortal. On the same night in
Macedonia Alexander the Great was born. Later when he came
to Anatolia he offered to make an endowment for the temple
on the condition That his name should be associated with it.
However his offer was refused with a polite and tactful
answer; "it was unseemly for one god to build a temple for
another"
The second temple was built in the 4C BC on the same ground
plan but this time being on a base with 13 steps. The fact
That the temple faced West while Greek temples faced East as
a rule is some proof of it being of Anatolian origin. This
is the same in the temples of Sardis and
Magnesia on Meander. The columns were shorter and more
slender. The famous sculptor Scopas made the column reliefs
while the relief on the altar was of Praxiteles. In the
beginning of the 5C AD the temple was destroyed by a
fanatical mob which was regarded as the final triumph of
Christianity over paganism. Out of the magnificent temple
only one of the 127 Ionic columns and foundation stones can
be seen today. This was erected in 1972-3 out of different
pieces of different columns without reaching its original
height.
There was an archaic Processional Road stretching to the
Artemis Temple around the Panayir Dagi (Mount Pion) through
the Magnesian Gate. This was the route of the ancient
processions which was flanked along its whole length with
graves. Library Square was an important stopping point on
the processional route in archaic times. The stretch from
the Magnesian Gate to the Artemis Temple on the processional
route was roofed over in the 2-3C AD by T. Flavius Damianus,
a rich Ephesian and sophist. This was called Stoa of
Damianus.
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