Seven churches

THE SEVEN CHURCHES
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Artist view of the Temple of Artemis
At 356 B.C. it was burned down by a lunatic called Herostatus because he wanted his
name to live in history. It was then rebuilt with all the magnificence and wealth of the city
by the architect Scopas of Paros, one of the most famous sculptors of his day.
Ephesus was one of the greatest cities in Asia Minor at this point and no expense
was spared in the construction. According to Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian,
the temple was a "wonderful monument of Grecian magnificence, and one that
merits our genuine admiration." Pliny recorded the length of this new temple as
425 feet and the width as 225 feet. 127 columns, 60 feet in height, supported the
roof. According to Pliny, construction took 120 years. Alexander the Great came
to Ephesus in 333 B.C., the temple was still under construction. He offered to
finance the completion of the temple if the city would credit him as the builder.
They tactfully replied that "It is not fitting that one god should build a temple for
another god.”
The temple of Artemis was an imposing structure over a large area of several acres of
land housing everything from a market place to sex trade. It was an asylum for criminals.
It was a market place excelling any supermarkets, where one can find anything.
Heraclitus, the great philosopher who lived in that city calls it "Asia’s foremost city" and
declared that "one cannot live in this city without continually weeping over its immorality".
In the midst of this was a church. The temple was the center of pilgrimages.
Businesses grew around the temple with sales of miniature Artemis idols and
other services. Demetrius, mentioned in the Acts of Apostles chapter 19 was one
of these business men that gave St. Paul a difficult time when he visited the city
in 57 A.D. (Act 19)