Revelation

THE BOOK OF REVELATION: M. M. NINAN
The Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis was built around 8th c. B.C. and was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient
world. And there is no doubt that the temple was indeed magnificent. "I have seen the walls and Hanging
Gardens of ancient Babylon," wrote Philon of Byzantium, "the statue of Olympian Zeus, the Colossus of
Rhodes, the mighty work of the high Pyramids and the tomb of Mausolus. But when I saw the temple at
Ephesus rising to the clouds, all these other wonders were put in the shade."
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)
In 1863 the British Museum sent John Turtle Wood, an architect, to search for the temple. After many years
of toil and stress, in 1869, he hit the bottom of a muddy twenty-foot deep test pit and found the temple that
was long lost. The remains of some of the portions were shipped to British Museum where they can be
viewed even today.
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