The Seven Wonders Of The Ancient World : The Temple Of Artemis (Built 3 times, Destroyed 3 times)
What Are Wonders?
The basic components to measure a Wonder of the World, in any era, include (but are not limited to), its size and monumentalness, its beauty and architecture, how much of an icon it is along with how long it can stand the tests of time, where it is located, its context and how photogenic and pleasurably visual it is, and how focused it makes the observer, and therefore how original it is.
To become a true wonder, the final essence is to possess that 'special something'. This unfortunately cannot be measured. It is something our collective humanity somehow conjures up and appreciates but there are no exact rules or reasons why some gorgeous buildings stay gorgeous buildings and why some become a rare and stunning Wonder of the World.
I have decided to look at the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World. The only one that remains in existence today is the Pyramid of Giza. So I was curious to find out what happened to the other 6 and started my investigations in the country we call Turkey, more specifically, Western Turkey, and more pin-pointedly, the Selçuk district of İzmir. Many, many! moons ago, the Selçuk district was known as Ephesus.
Ephesus played host to one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World, The Temple Of Artemis.
The Temple Of Artemis & The Amazons
It is unclear when exactly the Temple of Artemis was built and by whom, the first version of the temple was small and some of the earliest suggestions are that it belonged to the Amazon tribe, an ancient, all-woman tribe which existed during the Bronze Age. It was built on the site of Artemis but it would have had a different name, a name of which i do not know...yet.
Some people say that the Amazons lived in this Temple and prayed to their matron goddess. But for many years it was questioned whether the Amazon tribe even existed at all. A recent discovery of remains have proven that the tribe did in fact exist, but they have also learned that The Amazons didn't exist in a matriarchal society.
The ancient nomadic peoples of the steppes (The Amazon Tribe aka The Scythian women) lived within a social order that was far more flexible and fluid than the polis of their Athenian contemporaries.
To the Greeks, the Scythian women must have seemed like incredible aberrations, ghastly even. To us, their graves provide an insight into the lives of the world beyond the Adriatic. Strong, resourceful and brave, these warrior women offer another reason for girls “to want to be girls” without the need of a mythical Wonder Woman.
Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/amazon-women-there-any-truth-behind-myth-180950188/#GWQx3KxIi01KoVuR.99
So it is probable that the Amazons were one of the first to have claims on the original small Temple on the site of Artemis, but we may never know all the details of how, why and who-else.
Damn Floods
The Temple was prone to flooding due to its location but unfortunately in the 7th century BC their was a flood so great it completely destroyed the Temple. The silt, sand and mud that had been deposited stood 1.6 metres high, the temple was well and truly buried.
A few hundred years later...
In 550BC, centuries after the ultimate flood, King Croesus of Lydia picked up the slack and decided to throw some money towards the revival of the Temple site and hired the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes, to design and build the very first all-marble Temple the world had ever seen.
This was an extremely lavish structure, with marble releifs and two rows of columns.
The temple became an important attraction, visited by merchants, kings, and sightseers, many of whom paid homage to Artemis in the form of jewelry and various goods. It also offered sanctuary to those fleeing persecution or punishment.
It was one of the first places in the world to have and use silver and gold coins for trade.
"I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand"
But sadly, in 365BC, the day Alexander the Great was born, the Temple was once again, destroyed.
A social low-life called Herostratus, wanted to be noticed and immortalise his name, so he decided with his intelligence to burn the town down. He set fires across all the thatched rooftops of the town's buildings, then torched the Temple. There was nothing anyone could do to rectify the damage he caused. But after capturing, torturing then killing this low-life, the King and priests issued a new law on pain of death, to forbid his name ever to be mentioned again. It was some hundred or so years later when his name was mentioned again by a Greek historian.
Oddly the name has in fact gone down in history, not only because of this terrible deed, but also because the word herostratus now means "someone who commits a criminal act in order to achieve notoriety".
30 years after arson
It took almost 30 years before work would begin on the site for a 3rd time in history. Alexander the Great had been emotionally affected by the loss of the Temple of the day of his birth, and he'd offered to pay for it to be rebuilt. But the people of Ephesus declined his offer saying:
"it was inappropriate for a god to dedicate offerings to gods"
and so they set about raising the funds themselves. It took over 120 years to complete the 3rd version of the Temple.
This last Temple had 137 meters length, 69 meters width with 127 columns with 18 meters height supporting the roof. It was decorated with bronze and marble statues carved by the most famous sculptors of the time; it also hosted many objects or arts. The Temple was one of the most important centers of attraction of the era and served as a host where notable merchants and kings were entertained.
Read more -> http://turkey.com/home/travel/travel/ancient-temple-artemis/
Work began in 323BC and took many years to complete. It was much larger than ever before! This version lasted more than 600 years, it was even mentioned in the New Testament and various other historical documents.
Finally it was destroyed a 3rd time in 268AD... by Goths.
The original Goths were actually an East Germanic tribe, and this Temple destruction was part of a wide-spread ongoing war between northern and southern goths and the Romans, who were all constantly battling to gain more European land.
After The Love Has Gone
After the encounter with the Goths, half of the Temple of Artemis was missing. Smashed and crumbled to the ground.
Source: Wiki Commons
It was time to move on.
The Temple of Artemis ended up being dismantled over time. Its material was used to create new structures and buildings, and eventually the Temple of Artemis was forgotten and gone.
It was lost in history for centuries until 1869, when a team led by the British museum rediscovered it during an expedition. You can now visit the museum and see the artifacts for yourselves, or you can visit the British Museum website and see the restored collection right here - > http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?partid=1&assetid=399398001&objectid=460570)
Reference Sites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis
http://www.nevworldwonders.com/2011/05/criteria-of-wonder.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/amazon-women-there-any-truth-behind-myth-180950188/
http://turkey.com/home/travel/travel/ancient-temple-artemis/
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/students/modules/greekreligion/database/clumak/
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/greece/paganism/artemis.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goths
Goddamn goths!
This is educative, I thought Amazon warriors were fictional and not real. Thanks for the eye opener article.
Me too! Until I decided to write about this I thought the Amazons were a myth. At some point I want to get around to doing a post on them and other old tribes. SO much to explore! :D
You are right, there are so much in the world to unveil.