Interesting facts about the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. Temple of Artemis of Ephesus: interesting facts

Among the Greek cities of Asia Minor, the largest and most famous was the city of Ephesus. His power was ensured major port and trade. Crafts, culture and art flourished here. It was in Ephesus that one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World was built - the Temple of Artemis.

We built and built...

According to the Greeks, the goddess Artemis patronized all living things in forests and fields. She could give happiness in marriage and help in having children. The Ephesians decided to erect a temple worthy of their glorious city in honor of the influential goddess (see photo).

The invited Greek architect Hersiphron had a difficult task. Customers expected a building of unprecedented size and beauty that would last for centuries. Despite the fact that earthquakes are common in these places. The architect found an unexpected solution - to build... in a swamp, in a swampy river valley.

The loose soil was supposed to act as a shock absorber during earthquakes. But a temple can sink into such soil simply under its own weight! Therefore, having dug a pit, they poured a cushion of soft and non-rotting wool and charcoal into it.

The project looked great - the temple was surrounded by two rows of marble columns. But delivery of multi-ton columns turned out to be extremely difficult. The wheels of the carts got stuck in the muddy soil. Hersifron found a way out here too. Holes were drilled at the ends of the columns and bronze rods were driven in. Wooden bushings were put on their ends and connected to the harness with long poles. Harnessed dozens of oxen (!) with difficulty, but rolled a round column to the construction site.

Complex calculations, a lot of practical difficulties - all this slowed down the work. It is not surprising that the temple took 120 years to build. Artemis's new home was ready around 450 BC. e.

Seven Wonders of the World - Temple of Artemis in Turkey

How can we forget Herostratus?

The temple did not last even a century. A little-known townsman, Herostratus, started a fire in the temple. Mentally unwell, he planned to become a Greek, immortalizing his name by burning the temple of Artemis of Ephesus. What took 120 years to build disappeared overnight.

Why didn’t Artemis herself come to the aid of the temple? The legend easily explains this. It turns out that the goddess was busy: just that night in distant Macedonia, the king’s wife gave birth to a son - the future great commander Alexander the Great.

The Ephesians sentenced the madman to execution and decided never to mention his name anywhere. But what you try to forget is precisely what you remember. And so it happened. Even in this article we could not do without mentioning the Greek who burned the temple of Artemis of Ephesus.

Revival of the temple

Years later, they began to raise money to restore the sanctuary. The main funds for it were allocated by the same Alexander the Great. By that time, he had conquered all of Asia Minor and destroyed Persia.

The fame of the restored temple spread throughout the Mediterranean. It was classified as one of the seven wonders of antiquity. Tourists of antiquity came here specifically to see it.

The building was stunningly beautiful both outside and inside. Relief jewelry and statues made of gold and silver. In the main hall there was a statue of Artemis, as tall as a five-story building, all in gold and precious stones.

Let's bring interesting facts about the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus:

the temple had dimensions of 105 x 52 m, it was surrounded by 127 columns, each 18 m high. The roof was supported by powerful beams made of Lebanese cedar (see photo).

When restoring the roof, instead of clay tiles, marble tiles were laid;

In the temple there was a huge portrait of Alexander, where the king, like Zeus, is depicted with lightning in his hand. The author managed to create a “3D effect” - the hand seemed to protrude from the plane of the canvas.

Morning sun never lasts a day

The Temple of Artemis stood for about a century. The Romans admired him. However, the Gothic tribes who fought with Rome plundered the temple.

The sea bay near which Ephesus stood was silting up and the sea was receding. The city fell into decay, its inhabitants moved to the nearby hills.

Times were already different, Christian. Pagan temples did not inspire respect, and the practical Ephesians took away the marble casing of the temple and, in general, everything that could be taken away. Some of the columns were taken to Constantinople and used in the construction of the famous St. Sophia Cathedral. Earthquakes knocked down columns and they were carried away by the earth. Swampy soil covered the ruins. The territory began to belong to Turkey. The Temple of Artemis was forgotten.

In the 19th century, archaeologists established its location. Nowadays it is the outskirts of the city of Selcuk, two to three hours drive from Izmir. On the site of the temple there is a wasteland (see photo). Here, among the thick grass, antique stones lie and columns assembled from fragments rise. In the photo you see everything that remains of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.

Ephesus and the Temple of Artemis, photo slideshow

They say that Herostratus burned the temple of Artemis on the very night that 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 subjugate it - it was not for nothing that Artemis, present at his birth, was distracted and could not defend 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 established, Ephesus, does not exist now, whereas several thousand years ago more than two hundred thousand people lived here, and therefore it was considered not just a large 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 Caistre River was ideal for this. Ephesus appeared later, in the 11th century. BC, when the Ionians came here and, having captured the territory, discovered that the cult of the ancient goddess “Great Mother” was 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 guardian of women in labor). And several centuries later, a luxurious temple was built for her, which contemporaries almost immediately included in the list of “Seven Wonders of the World.”

How the temple was built

The sanctuary was built twice - the construction of the first temple took about one hundred and twenty years (it was built in the middle of the 6th century BC), and it was burned three centuries later, in 356 BC. The restoration work required less time, 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 column fourteen meters high remains.



The construction of the first sanctuary of the goddess, given that it was carried out by three generations of architects, can be divided into three stages.

Architect Hersiphron

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, famous for his legendary wealth. Khersiphron from Knossos worked on the building project, who encountered a number of unexpected problems during the construction of the sanctuary, and therefore used several non-standard, atypical and original solutions.

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

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

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



While developing the project, Khersiphron came to the conclusion that the swampy soil would soften tremors, thus protecting the temple. And to prevent the structure from settling, the builders dug huge size pit, filled it with coal and wool - and only after that they began to build a foundation on top.

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, Khersiphron decided to use an unconventional method: the builders hammered metal pins into the upper and lower parts of the column, after which they sheathed it with wood and harnessed oxen to drag it to the construction site.

Since the column was large enough, it rolled without problems on viscous soil and did not collapse.

Another unexpected problem that the builders faced was that it took a long time to install massive and heavy columns vertically. How exactly Khersiphron solved this problem is unknown, but a legend has survived to this day that when the architect in despair wanted to commit suicide, Artemis herself came to the rescue and helped the builders install the structure.

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

Architect Metagen

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

Peonitus and Demetrius

Construction work around 550 BC. graduated from the architects Peonit and Demetrius. As a result, the luxurious building made of white marble, decorated with sculptures of 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 reached us, some data is still available.

What did the sanctuary look like?

The Temple of Artemis was considered the most large 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 inside walls of the temple were decorated with sculptures made by Praxiteles and reliefs carved by Scopas.



In the middle of the temple there was a fifteen-meter sculpture of the goddess, which was made of ebony and ivory, and decorated 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 have not really determined. But since beads in the shape of vessels were found during excavations, archaeologists are inclined to think that these “bulges” are also beads that the priests hung on the sculpture during rituals (or that they hung there permanently).

The role of the temple in the life of the city

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

The death 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 residents of the city, Herostratus, wanting to become famous, set fire to the sanctuary. This was not difficult: although the building itself was made 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 due to its enormous size: they simply did not have the necessary equipment to extinguish fires of such a scale. After the fire, all that was left of the sanctuary were columns and walls made of white marble, which turned so black that the city residents decided to completely dismantle the temple.

The criminal was quickly identified - he was not hiding at all and stated that he set the building on fire so that his descendants would not forget about him. To prevent this, the city council decided that the name of the criminal should be completely removed from the documents and sink into oblivion. Despite the fact that in documents they wrote about him as “one madman,” 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 3rd century. BC – at the same time, the construction of the new sanctuary was financed by Alexander the Great. The construction work was entrusted to the architect Alexander Deinokrat (according to another version, his last name sounded like Heirokrat). During the reconstruction, he completely adhered to the previous building plan and only slightly improved it, raising the temple slightly 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 his patronage of the arts, decided to install a portrait of the commander in the temple and ordered the work from Apelles, who depicted the commander with lightning in his hand.

The painting from the painter’s hands came out so perfect and authentic that the residents of the city, when they came to receive the order, seemed as if a hand armed with lightning was really sticking out of the canvas. For such work, the Ephesians generously thanked Apelles, paying him 25 gold talents (interestingly, in the next few centuries, no artist managed to earn so much for one painting).

Death of the Sanctuary

The restored Temple of Artemis in Ephesus stood somewhat longer than the first. Its destruction began in 263, when it was completely plundered by the Goths. And another century later, in the 4th 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, because of which the columns began to fall - and they were gradually sucked into 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, the Church of the Virgin Mary was built on the foundation of the destroyed Temple of Artemis, but it also has not survived to this day - which is why the location of the ancient temple was completely forgotten.

For a long time, scientists could not find the exact location of the Temple of Artemis. This was accomplished 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 ancient sanctuary. It was possible to completely excavate the foundation only in the last century, and underneath it were found traces of the first temple burned by Herostratus.

TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT EPHESUS - a majestic temple in honor of Artemis, goddess of the moon, patroness of animals and young girls. Built in 560 BC. King Croesus of Lydia in the city of Ephesus on the coast of Asia Minor, north of the Meander River.
Considered one of the so-called "seven wonders of the world"; was the center of veneration of the goddess Artemis, whose cult merged with the cult of the local goddess of fertility, depicted as a nursing mother.

The temple was built on swampy soil, the foundation was previously strengthened to avoid destruction from earthquakes that were frequent in those places. Architects Chersifon and Metagenes from the island of Crete erected a rectangular temple (55 × 105 m), which was surrounded by 127 Ionic columns 18 m high. There were 8 columns in each of the two rows of the main facade. The construction of the temple lasted 120 years, it was completed by the architects Peonit and Demetrius.

In 356 BC A resident of Ephesus, Herostratus, deciding to become famous and perpetuate his name, set fire to the famous temple, the walls were damaged in the fire, and the roof collapsed. It was decided to rebuild the sanctuary. Using the funds raised, the architect Kheirokrat rebuilt the temple, making minor changes: the base of the temple was raised and the number of steps was increased. Inside there was a huge statue of Artemis in the form of a nursing mother (15 m). The sculpture was made of wood, clothes and jewelry were made of gold. The following centuries brought a lot of destruction: in 263 the temple was plundered by the Goths, during Byzantine Empire The marble slabs of the temple were used for other buildings; later, a Christian church that has not been preserved was erected on the site of the temple. But the greatest destruction was caused by the swampy soil on which the temple was located. As a result of excavations, the foundation of the structure and fragments of columns decorated with reliefs have now been found; they are in the British Museum.

The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus is one of the seven wonders of the world - the most famous monuments of sculpture and architecture, described by ancient historians and travelers, incl. “father of history” Herodotus (b. c. 484 – d. c. 425 BC) in his History. This number, along with the Temple of Artemis (c. 550 BC) and the ancient Egyptian pyramids (3 thousand BC), included hanging gardens Semiramis (7th century BC), mausoleum at Halicarnassus (mid 4th century BC), Colossus of Rhodes (statue of Helios on Rhodes, c. 292–280 BC), statue Zeus in Olympia (Greece, c. 430 BC), lighthouse on Pharos Island in Alexandria (Egypt, 3rd century BC).

Almost entirely only the pyramids have survived to this day. Near the city of Hilla in Iraq there are ruins of vaulted structures: apparently, “hanging gardens” were laid out on their roofs. The British Museum in London contains fragments of sculpture from the Halicarnassus mausoleum (sculptors Scopas, Timofey, Briaxis, Leochares). From the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (Ionian dipter), rebuilt by architect. Heirokrat, the foundations have been preserved. Other “wonders of the world” are known only from images and descriptions.

Why did Herostratus burn the temple of Artemis of Ephesus?

Herostratus is a Greek from the city of Ephesus (Asia Minor), who in 366 BC. burned the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus, considered one of the seven wonders of the world. He did this only (as he confessed during torture) so that his name would reach posterity. Although the inhabitants of Ephesus decided not to pronounce his name, Herostratus was mentioned by the ancient Greek historian Theopompus (4th century BC). According to legend, the temple burned down on the very night when Alexander the Great was born. The name Herostratus has acquired a household name for people trying to gain “Herostratus glory” to the detriment of cultural and natural monuments.

Artemision, temple of Artemis in Ephesus (an ancient city in Caria, on west coast Asia Minor), was one of the most famous centers of pilgrimage of the ancient world.

Artemis has been revered in the cities of Asia Minor since ancient times as the goddess of fertility. But Artemis of Asia Minor and the Greek goddess of hunting Artemis are not the same character in history. The ancient inhabitants of Asia Minor therefore called their goddess Artemis of Ephesus.

The festival of the goddess Artemis took place both there and there. In Ephesus, magnificent festivities were held this month in honor of the birth of the goddess.

Who built the Temple of Artemis

According to legend, the ancient temple of Artemis was built by the legendary Amazons, who were also considered the founders of the city. In the 6th century BC. e. city ​​residents decided to build new temple, which would surpass all previous sanctuaries in beauty and grandeur.

The construction of the temple was entrusted to the architect Khersiphron from Knossos. He proposed a design for a giant marble diptera (a type of temple in which the sanctuary was surrounded by two rows of columns). The choice of white marble as a material was partly due to the fact that it was during that period that deposits of white marble were discovered near Ephesus.

Vitruvius talks about it this way: “When the citizens of Ephesus decided to build a temple of marble for Diana and were discussing whether to deliver it from Paros, Proconnesus, Heraclea or Thasos, it happened that the shepherd Pixodarus drove his sheep to graze at this very place; and there two rams running towards each other slipped past one another, and on the fly one of them hit a rock, from which a dazzling white fragment bounced off. Here, they say, Pixodarus abandoned the sheep in the mountains and ran back to Ephesus with the fragment in the midst of discussion of the above-mentioned issue.”

The temple was supposed to be built near the mouth of the Caistre River, where the soil was wet and swampy. This choice was determined by the desire to protect the temple from the earthquakes that often occur in Ephesus. At Khersiphron's suggestion, a pit was dug into which a mixture of charcoal and wool was poured. Then the laying of the foundation began.

Long construction

According to legend, the construction of Artemision lasted 120 years. All cities of Asia Minor took part in it, one way or another. Hersifron died when work was in full swing. It is not known exactly which part was built under him. The information of ancient authors on this matter is contradictory. Scientists only agree that he managed to finish the main building and the colonnade.

The construction of the upper part of the temple was continued by his son Metagenes. The construction of this structure contributed to the improvement of construction techniques and the emergence of new, previously unknown techniques. Metagen also did not live to see the completion of the grandiose project. The construction of the temple was completed by the architects Peonit and Demetrius. Artemision was admired by everyone who saw him. True, it did not last long, about 100 years.

The Greek who burned the Temple of Artemis

In 356 BC. e. a certain Herostratus, a resident of Ephesus, decided to leave his name in the annals of history by destroying main shrine Asia Minor. He set fire to the temple. The building was heavily damaged. The roof collapsed, columns and walls were burned. The news of the death of Artemision shocked the entire Hellenistic world. There is a legend that on the day when the temple of Artemis of Ephesus was destroyed, Alexander the Great was born.

Residents of all Ionian cities made a joint decision never to pronounce the name of Herostratus anywhere and never. But as you can see, we know this name, Herostratus immortalized his name!

Writers should not have mentioned him even when talking about the fire in the temple. Thus, they wanted Herostratus’ desire to become famous, which pushed him to destroy the greatest shrine, not to be fulfilled. Nevertheless, his name remains in history, but this is not a glory that is worth being proud of. It is no coincidence that the expression “Gerostratus glory” has become synonymous with fame achieved through a crime or some unseemly act.

The residents of Ephesus could not come to terms with the destruction of the temple and decided to start raising funds for its restoration. The townspeople generously gave away their savings and jewelry. The temple was rebuilt according to the previous plan, but it was raised to a higher stepped base so that the sanctuary would not get lost among those buildings that were built after its destruction.

There will be a temple

The restored temple was striking in its scale. It occupied an area of ​​110 by 55 meters and was surrounded by a double row of columns, each 18 meters high. The architecture of the new building combined features of the Ionian and Corinthian orders. 36 columns decorated with reliefs were installed inside.

The temple was lined from the inside with marble slabs, and the roof was also covered with marble tiles. In the center of the main room there was a huge (15 meters high) statue of Artemis, which was carved from wood and decorated with many jewelry. Famous sculptors and painters took part in the decoration of the temple.

The reliefs of one of the columns were made by the famous artist and sculptor Skopas, who created the statue of Queen Artemisia in the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. The Athenian sculptor Praxiteles decorated the altar with reliefs. Famous artists of that time donated their paintings to the temple, for example Apelles, a native of Ephesus.

The Temple of Artemis of Ephesus has become one of the famous museums of antiquity. Many paintings and sculptures were located both in the interior of the temple and in the stone fence near it. Also installed there was a statue of a woman made by the Samian master Roik, who, according to ancient authors, was the first to invent a method of casting sculptures from copper.

A kind of bank

Artemision was not just a museum and art gallery. Like others greek temples, it was a kind of mutual aid fund and bank. People and entire states from all over the Hellenic world kept their money here. For example, the famous historian Xenophon, a student of Socrates, left a large sum of money for the priests for safekeeping before going to Persia. During his absence, the priests of the temple could dispose of them as they saw fit.

In the event of his death, all the money went to the temple. After his return, Xenophon, as a sign of gratitude, built a small temple, an exact copy of the Ephesian one, with the money he saved in the city of Scylunta, Elis. The priests of the Temple of Artemis did not just take care of the money given to them for safekeeping. They gave them to everyone at high interest rates and thereby increased the wealth of the temple.

In the 2nd century BC. e. Roman power was established in Asia Minor. Many cities were plundered and fell into decay. But Ephesus still continued to prosper.

It became the residence of the Roman proconsul, and therefore significant funds were allocated for its improvement. Artemision also continued to grow rich.

• Firstly, a large sum city ​​authorities allocated it to him.
• Secondly, the temple received part of the money that went to the treasury after the confiscation of property and the collection of fines.

Lived in the 2nd century AD. e. the writer Dion Chrysostomos wrote: “The Ephesians... invested in the temple of Artemis a lot of money from private individuals, not only the Ephesians, but also foreigners and people from anywhere, as well as money belonging to nations and kings. All those who place deposits place them for the sake of safety, since no one will ever dare to offend this place, although there have been countless wars and the city has been taken more than once. It is clear that the money is simply in the account, but usually it is lent to the Ephesians against letters of borrowing.”

The Temple of Artemis was famous for its wealth

The wealth of the temple consisted not only of money, but also of land. And the main source of the temple’s splendor were the gifts that pious citizens presented to the goddess. Many people left their property to the temple in their wills. Decrees of gratitude with the names of donors who presented especially generous gifts to the goddess were engraved on stone and exhibited in the temple to encourage others. Among those who received special gratitude was Damian, a noble and wealthy resident of Ephesus. At his own expense, he built a 200-meter-long portico along the road leading from the city to the temple. In the portico, named after Damian’s wife, everyone going to the temple could take refuge during bad weather.

A decree of gratitude was engraved on several stone slabs to the Roman horseman Vibius Salutarius, who donated many silver and gold statues and a large sum of money to the Temple of Artemis. The Ephesians valued these statues very much. They were looked after by a specially appointed priest, and on major holidays they were transported under guard to the theater and placed on a pedestal.

The Romans also reserved Artemision’s traditional right of asylum - not a single state criminal or fugitive slave could be captured on the territory of the temple. It was believed that he was under the protection of the goddess Artemis herself.

Capture of Ephesus

In the 3rd century AD e. The former power of Rome came to naught. The state had difficulty holding back the pressure of numerous enemies. They repeatedly carried out raids, robbing and ruining the local population. In 263, Ephesus was captured by the Goths, and the sanctuary of Artemis was plundered. With the establishment of Christianity, the temple of the pagan goddess began to come under attack from Christian preachers, who incited crowds of believers against it. Artemision marble slabs were used in the construction of various structures. And then a Christian church was erected on the site of the temple, which was also soon destroyed.

The temple building suffered the most because it was built on swampy soil. Over time, the remains of the destroyed temple were covered by a quagmire. The city of Ephesus itself lost its former significance, the harbor became shallow, ships stopped mooring at the pier. And in 1426 it was captured by the Turks, and on the spot ancient city a small Turkish village arose.

Excavations

Only in the second half of the 19th century did serious study of these places by archaeologists begin. An expedition of the British Museum, led by the English engineer and archaeologist J. T. Wood, worked for almost seven years, conducting excavations at the site of Ephesus. During this time, archaeologists made many finds. The Ephesian theater, designed for 24 thousand spectators, a library and many other majestic buildings were discovered. And on the eve of 1870, under a 60-meter layer of silt, archaeologists discovered traces of the famous temple of Artemis of Ephesus, which was considered Ancient world one of the wonders of the world.

Excavations continued under the leadership of the Austrian scientist Anton Bammer. It was possible to find out that the temple was a rectangle surrounded by columns. Inside there was a courtyard, and in the center there was a slab on which, apparently, there was either an altar or the statue of Artemis itself. In 1903, the Englishman David Hogarth, examining the ruins of the temple, discovered brooches, hairpins, precious earrings and many small coins made of an alloy of gold and silver, which in ancient times was called electron.

Archaeologists have found fragments of columns with reliefs, which are now kept in the British Museum. The foundation of the temple was completely exposed. However, this is not enough to restore the true appearance of Artemision. The appearance of the statue of Artemis is being restored based on images on coins and a copy found in the mid-20th century. We can only guess what the temple actually looked like - one of the greatest miracles created by the genius and labor of man.

Ancient Greek Ephesus saw a period of unprecedented prosperity. Founded in the 12th century BC, the city was largest center trade and radiated wealth and prosperity. Artemis patronized him. She, as you know, was the goddess of fertility and the patroness of animals, the guardian of women in labor and hunters. Piously revering her, the townspeople decided to build a majestic temple in honor of Artemis, which, moreover, was supposed to significantly increase the income of the city.

Construction of the shrine

In the 6th century BC. Harsifron, a famous architect, arrived in Ephesus. It was he who came up with the idea of ​​​​building a building made of marble. According to his plan, the temple should have been surrounded by two rows of impressive columns. Moreover, the master, apparently, had an extraordinary engineering mind, since the project is the most complex and at the same time original of all that were being developed at that time. Since the city was rich and could afford the construction of such a large and expensive building.

But there was one obstacle - a deposit capable of satisfying the project’s appetites had not yet been found. But soon, thanks to chance, a sufficient amount of stone was found, and the temple was successfully built. Monolithic marble columns deserve a special place in the building’s design. They were transported here straight from quarries located ten kilometers from the construction site. The foundation of the temple represents the aerobatics of engineering.

The building was built on a marshy area, since the sad memory of the earthquakes that struck Hellas was still alive. At the site of the future building, a huge pit was dug, which the builders filled with charcoal and wool. This, plus the very unorthodox foundation of the Temple, should have been a guarantee that the building would withstand earthquakes of any magnitude.

In the main hall of the Temple, an amazingly beautiful statue of the goddess Artemis was installed, the height of which was about 15 meters. It was very expensive because it was often inlaid with precious stones and gold. Outstanding Greek artists and sculptors took part in the decoration of the building. Rumors about the beautiful shrine quickly spread throughout the ancient world, and subsequently the Temple of Artemis became one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Fate of the Temple

It should be noted that Kharsifron did not have time to complete the construction. But the business was continued by his son, and then by the architects Peonit and Demetrius. And then around 450 BC. the world saw the unsurpassed Temple of Artemis. They say that if it had survived to this day, it could have eclipsed any of the currently existing masterpieces of architectural art. But, unfortunately, in 356 BC. Herostratus, obsessed with the idea of ​​becoming famous at any cost, started a fire in the building.

The building was almost completely destroyed, of course, with the exception of those structural elements that were made of marble. After this, the Temple of Artemis was revived several times and ceased to exist again. But in 263 BC. it was last sacked by the Goths. The “marble” health of the building was finally broken by the swampy soil, as well as the Kaistra River flowing nearby. And it took scientists from all over the world several decades to restore the original appearance of the building.