Temple of Artemis: Difference between revisions

{{shortShort description|Ancient Greek temple in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk, Turkey)}}

[[File:Templo-Artemisa-Efeso-2017.jpg|thumb|alt=columns in field at the site of the temple today.|The site of the temple in 2017.]]

The '''Temple of Artemis''' or '''Artemision''' ({{lang-grlangx|el|{{math|Ἀρτεμίσιον}}}}; {{lang-langx|tr|Artemis Tapınağı}}), also known as the '''Temple of Diana''', was a [[Greek temple]] dedicated to an ancient, localised form of the goddess [[Artemis]] (equated with the [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman goddess]] [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]]). It was located in [[Ephesus]] (near the modern town of [[Selçuk]] in present-day [[Turkey]]). By AD 401 it is believed it had been ruined or destroyed.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Freely |year=2004 |title=The Western Shores of Turkey: Discovering the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts |page=148}}<br/>

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}}{{efn|The date 268&nbsp;CE is from {{harvp|Wolfram|1988}}<ref name=Wolfram-1979-1988/> who correlates multiple sources to correct the date of the [[Goths|Gothic]] advance into the [[Aegean Region|Aegean]].<ref name=Wolfram-1979-1988>{{cite book |first=Herwig |last=Wolfram |orig-year=1979 |year=1988 |translator=Dunlap, Thomas J. |title=History of the Goths |page=52&nbsp;ff}}</ref>

The extent and severity of the damage are unknown; the temple may have been repaired and open to us again, or it may have lain derelict until its official closure during the [[persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire]].<ref name=Trombley>

There are signs that it may have been of use after 268, since Christians authors refers to its closure in the 5th-century. [[Ammonius of Alexandria (Christian philosopher)|Ammonius of Alexandria]] comments on its closure, perhaps as early as 407&nbsp;CE,<ref name=Trombley/> or no later than the mid 5th century. After closurethe andcity afterhad been made Christian and the citytemple had becomebeen Christianclosed, the name of Artemis appears to have been erased from inscriptions throughout Ephesus.<ref name=Trombley/>

{{harvp|Fleischer|1973}} suggested that instead of breasts, the oval objects were decorations that would have been hung ceremonially on the original wood statue (possibly eggs, or the [[testicle]]s of sacrificed bulls<ref>{{cite journal |last=Seiterle |title=Artemis: die Grosse Göttin von Ephesos |journal=Antike Welt |volume=10 |year=1979 |pages=3–16 }} — the bull-testicaltesticle interpretation was accepted in the 1980s by [[Walter Burkert]] and Brita Alroth, among others, and is widely popularized; but was rejected and criticised by {{harvp|Fleischer|1973}}.</ref>), and which were incorporated as carved features on later copies.<ref name=Nielsen/>{{page needed|date=July 2020}} The "breasts" of the Lady of Ephesus, it now appears, were likely based on [[amber]] gourd-shaped drops, elliptical in cross-section and drilled for hanging, that were rediscovered in the archaeological excavations of 1987–1988. These objects remained in place where the ancient wooden statue of the goddess had been caught by an 8th&nbsp;century flood. This form of jewelry, then, had already been developed by the [[Geometric Period]].<ref>

: WhatAfter manthe city secretary quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, what person is there thatwho knowethdoes not howknow that the city of the Ephesians is athe worshipperkeeper of the greattemple goddessof Diana,the great Artemis and of theher [image] whichthat fell down from Jupiterheaven?"

* {{cite book |last1=Higgins |first1=Michael Denis |year=2023 |title=The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Science, Engineering and Technology |place=New York, NY |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780197648155}}

{{Commons category|Temple of Artemis in Ephesus}}