In the Izmir Province of Turkey, nine kilometres from the beautiful wide beaches of Pamucak, lies the townland of Selçuk which borders the ancient Greek city of Ephesus.
The Greek poet Antipater of Sidon once said, "I have seen the walls and Hanging Gardens of ancient Babylon, the statue of Olympian Zeus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the mighty work of the high Pyramids and the tomb of Mausolus. But when I saw the temple at Ephesus rising to the clouds, all these other wonders were put in the shade"-
Artemis is one of the most worshiped Greek deities (she can be equated to the Roman godess Diana). In Greek mythology Artemis/Diana is the daughter of Zeus (Roman Jupiter) and is often depicted as a hunter carrying a bow and arrows and accompanied by a deer or hunting dogs. It is no surprise then to find that to the ancient Greeks she was the goddess of hunting and wild animals. Having swore never to marry she became one of three maiden goddesses and came to represent virginity, childbirth and women and it is this incarnation of Artemis that the local Ephesians worshiped.
The temple itself was built and destroyed many times but the version that is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World was initiated by Croesus of Lydia and it is reported (and disputed) to have taken 120 years to build.
Almost 150 years ago the location of the temple was rediscovered by an expedition sponsored by the British Museum. The team returned to the UK with many fragments of the 4th century temple and some artifacts from the earlier temples. These are all displayed in the Ephesus Room in the museum.
Today the only visible evidence of the temple is one column which was pieced together from many of the remains scattered throughout the site.
