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110-637: The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators. Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in

220-617: A gallery of images above this altar, including an ancient figure of Nyx (the primordial goddess of Night) by the sculptor Rhoecus (6th century BC). Pliny describes images of Amazons, the legendary founders of Ephesus and Ephesian Artemis' original protégés, carved by Scopas . Literary sources describe the temple's adornment by paintings, columns gilded with gold and silver, and religious works of renowned Greek sculptors Polyclitus , Pheidias , Cresilas , and Phradmon . This reconstruction survived for 600 years and appears multiple times in early Christian accounts of Ephesus. According to

330-678: A general of Mithridates , king of Pontus , when he conquered Asia (the Roman name for western Anatolia ). From Ephesus, Mithridates ordered every Roman citizen in the province to be killed which led to the Asiatic Vespers , the slaughter of 80,000 Roman citizens in Asia, or any person who spoke with a Latin accent. Many had lived in Ephesus, and statues and monument of Roman citizens in Ephesus were also destroyed. But when they saw how badly

440-637: A gift and honor to the goddess – brought further prosperity. Large numbers of people came to Ephesus in March and in the beginning of May to attend the main Artemis Procession. Artemis' shrines, temples and festivals ( Artemisia ) could be found throughout the Greek world, but Ephesian Artemis was unique. The Ephesians considered her theirs, and resented any foreign claims to her protection. Once Persia ousted and replaced their Lydian overlord Croesus ,

550-536: A powerful religious edge. Under Hellenic rule, and later, under Roman rule, the Ephesian Artemisia festival was increasingly promoted as a key element in the pan-Hellenic festival circuit. It was part of a definitively Greek political and cultural identity, essential to the economic life of the region, and an excellent opportunity for young, unmarried Greeks of both sexes to seek out marriage partners. Games, contests and theatrical performances were held in

660-554: A synthetic account of the Lady of Ephesus by drawing together documentation that ranges over more than a millennium in its origins, creating a falsified, unitary picture, as of an unchanging icon. 37°56′59″N 27°21′50″E  /  37.94972°N 27.36389°E  / 37.94972; 27.36389 Seven Wonders of the Ancient World The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , also known as

770-538: A tapering pillar-like term , from which the goddess' feet protrude. On the coins minted at Ephesus, the goddess wears a mural crown (like a city's walls), an attribute of Cybele as a protector of cities (see polos ). The traditional interpretation of the oval objects covering the upper part of the Ephesian Artemis is that they represent multiple breasts, symbolizing her fertility. This interpretation began in late antiquity and resulted in designations of

880-640: Is a distinctive form of their goddess Artemis . In Greek cult and myth, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo , a virgin goddess of the hunt, the wilderness and the moon, who, despite being a goddess of childbirth was nevertheless known for her chastity. At Ephesus, a goddess whom the Greeks associated with Artemis was venerated in an archaic, pre-Hellenic cult image that was carved of wood (a xoanon ) and kept decorated with jewelry. The features are most similar to Near-Eastern and Egyptian deities, and least similar to Greek ones. The body and legs are enclosed within

990-538: Is clear that at Ephesus, the identification with Artemis that the Ionian settlers made of the "Lady of Ephesus" was slender. Nevertheless, later Greeks and Romans identified her with both Artemis and Diana, and there was a tradition in ancient Rome that identified her with the goddess Isis as well. The Christian approach was at variance with the syncretistic approach of pagans to gods who were not theirs. A Christian inscription at Ephesus suggests why so little remains at

1100-410: Is known of her cult. The literary accounts that describe it as " Amazonian " refer to the later founder-myths of Greek émigrés who developed the cult and temple of Artemis Ephesia . The wealth and splendor of temple and city were taken as evidence of Artemis Ephesia's power, and were the basis for her local and international prestige: despite the successive traumas of Temple destruction, each rebuilding –

1210-631: The Pope Victor I , Bishop of Rome, defending the Quartodeciman position in the Easter controversy . A legend, which was first mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis in the 4th century, purported that Mary, the mother of Jesus, may have spent the last years of her life in Ephesus. The Ephesians derived the argument from John's presence in the city, and Jesus' instructions to John to take care of his mother, Mary, after his death. Epiphanius, however,

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1320-816: The Battle of Ephesus (498 BC) , an event which instigated the Greco-Persian wars . In 479 BC, the Ionians, together with Athens , were able to oust the Persians from the shores of Asia Minor. In 478 BC, the Ionian cities with Athens entered into the Delian League against the Persians. Ephesus did not contribute ships but gave financial support. During the Peloponnesian War , Ephesus

1430-598: The Book of Revelation . The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils ( Council of Ephesus ). The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River . In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake. Today,

1540-819: The British Museum in London. The listing of seven of the most marvellous architectural and artistic human achievements continued beyond the Ancient Greek times to the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and to the modern age. The Roman poet Martial and the Christian bishop Gregory of Tours had their versions. Reflecting the rise of Christianity and the factor of time, nature and

1650-490: The British Museum . These excavations continued until 1874. A few further fragments of sculpture were found during the 1904–1906 excavations directed by David George Hogarth . The recovered sculptured fragments of the 4th-century rebuilding and a few from the earlier temple, which had been used in the rubble fill for the rebuilding, were assembled and displayed in the "Ephesus Room" of the British Museum. In addition,

1760-518: The Galli . The Megabyzoi of Ephesian Artemis were assisted by young, virgin girls ( korai ). A votive inscription mentioned by Bennett (1912) , which dates probably from about the 3rd century BC, associates Ephesian Artemis with Crete: The Greek habits of syncretism assimilated all foreign gods under some form of the Olympian pantheon familiar to them – the interpretatio graeca – and it

1870-486: The Goths , under their leaders "Respa, Veduc, and Thurar", "laid waste many populous cities and set fire to the renowned temple of Diana at Ephesus." 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 . There are signs that it may have been of use after 268, since Christians authors refers to its closure in

1980-593: The Hagia Sophia were taken from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, but there is no truth to this story. The main primary sources for the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus are Pliny the Elder 's Natural History , writings by Pomponius Mela , and Plutarch 's Life of Alexander . The site of the temple was rediscovered in 1869, after six years of searching by an expedition led by John Turtle Wood and sponsored by

2090-558: The Ionic immigration by many years. Callimachus , in his Hymn to Artemis , attributed it to the Amazons . In the 7th century BC, it was destroyed by a flood. Its reconstruction, in more grandiose form, began around 550 BC, under Chersiphron , the Cretan architect , and his son Metagenes . The project was funded by Croesus of Lydia , and took 10 years to complete. This version of

2200-703: The Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions, which then comprised the known world for the Greeks. The primary accounts from Hellenistic writers also heavily influenced the places included in the wonders list. Five of the seven entries are a celebration of Greek accomplishments in construction, with the exceptions being the Pyramids of Giza and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Download coordinates as: The seven wonders on Antipater's list won praises for their notable features, ranging from superlatives of

2310-494: The New Testament , the appearance of the first Christian missionary in Ephesus caused locals to fear for the temple's dishonor. The 2nd century Acts of John includes an apocryphal tale of the temple's destruction: The apostle John prayed publicly in the Temple of Artemis, exorcising its demons and "of a sudden the altar of Artemis split in many pieces ... and half the temple fell down," instantly converting

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2420-477: The Roman Republic , on condition that the city of Pergamon be kept free and autonomous. Ephesus, as part of the kingdom of Pergamon, became a subject of the Roman Republic in 129 BC after the revolt of Eumenes III was suppressed. The city felt Roman influence at once; taxes rose considerably, and the treasures of the city were systematically plundered. Hence in 88 BC Ephesus welcomed Archelaus ,

2530-533: The Sasanian War , which initiated a drastic decline in the city's population and standard of living. The importance of the city as a commercial centre further declined as the harbour, today 5 kilometres inland, was slowly silted up by the river (today, Küçük Menderes) despite repeated dredging during the city's history. The loss of its harbour caused Ephesus to lose its access to the Aegean Sea , which

2640-705: The Seven Wonders of the World or simply the Seven Wonders , is a list of seven notable structures present during classical antiquity . The first known list of seven wonders dates back to the 2nd–1st century BC. While the entries have varied over the centuries, the seven traditional wonders are the Great Pyramid of Giza , the Colossus of Rhodes , the Lighthouse of Alexandria , the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus ,

2750-852: The Temple of Artemis , the Statue of Zeus at Olympia , and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon . Using modern-day countries, two of the wonders were located in Greece, two in Turkey, two in Egypt, and one in Iraq. Of the seven wonders, only the Pyramid of Giza, which is also by far the oldest of the wonders, still remains standing, while the others have been destroyed over the centuries. There is scholarly debate over

2860-550: The Temple of Diana , was a Greek temple dedicated to an ancient, localised form of the goddess Artemis (equated with the Roman goddess Diana ). It was located in Ephesus (near the modern town of Selçuk in present-day Turkey ). By AD 401 it is belived it had been ruined or destroyed. Only foundations and fragments of the last temple remain at the site. The earliest version of the temple (a Bronze Age temenos ) antedated

2970-458: The baptism of John the Baptist . Later a silversmith named Demetrios stirred up a mob against Paul, saying that he was endangering the livelihood of those making silver Artemis shrines. Demetrios in connection with the temple of Artemis mentions some object (perhaps an image or a stone) "fallen from Zeus". Between 53 and 57 AD Paul wrote the letter 1 Corinthians from Ephesus (possibly from

3080-490: 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". The Temple of Artemis (artemisia) was located near the ancient city of Ephesus, about 75 kilometres (47 mi) south from

3190-587: The ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası . In 2015, the ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Humans had begun inhabiting the area surrounding Ephesus by the Neolithic Age (about 6000 BC), as shown by evidence from excavations at the nearby höyük (artificial mounds known as tells ) of Arvalya and Cukurici . Excavations in recent years have unearthed settlements from

3300-625: The 'Paul tower' near the harbour, where he was imprisoned for a short time). Later, Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians while he was in prison in Rome (around 62 AD). Roman Asia was associated with John , one of the chief apostles, and the Gospel of John might have been written in Ephesus, c 90–100. Ephesus was one of the seven cities addressed in the Book of Revelation , indicating that

3410-525: The 10th century BC on a hill (now known as the Ayasuluk Hill), three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the centre of ancient Ephesus (as attested by excavations at the Seljuk castle during the 1990s). The mythical founder of the city was a prince of Athens named Androklos , who had to leave his country after the death of his father, King Kodros. According to the legend, he founded Ephesus on the place where

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3520-444: The 5th-century. Ammonius of Alexandria comments on its closure, perhaps as early as 407 CE, or no later than the mid 5th century. After the city had been made Christian and the temple had been closed, the name of Artemis appears to have been erased from inscriptions throughout Ephesus. Cyril of Alexandria credited Archbishop of Constantinople John Chrysostom with destroying the temple, referring to him as "the destroyer of

3630-512: The 7th century BC, a flood destroyed the temple, depositing over half a meter of sand and flotsam over the original clay floor. Among the flood debris were the remains of a carved ivory plaque of a griffin and the Tree of Life , apparently North Syrian, and some drilled tear-shaped amber drops of elliptical cross-section. These probably once dressed a wooden effigy ( xoanon ) of the Lady of Ephesus, which must have been destroyed or recovered from

3740-534: The Aurelian Wall, whose construction was begun in 274 AD and finished in 279 AD, the total inhabited area plus public spaces inside the walls consisted of ca. 1,900 hectares. Imperial Rome had a population estimated to be between 750,000 and one million (Hanson and Ortman's (2017) model yields an estimate of 923,406 inhabitants), which imply in a population density of 395 to 526 inhabitants per hectare, including public spaces. Ephesus remained

3850-663: The Catholics. It came to be called the Robber Council of Ephesus or Robber Synod of Latrocinium by its opponents. Ephesus is believed to be the city of the Seven Sleepers , who were persecuted by the Roman emperor Decius because of their Christianity, and they slept in a cave for three centuries, outlasting their persecution. Temple of Artemis The Temple of Artemis or Artemision ( Greek : Ἀρτεμίσιον ; Turkish : Artemis Tapınağı ), also known as

3960-544: The Colossus of the Helios, the great man-made mountains of the lofty pyramids, and the gigantic tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the sacred house of Artemis that towers to the clouds, the others were placed in the shade, for the sun himself has never looked upon its equal outside Olympus. Another ancient writer, who, perhaps dubiously, identified himself as Philo of Byzantium , wrote a short account entitled The Seven Sights of

4070-564: The Ephesian goddess as Diana Efesia Multimammia and other related descriptions. This interpretation was rooted in Minucius Felix and Jerome 's Christian attacks on pagan popular religion, and modern scholarship has cast doubt on the traditional interpretation that the statue depicts a many-breasted goddess. Evidence suggests that the oval objects were not intended to depict part of the goddess' anatomy at all. In some versions of

4180-496: The Ephesians played down his contribution to the temple's restoration. On the whole, the Persians dealt fairly with Ephesus, but removed some religious artifacts from Artemis' Temple to Sardis and brought Persian priests into her Ephesian cult; this was not forgiven. When Alexander conquered the Persians, his offer to finance the temple's second rebuilding was politely but firmly refused. Ephesian Artemis lent her city's diplomacy

4290-408: The Ephesians, who wept, prayed, or took flight. Against this, a Roman edict of 162 AD acknowledges the importance of Artemesion , the annual Ephesian festival to Artemis, and officially extended it from a few holy days over March–April to a whole month, "one of the largest and most magnificent religious festivals in Ephesus' liturgical calendar". In 268 AD, according to Jordanes , a raid by

4400-512: The Great defeated the Persian forces at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC, the Greek cities of Asia Minor were liberated. The pro-Persian tyrant Syrpax and his family were stoned to death, and Alexander was greeted warmly when he entered Ephesus in triumph. When Alexander saw that the temple of Artemis was not yet finished, he proposed to finance it and have his name inscribed on the front. But

4510-562: The Great tried to regain the Greek cities of Asia Minor and recaptured Ephesus in 196 BC but he then came into conflict with Rome. After a series of battles, he was defeated by Scipio Asiaticus at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC. As a result of the subsequent Treaty of Apamea , Ephesus came under the rule of Eumenes II , the Attalid king of Pergamon , (ruled 197–159 BC). When his grandson Attalus III died in 133 BC without male children of his own, he left his kingdom to

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4620-572: The Greek cities were given freedom and several substantial rights. Ephesus became, for a short time, self-governing. When Mithridates was defeated in the First Mithridatic War by the Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla , Ephesus came back under Roman rule in 86 BC. Sulla imposed a huge indemnity, along with five years of back taxes, which left Asian cities heavily in debt for a long time to come. King Ptolemy XII Auletes of Egypt retired to Ephesus in 57 BC, passing his time in

4730-465: The Hadrian temple frieze, dating from the 2nd century. Later, Greek historians such as Pausanias , Strabo and Herodotos and the poet Kallinos reassigned the city's mythological foundation to Ephos, queen of the Amazons . The Greek goddess Artemis and the great Anatolian goddess Kybele were identified together as Artemis of Ephesus . The many-breasted "Lady of Ephesus", identified with Artemis,

4840-533: The Hanging Gardens has not been proven, though theories abound. Records and archaeology confirm the existence of the other five wonders. The Temple of Artemis and the Statue of Zeus were destroyed by fire, while the Lighthouse of Alexandria, Colossus, and tomb of Mausolus were destroyed by earthquakes. Among the surviving artefacts are sculptures from the tomb of Mausolus and the Temple of Artemis, currently kept in

4950-550: The Ionians offered to make peace, but Cyrus insisted that they surrender and become part of the empire. They were defeated by the Persian army commander Harpagos in 547 BC. The Persians then incorporated the Greek cities of Asia Minor into the Achaemenid Empire . Those cities were then ruled by satraps . Ephesus has intrigued archaeologists because for the Archaic Period there is no definite location for

5060-489: 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 century flood. This form of jewelry, then, had already been developed by the Geometric Period . On

5170-483: The World . The surviving manuscript is incomplete, missing its last pages. Still, from the preamble text, we can conclude that the list of seven sights exactly matches Antipater's (the preamble mentions the location of Halicarnassus, but the pages describing the seventh wonder, presumably the Mausoleum, are missing). Earlier and later lists by the historian Herodotus ( c.  484 BC– c.  425 BC) and

5280-463: The actual sites to personally witness the wonders. Legends circulated to further complement the superlatives of the wonders. Of Antipater's wonders, the only one that has survived to the present day is the Great Pyramid of Giza. Its brilliant white stone facing had survived intact until around 1300 AD, when local communities removed most of the stonework for building materials. The existence of

5390-412: The ancient Greeks spoke of " theamata " (θεάματα), which means "sights", in other words "things to be seen" (Τὰ ἑπτὰ θεάματα τῆς οἰκουμένης [γῆς] Tà heptà theámata tēs oikoumenēs [gēs] ). Later, the word for "wonder" (" thaumata " θαύματα, "wonders") was used. Hence, the list was meant to be the Ancient World's counterpart of a travel guidebook. The first reference to a list of seven such monuments

5500-482: The church at Ephesus was strong. According to Eusebius of Caesarea , Saint Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus. In the early 2nd century, the church at Ephesus was still important enough to be addressed by a letter written by Bishop Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians which begins with "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in

5610-436: The coins she rests either arm on a staff formed of entwined serpents or of a stack of ouroboroi – the eternal serpent with its tail in its mouth. In some accounts, the Lady of Ephesus was attended by eunuch priests called "Megabyzoi" ; this might have been either a proper name or a title. The practice of ritual self-emasculation as qualification to serve a deity is usually identified with Cybele 's eunuch mendicant priests,

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5720-427: The columns of the temple (now on display in the British Museum ). Croesus made the populations of the different settlements around Ephesus regroup ( synoikismos ) in the vicinity of the Temple of Artemis, enlarging the city. Later in the same century, the Lydians under Croesus invaded Persia. The Ionians refused a peace offer from Cyrus the Great , siding with the Lydians instead. After the Persians defeated Croesus,

5830-408: The demons and overthrower of the temple of Diana". A later Archbishop of Constantinople, Proclus , noted the achievements of John, saying "In Ephesus, he despoiled the art of Midas," but there is little evidence to support this claim. At least some of the stone from the abandoned temple was used in construction of other buildings. A legend of the Late Middle Ages claims that some of the columns in

5940-522: The earliest temenos at Ephesus to the Amazons , legendary warrior-women whose religious practise he imagined already centered upon an image ( bretas ) of Artemis, their matron goddess. Pausanias believed that the temple pre-dated the Amazons . Pausanias's estimation of the site's antiquity seems well-founded. Before World War I, site excavations by David George Hogarth seemed to identify three successive temple buildings. Re-excavations in 1987–1988 and re-appraisal of Hogarth's account confirmed that

6050-416: The earliest coins made from the silver-gold alloy electrum . The deposit contains some of the earliest inscribed coins, those of Phanes , dated to 625–600 BC from Ephesus , with the legend ΦΑΕΝΟΣ ΕΜΙ ΣΗΜΑ (or similar) ("I am the badge of Phanes"), or just bearing the name ΦΑΝΕΟΣ ("of Phanes"). Fragments of bas-relief on the lowest drums of the temple columns, preserved in the British Museum, show that

6160-399: The early Bronze Age at Ayasuluk Hill . According to Hittite sources, the capital of the kingdom of Arzawa (another independent state in Western and Southern Anatolia/Asia Minor) was Apasa (or Abasa ), and some scholars suggest that this is the same place the Greeks later called Ephesus. In 1954, a burial ground from the Mycenaean era (1500–1400 BC), which contained ceramic pots,

6270-513: The enriched columns of the later temple, of which a few survive ( illustration below ) were versions of this earlier feature. Pliny the Elder , seemingly unaware of the ancient continuity of the sacred site, claims that the new temple's architects chose to build it on marshy ground as a precaution against earthquakes, with lower foundation layers of fleeces and pounded charcoal. The temple became an important attraction, visited by merchants, kings, and sightseers, many of whom paid homage to Artemis in

6380-456: The exact nature of the Hanging Gardens, and there is doubt as to whether they existed at all. Alexander the Great 's conquest of much of the western world in the 4th century BC gave Hellenistic travellers access to the civilizations of the Egyptians , Persians , and Babylonians . Impressed and captivated by the landmarks and marvels of the various lands, these travellers began to list what they saw to remember them. Instead of "wonders",

6490-413: The first time in 1390. The Central Asian warlord Tamerlane defeated the Ottomans in Anatolia in 1402, and the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I died in captivity. The region was restored to the Anatolian beyliks . After a period of unrest, the region was again incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1425. Ephesus was completely abandoned by the 15th century. Nearby Ayasuluğ ( Ayasoluk being a corrupted form of

6600-444: The flood. Bammer notes that though the site was prone to flooding, and raised by silt deposits about two metres between the 8th and 6th centuries, and a further 2.4 m between the sixth and the fourth, its continued use "indicates that maintaining the identity of the actual location played an important role in the sacred organization". The new temple was sponsored at least in part by Croesus , who founded Lydia 's empire and

6710-422: The form of jewelry and various goods. It also offered sanctuary to those fleeing persecution or punishment, a tradition linked in myth to the Amazons who twice fled there seeking the goddess's protection from punishment, firstly by Dionysus and later, by Heracles . Diogenes Laertius claims that the misanthropic philosopher Heraclitus , thoroughly disapproving of civil life at Ephesus, played knucklebones in

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6820-408: The goddess's cult image. Thirty-six of these columns were, according to Pliny the Elder , decorated by carvings in relief. A new ebony or blackened grapewood cult statue was sculpted by Endoios, and a naiskos to house it was erected east of the open-air altar. A rich foundation deposit from this era, also called the "Artemision deposit", yielded more than a thousand items, including what may be

6930-402: The goddess's name, and Pliny describes her procession as a magnificent crowd-puller; it was shown in one of Apelles ' best paintings, which depicted the goddess's image carried through the streets and surrounded by maidens. In the Roman Imperial era , the emperor Commodus lent his name to the festival games, and might have sponsored them. From the Greek point of view, the Ephesian Artemis

7040-439: The greatness and fullness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory" ( Letter to the Ephesians ). The church at Ephesus had given their support for Ignatius, who was taken to Rome for execution. Polycrates of Ephesus ( Greek : Πολυκράτης ) was a bishop at the Church of Ephesus in the 2nd century. He is best known for his letter addressed to

7150-434: The hand of man overcoming Antipater's seven wonders, Roman and Christian sites began to figure on the list, including the Colosseum , Noah's Ark , and Solomon's Temple . In the 6th century, a list of seven wonders was compiled by St. Gregory of Tours : the list included the Temple of Solomon, the Pharos of Alexandria , and Noah's Ark. Modern historians, working on the premise that the original Seven Ancient Wonders List

7260-475: The highest or largest of their types, to the artistry with which they were executed. Their architectural and artistic features were imitated throughout the Hellenistic world and beyond. The Greek influence in Roman culture, and the revival of Greco-Roman artistic styles during the Renaissance caught the imagination of European artists and travellers. Paintings and sculptures alluding to Antipater's list were made, while significant numbers of adventurers travelled to

7370-407: The inhabitants of Ephesus demurred, claiming that it was not fitting for one god to build a temple to another. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Ephesus in 290 BC came under the rule of one of Alexander's generals, Lysimachus . As the river Cayster (Grk. name Κάϋστρος) silted up the old harbour, the resulting marshes caused malaria and many deaths among the inhabitants. Lysimachus forced

7480-473: The modern port city of İzmir , in Turkey. Today the site lies on the edge of the modern town of Selçuk . The sacred site ( temenos ) at Ephesus was far older than the Artemision itself. Pausanias was certain that it antedated the Ionic immigration by many years, being older even than the oracular shrine of Apollo at Didyma . He said that the pre-Ionic inhabitants of the city were Leleges and Lydians . Callimachus , in his Hymn to Artemis attributed

7590-434: The most important city of the Byzantine Empire in Asia after Constantinople in the 5th and 6th centuries. Emperor Flavius Arcadius raised the level of the street between the theatre and the harbour. The basilica of St. John was built during the reign of emperor Justinian I in the 6th century. Excavations in 2022 indicate that large parts of the city were destroyed in 614/615 by a military conflict, most likely during

7700-504: The motive of Herostratus since he only divulged his purpose under torture, which does not fit a man seeking fame. Knibbe (1998) considers Herostratus a "useful idiot in the service of the priesthood". Alexander offered to pay for the temple's rebuilding; the Ephesians tactfully refused, saying "it would be improper for one god to build a temple to another", and eventually rebuilt it after his death, at their own expense. Work started in 323 BC and continued for many years. The third temple

7810-413: The museum has part of possibly the oldest cache of coins in the world (600 BC) that had been buried in the foundations of the Archaic temple. Today the site of the temple, which lies just outside Selçuk , is marked by a single column constructed of miscellaneous fragments discovered at the site. The archaic temenos beneath the later temples clearly housed some form of " Great Goddess " but nothing

7920-466: The nearby cities of Lebedos and Colophon in 292 BC, he relocated their inhabitants to the new city. Ephesus revolted after the treacherous death of Agathocles , giving the Hellenistic king of Syria and Mesopotamia Seleucus I Nicator an opportunity for removing and killing Lysimachus, his last rival, at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC. After the death of Lysimachus the town again

8030-583: The oracle of Delphi became reality ("A fish and a boar will show you the way"). He was a successful warrior, and as a king he was able to join the twelve cities of Ionia together into the Ionian League . During his reign the city began to prosper. He died in a battle against the Carians when he came to the aid of Priene , another city of the Ionian League. Androklos and his dog are depicted on

8140-641: The original Greek name) was turkified to Selçuk in 1914. Ephesus was an important centre for Early Christianity from the AD 50s. From AD 52–54, the apostle Paul lived in Ephesus, working with the congregation and apparently organizing missionary activity into the hinterlands. Initially, according to the Acts of the Apostles , Paul attended the Jewish synagogue in Ephesus, but after three months he became frustrated with

8250-415: The people of Chios had been treated by Zenobius, a general of Mithridates, they refused entry to his army. Zenobius was invited into the city to visit Philopoemen , the father of Monime , the favourite wife of Mithridates, and the overseer of Ephesus. As the people expected nothing good of him, they threw him into prison and murdered him. Mithridates took revenge and inflicted terrible punishments. However,

8360-407: The people to move from the ancient settlement around the temple of Artemis to the present site two kilometres (1.2 miles) away, when as a last resort the king flooded the old city by blocking the sewers. The new settlement was officially called Arsinoea ( Ancient Greek : Ἀρσινόεια or Ἀρσινοΐα) or Arsinoe (Ἀρσινόη), after the king's second wife, Arsinoe II of Egypt . After Lysimachus had destroyed

8470-469: The philosopher Heraclitus , the great painter Parrhasius and later the grammarian Zenodotos and physicians Soranus and Rufus. About 560 BC, Ephesus was conquered by the Lydians under king Croesus , who, though a harsh ruler, treated the inhabitants with respect and even became the main contributor to the reconstruction of the temple of Artemis. His signature has been found on the base of one of

8580-487: The poet Callimachus of Cyrene ( c.  305 –240 BC), housed at the Museum of Alexandria , survive only as references. The Colossus of Rhodes was the last of the seven to be completed after 280 BC and the first to be destroyed by an earthquake in 226/225 BC. As such, it was already in ruins by the time the list was compiled, and all seven wonders existed simultaneously for less than 60 years. The list covered only

8690-602: The sanctuary of the temple of Artemis when the Roman Senate failed to restore him to his throne. Mark Antony was welcomed by Ephesus for periods when he was proconsul and in 33 BC with Cleopatra when he gathered his fleet of 800 ships before the battle of Actium with Octavius . When Augustus became emperor in 27 BC, the most important change was when he made Ephesus the capital of proconsular Asia (which covered western Asia Minor) instead of Pergamum . Ephesus then entered an era of prosperity, becoming both

8800-402: The seat of the governor and a major centre of commerce. According to Strabo , it was second in importance and size only to Rome. The city and temple were destroyed by the Goths in 263 AD. This marked the decline of the city's splendour. However, emperor Constantine the Great rebuilt much of the city and erected new public baths. Until recently, the population of Ephesus in Roman times

8910-613: The settlement. There are numerous sites to suggest the movement of a settlement between the Bronze Age and the Roman period, but the silting up of the natural harbours as well as the movement of the Kayster River meant that the location never remained the same. Ephesus continued to prosper, but when taxes were raised under Cambyses II and Darius , the Ephesians participated in the Ionian Revolt against Persian rule in

9020-508: The site was occupied as early as the Bronze Age , with a sequence of pottery finds that extend forward to Middle Geometric times , when a peripteral temple with a floor of hard-packed clay was constructed in the second half of the 8th century BC. The peripteral temple at Ephesus offers the earliest example of a peripteral type on the coast of Asia Minor, and perhaps the earliest Greek temple surrounded by colonnades anywhere. In

9130-416: The site: The assertion that the Ephesians thought that their cult image had fallen from the sky, though it was a familiar origin-myth at other sites, is only known for the temple at Ephesus from Acts 19:35 : Lynn LiDonnici observes that modern scholars are likely to be more concerned with origins of the Lady of Ephesus and her iconology than her adherents were at any point in time, and are prone to creating

9240-517: The statue, the goddess' skin has been painted black, likely to emulate the aged wood of the original, while her clothes and regalia, including the so-called "breasts", were left unpainted or cast in different colors. 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 testicles of sacrificed bulls ), and which were incorporated as carved features on later copies. The "breasts" of

9350-551: The stubbornness of some of the Jews, and moved his base to the school of Tyrannus . The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary reminds readers that the unbelief of "some" ( Greek : τινες ) implies that "others, probably a large number, believed" and therefore there must have been a community of Jewish Christians in Ephesus. Paul introduced about twelve men to the ' baptism with the Holy Spirit ' who had previously only experienced

9460-473: The surrounding Christian regions were organised, some officially sanctioned by the state and some by private parties. The town knew a short period of prosperity again during the 14th century under these new Seljuk rulers. They added important architectural works such as the İsa Bey Mosque , caravansaries, and hamams (bathhouses). Ephesians were incorporated as vassals into the Ottoman Empire for

9570-513: The temple was destroyed in 356 BC by an arsonist , commonly thought to have been a madman named Herostratus . The next, greatest, and last form of the temple, funded by the Ephesians themselves, is described in Antipater of Sidon 's list of the world's Seven Wonders : 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

9680-468: The temple with the boys, and later deposited his writings there. In 356 BC, the temple burned down. Various sources describe this as a vainglorious act of arson by a man, Herostratus , who set fire to the wooden roof-beams, seeking fame at any cost; thus the term herostratic fame . For this outrage, the Ephesians sentenced the perpetrator to death and forbade anyone from mentioning his name , although Theopompus later noted it. Aristotle describes

9790-499: The temple's conflagration, but not its cause. In Greek and Roman historical tradition, the temple's destruction coincided with the birth of Alexander the Great (around 20–21 July 356 BC). Plutarch remarks that Artemis was too preoccupied with Alexander's delivery to save her burning temple; he does not specify a cause for the fire. Herostratus' part in the temple's destruction has been questioned in modern scholarship. Stefan Karweise notes that any arsonist would have needed access to

9900-588: The terms of the surrender, the Turks pillaged the church of Saint John and, when a revolt seemed probable, deported most of the local population to Thyrea, Greece . During these events, many of the remaining inhabitants were massacred. Shortly afterwards, Ephesus was ceded to the Aydinid principality that stationed a powerful navy in the harbour of Ayasuluğ (the present-day Selçuk , next to Ephesus). Ayasoluk became an important harbour, from which piratical raids on

10010-656: The town in December 1147. In 1206, the city came under the control of the Laskaris . It was an important religious and intellectual center during the 13th century. Nikephoros Blemmydes , a prominent intellectual of the time, taught in the city. However, the Byzantines lost control of the region by 1308. On 24 October 1304, the town surrendered to Sasa Bey, a Turkish warlord of the Menteşoğulları principality. Contrary to

10120-596: The visions of Augustinian sister the Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824). It is a popular place of Catholic pilgrimage which has been visited by three recent popes. The Church of Mary near the harbour of Ephesus was the setting for the Third Ecumenical Council in 431, which resulted in the condemnation of Nestorius . A Second Council of Ephesus was held in 449, but its controversial acts were never approved by

10230-516: The wooden roof framing; Knibbe (1998) writes of an "entire corps" of attested temple guards and custodians. The fire might even have been deliberately and covertly set by the temple's administrators, who were aware that the temple's foundation was sinking but were prevented from re-siting it elsewhere by religious constraints; Bammer has noted the conservation of the original sacred location throughout successive rebuildings, despite continued problems with flooding and foundations. Karwiese questions

10340-470: The yardstick estimated the population at 51,068 at 148.5 persons per hectare. Using 510 persons per hectare, he arrives at a population between 138,000 and 172,500 . J.W. Hanson estimated the inhabited space to be smaller, at 224 hectares (550 acres). He argues that population densities of 150~250 people per hectare are more realistic, which gives a range of 33,600–56,000 inhabitants. Even with these much lower population estimates, Ephesus

10450-541: Was a small village. The Byzantines resumed control in 1097 and changed the name of the town to Hagios Theologos. Crusaders passing through were surprised that there was only a small village, called Ayasalouk, where they had expected a bustling city with a large seaport. Even the temple of Artemis was completely forgotten by the local population. The Crusaders of the Second Crusade fought the Seljuks just outside

10560-520: Was attacked by the Cimmerians who razed the city, including the temple of Artemis. After the Cimmerians had been driven away, the city was ruled by a series of tyrants. Following a revolt by the people, Ephesus was ruled by a council. The city prospered again under a new rule, producing a number of important historical figures such as the elegiac poet Callinus and the iambic poet Hipponax ,

10670-630: Was discovered close to the ruins of the basilica of St. John . This was the period of the Mycenaean expansion, when the Ahhiyawa began settling in Asia Minor , a process that continued into the 13th century BC. The names Apasa and Ephesus appear to be cognate, and recently found inscriptions seem to pinpoint the places in the Hittite record. Ephesus was founded as an Attic-Ionian colony in

10780-507: Was estimated to number up to 225,000 people by Broughton. More recent scholarship regards these estimates as unrealistic. Such a large estimate would require population densities seen in only a few ancient cities, or extensive settlement outside the city walls. This would have been impossible at Ephesus because of the mountain ranges, coastline and quarries which surrounded the city. The wall of Lysimachus has been estimated to enclose an area of 415 hectares (1,030 acres). Not all of this area

10890-529: Was first allied to Athens but in a later phase, called the Decelean War, or the Ionian War, sided with Sparta, which also had received the support of the Persians. As a result, rule over the cities of Ionia was ceded again to Persia. These wars did not greatly affect daily life in Ephesus. The Ephesians were surprisingly modern in their social relations: they allowed strangers to integrate and education

11000-461: Was given by Diodorus Siculus . The epigrammist Antipater of Sidon , who lived around or before 100 BC, gave a list of seven "wonders", including six of the present list (substituting the walls of Babylon for the Lighthouse of Alexandria): I have gazed on the walls of impregnable Babylon along which chariots may race, and on the Zeus by the banks of the Alpheus, I have seen the hanging gardens, and

11110-533: Was important for trade. People started leaving the lowland of the city for the surrounding hills. The ruins of the temples were used as building blocks for new homes. Marble sculptures were ground to powder to make lime for plaster. Sackings by the Arabs first in the year 654–655 by caliph Muawiyah I , and later in 700 and 716 hastened the decline further. When the Seljuk Turks conquered Ephesus in 1090, it

11220-487: Was inhabited due to public buildings and spaces in the city center and the steep slope of the Bülbül Dağı mountain, which was enclosed by the wall. Ludwig Burchner estimated this area with the walls at 1000 acres. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor uses an estimate of 345 hectares for the inhabited land or 835 acres (Murphey cites Ludwig Burchner). He cites Josiah Russell using 832 acres and Old Jerusalem in 1918 as

11330-659: Was keen to point out that, while the Bible says John was leaving for Asia, it does not say specifically that Mary went with him. He later stated that she was buried in Jerusalem. Since the 19th century, The House of the Virgin Mary , about 7 km (4 mi) from Selçuk, has been considered to have been the last home of Mary, mother of Jesus before her assumption into heaven in the Roman Catholic tradition, based on

11440-408: Was larger than the second; 137 m (450 ft) long by 69 m (225 ft) wide and 18 m (60 ft) high, with more than 127 columns. Athenagoras of Athens names Endoeus , a pupil of Daedalus , as sculptor of Artemis' main cult image. Pausanias (c. 2nd century AD) reports another image and altar in the temple, dedicated to Artemis Protothronia (Artemis "of the first seat") and

11550-576: Was limited in its geographic scope, also had their versions to encompass sites beyond the Hellenistic realm—from the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to the Seven Wonders of the World . The "seven wonders" label has spawned innumerable versions among international organizations, publications and individuals based on different themes—works of nature, engineering masterpieces, constructions of

11660-672: Was named Ephesus. Thus Ephesus became part of the Seleucid Empire . After the murder of king Antiochus II Theos and his Egyptian wife in 246 BC, pharaoh Ptolemy III invaded the Seleucid Empire and the Egyptian fleet swept the coast of Asia Minor. Ephesus was betrayed by its governor Sophron into the hands of the Ptolemies who ruled the city for half a century until 197 BC. The Seleucid king Antiochus III

11770-453: Was one of the largest cities of Roman Asia Minor, ranking it as the largest city after Sardis and Alexandria Troas . Hanson and Ortman (2017) estimate an inhabited area to be 263 hectares and their demographic model yields an estimate of 71,587 inhabitants, with a population density of 276 inhabitants per hectare. By contrast, Rome within the walls encompassed 1,500 hectares and as over 400 built-up hectares were left outside

11880-414: Was overlord of Ephesus. It was designed and constructed from around 550 BC by the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes . It was 115 m (377 ft) long and 46 m (151 ft) wide, supposedly the first Greek temple built of marble. Its peripteral columns stood some 13 m (40 ft) high, in double rows that formed a wide ceremonial passage around the cella that housed

11990-416: Was valued. In later times, Pliny the Elder mentioned having seen at Ephesus a representation of the goddess Diana by Timarete , the daughter of a painter. In 356 BC the temple of Artemis was burnt down, according to legend, by a lunatic called Herostratus . The inhabitants of Ephesus at once set about restoring the temple and even planned a larger and grander one than the original. When Alexander

12100-500: Was venerated in the Temple of Artemis , one of the Seven Wonders of the World and the largest building of the ancient world according to Pausanias (4.31.8). Pausanias mentions that the temple was built by Ephesus, son of the river god Caystrus , before the arrival of the Ionians. Of this structure, scarcely a trace remains. Ancient sources seem to indicate that an older name of the place was Alope ( Ancient Greek : Ἀλόπη , romanized :  Alópē ). About 650 BC, Ephesus

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