The great temple of Artemis (or Diana), at Ephesus, which ranked among the seven wonders of the ancient world, was built in the middle of the 4th century b.c. It was, according to tradition, the latest of a long series of buildings. Not fewer than eight successive temples have been enumerated by Falkener (Ephesus, p. 214; cf. Pliny, H. N., xvi., 213). The excavations, however, have only produced the remains of two temples. The earlier of the two, which is here described, is probably that which was begun early in the sixth century b.c., by the architects Theodoros, Chersiphron and Metagenes, was in course of construction during the reign of Croesus (Brunn, Gr. Künstler, ii., p. 382), and was burnt by Herostratos on the night of Alexander's birth (356 b.c.). The later temple, the remains of which are exhibited in the Ephesus Room, was then built to replace that which had been burnt; and the excavations have proved the interesting fact that the most remarkable features of the later temple were borrowed from its predecessor.
The extant fragments of the early temple were found by the late Mr. J. T. Wood, in excavations which he carried on at Ephesus for the Trustees of the British Museum. These fragments had, for the most part, been used as building materials, and were extracted from certain massive piers which rested against the foundations of the walls of the temple cella. Mr. Wood assigned the piers to the Byzantine period, but only adduced evidence to show that they were later than the walls of the temple. It is therefore possible that they may have been added at an early period, to strengthen the foundations.
Wood, Ephesus, pp. 190, 259. For the reconstruction of the archaic temple, see Journ. of Hellen. Studies, X. (1889), p. 1 (A. S. Murray). The material is a finely-grained marble, with occasional strongly marked blue veins.
Architectural Fragments.
24.Part of a wall-stone from the archaic temple.
Length, 2 feet 7½ inches; width, 1 foot 8 inches.
25.Capital of Ionic column. Several fragments have been discovered, from which it is possible to reconstruct with tolerable certainty the capitals and necking of the columns of the archaic temple.
Journ. of Hellen. Studies, X., p. 8.
26.Fragment of volute from cap of column. The groove between two mouldings is filled with two strips of lead to which gold leaf is attached.