TOO I' oil TI OM-i-epov 451,f 776s Dia ciOvetarEpov. pea ass IlutlCoa This temple was burnt down in the night in which Alexander was born, by an obscure person of the name of Eratostratus, who thus sought to transmit his name to posterity , and, as it seemed somewhat unaccountable that the goddess should permit a place which redounded so much to her honour to be thus recklessly destroyed, it was given out that Diana was so engaged with Olympias, in aiding to bring Alexander into the world, that she had no time nor thought for any other concern. At a subsequent period, Alexander made an offer to rebuild the temple, provided he was allowed to inscribe his name on the front, which the Ephe sians refused. Aided, however, by the whole of Asia Minor, they succeeded in erecting a still more magnificent temple, which the ancients have lavishly praised and placed among the seven wonders of the world. It took two hundred and twenty years to complete. Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 21), who has given a description of it, says it was 425 feet in length, zzo broad, and supported by 127 columns, each of which had been contributed by some prince, and were 6o feet high : 36 of them were richly carved. Chersiphron, the architect, presided over the undertaking, and, being ready to lay violent hands on himself, in consequence of his difficulties, was restrained by the command of the goddess, who appeared to him during the night, assuring him that she herself had accomplished that which had brought him to despair. The altar was the work of Praxiteles. The famous sculptor Scopas is said by Pliny to have chiselled one of the columns. Apelles, a native of the city, contri buted a splendid picture of Alexander the Great. The rights of sanctuary, to the extent of a stadium in all directions round the temple, were also con ceded, which in consequence of abuse the emperor Tiberius abolished. The temple was built of cedar, cypress, white marble, and even gold, with which it glittered (Spanh. Obseivat. in Hymn. in Dian. 353). Costly and magnificent offerings of various kinds were made to the goddess, and treasured in the temple, such as paintings, statues, etc., the value of which almost exceeded computation. The fame of the temple, of the goddess, and of the city itself, was spread not only through Asia but the world, a celebrity which was enhanced and diffused the more readily because sacred games were practised there, which called competitors and spectators from every country. Among his other
enormities Nero is said to have despoiled the temple of Diana of much of its treasure. It continued to conciliate no small portion of respect, till it was finally burnt by the Goths in the reign of Gallienus.
At Ephesus Diana was worshipped under the name of Artemis. There was more than one divinity which went by the name of Artemis, as the Arcadian Artemis, the Taurian Artemis, as well as the Ephesian Artemis. It will be seen, from the figure given on p. 235, that this last dif fered materially from the Diana, sister of Apollo, whose attributes are the bow, the quiver, the girt up robe, and the hound ; whose person is a model of feminine strength, ease, and grace ; and whose delights were in the pursuits of the chase.— Along the shady hills and breezy peaks Rejoicing in the chase, her golden bow She bends, her deadly arrows sending forth.
The silver shrines' of the Ephesian Artemis, mentioned in Acts xix. 24, have been already no ticed [DEMETRIUS, 31.
Among the distinguished natives of Ephesus in the ancient world, may be mentioned Apelles and Parrhasius, rivals in the art of painting, Hera clitus, the man-hating philosopher, Hipponax, a satirical poet, Artemidorus, who wrote a history and description of the earth. The claims of Ephesus, however, to the praise of originality in the prosecution of the liberal arts, are but incon siderable ; and it must be content with the dubious reputation of having excelled in the refinements of a voluptuous and artificial civilization, With cul ture of this kind, a practical belief in, and a constant use of, those arts which pretend to lay open the secrets of nature and arm the hand of man with supernatural powers, have generally been found conjoined. Accordingly, the Ephesian multitude were addicted to sorcery ; indeed, in the age of Jesus and his apostles, adepts in the occult sciences were numerous : they travelled from country to country, and were found in great numbers in Asia, deceiving the credulous multitude, and profiting by their expectations. They were sometimes Jews, who referred their skill and even their forms of proceeding to Solomon, who is still regarded in the East as head or prince of magicians (Joseph. Antiq. viii. 2. 5 ; Acts viii. 9 ; xiii. 6, 8). In Asia Minor Ephesus had a high reputation for magical arts (Ortlob, De Ephes. Libris combustis).