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The Temple
of Artemis at Ephesus
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World |
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The Temple of Artemis was first built around 800 BCE in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, located on the coast of what is now modern day Turkey. The temple was destroyed several times. It was rebuilt several times, always on the same site. It was rebuilt more impressively than the temple that had been destroyed before it. The first temple was destroyed in war around 550 BCE. After the war, the townspeople rebuilt. Some years later it was burnt down by a man who wanted his name to be remembered forever. (The townspeople created a law that said anyone who mentioned his name would be put to death, so his plan did not work very well, although he did successfully destroy the temple.) Coincidentally, it was burned down on the same day that Alexander the Great was born. The temple was under construction (again) when some years later Alexander the Great visited the town. Alexander was so impressed with this famous temple that he offered to give the town enough money to finishing building it if they would put his name on it. The town did not want to do that, but they did thank Alexander very nicely. (You would too if you were facing Alexander's army!) Alexander had seen many beautiful buildings in his travels, but this temple was so beautiful that it impressed even Alexander the Great. The temple in Alexander's time was highly decorated and very spacious. It was 425 feet long, 225 feet wide, and 60 feet high. 127 columns supported the roof. For a while, a constant stream of visitors came to see the temple. To take advantage of this traffic, various townspeople built shops around the temple. Some shops sold little replicas of the temple for tourists to take home. The town of Ephesus boomed for a while. But it didn't last. The temple was destroyed (again) around 200 CE by the Goths. This time, it was not rebuilt. Construction costs had increased considerably. There was not enough money in the town treasury to rebuild the temple to its former magnificence. The pieces that were not taken for new building projects slowly sunk in the marshy field until the ruin disappeared from sight altogether. Hundreds of years later, in the 1800's, the British Museum sent a team to search for the fabled Temple of Artemis. By then, no one had any idea where the temple used to stand. Short of digging up the whole town and the surrounding countryside, the first team found themselves rather stuck. Another team, sent out a few years later, got lucky. While digging in a field, they found the remains of 5 temples, one built on top of the other. They believed they had found the Temple of Artemis. Today, in the
ancient town of Ephesus, all that remains of this incredible structure
is a single column in the middle of a marshy field, left to mark the
spot where the famous Temple of Artemis once stood. Temple of Artemis in PowerPoint format (pppst) Free Video Clips - 7 Wonders of the Ancient World Ancient
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