In this paper I will do the near impossible and try to analyze the remains of the architecture of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (320-650 BCE). Analyzing the remains in terms of Art History is nearly impossible because there is nothing left outside, but some foundations that consist of piles of rocks. These are most likely the bases of the temple’s columns. The site only has one actual column that is still intact. Although, it looks as though it has been pieced together with scrap. A number of artists have created their interpretations of what they believed the temple looked like based on the descriptions of Pliny and others. If one was to analyze the temple based on modern renderings of it, they would say that it was influenced both by Greek and Near Eastern architecture. The description given by Pliny speaks of their being a life size statue of Artemis that stood on a platform in the center of the temple. This statue of Artemis was unlike the common Greek interpretation of her as the goddess of the hunt. Instead, this version of her is seen as a fertility goddess. A statue of her that was uncovered at the site of Ephesus depicts Artemis as being covered with breasts, which symbolize fertility. The excavators also found a nearly intact plate of a woman’s head and a part of a frieze that shows the god Hermes and who many believe to be Persephone. The remains of the temple are located in Ephesus, which is presently Turkey and had been originally built during the Persian Empire’s Archimedes. The temple was rebuilt three times. I will attempt to speak on all three temples in this paper. This may be necessary in order to compare the differences between them. The original function of the temple was the worship of the goddess Artemis. The temple was mostly marble and it was 425 feet long. The temple was destroyed by the Goths in 262 AD.
Today the site at Ephesus is nothing but ruins that consists of a pillar and what looks to be sections of the original foundation. Many of the statues and artifacts are currently on display at the British Museum in London. The temple was one of the largest temples in the Roman Empire and is considered one of the eight wonders of the world. Due to the temples size and majesty it attracted many people to both the temple and the worship of Artemis.
History
The original temple was built circa 600 CBE for the worship of the goddess Artemis by the architect Chersiphron. The site it was built on was originally dedicated to the worship of the goddess Cybele. The temple was built on marshy ground as a precaution against earthquakes as this would allow the temple to shift along with the ground. According to legend the temple was destroyed by an arsonist on the night Alexander the Great was born. Later, as Alexander made his way through Ephesus, he offered to rebuild the temple. The Ephesians refused him, saying that it was not right for one god to build a temple to another god according to legend. The real reason that the Ephesians turned down Alexander’s offer was because they did not want his name on the temple.
Eventually the city of Ephesus began rebuilding the temple around 550 BCE. The temple was identical to the original except for the raised platform. The platform was a standard feature in Greek architecture at the time the temple was rebuilt. The man who rebuilt the Temple of Artemis was Scopas of Paros. Scopas was one of the most respected builders of the time.
In preparation for the construction of the temple Scopas had to prepare the ground. According to Pliny, Scopas did this by rebuilding the temple on the same marshy land it had been built before. Scopas did this because he and the builders believed just as the men who built the original had. That building the temple on a marshy area would help prevent damage from earthquakes. Then Scopas had "layers of trodden charcoal were placed beneath, with fleeces covered with wool upon the top of them." After the temple was rebuilt by Scopas it was rebuilt one more time. The architect that was in charge of the third incarnation of the temple did not make any changes. Choosing instead to adhere faithfully to the second rendering.
Today only one column and some foundation remain of the temple. The column stands 13 feet below the architrave. According to Pliny construction of the temple took over 120 years. Pliny describes the Temple of Artemis as having the length of 425 feet and the width of 225 feet. Pliny says that the temple had 127 Ionic columns, each standing 60 feet high. The columns stood in a double row long ways and a triple column along the wide sides. The construction workers had to use terrestrial lifts to get the stones on the top of the columns. The temple was made almost entirely out of marble and many of the columns contained decorative reliefs. The Parthenon in comparison was only 230 feet long, with a width of 100 feet, and it only had 58 columns. The country of Turkey has attempted to create a replica of the Temple of Ephesus
As you can see this recreation is pretty close to what a person would imagine the Temple of Artemis looking like after reading Pliny’s description. The structure is white marble sitting on a platform that is made up of stairs. The use of white marble gives the structure a sense calm and peace. There is a possibility that the original was not pure white. This was because there is evidence that both Greek and Roman architects utilized colors in their works. This is evidenced by chips of paint fragments that have been found on sculptures and reliefs. The interior of the structure appears to be accessible from all vantage points. The structure has a number of uniformed columns. The front consists of 9 columns, while the side appears to have 20 columns. There does not seem to be a second row of columns, it appears that just beyond the columns on the side there is a wall There also appears to be many decorative elements. Either way there seems to be a balance to the structure due to the fact that the columns seem to be evenly spaced. This would mean that the weight of the roof would be evenly distributed.
There are a number of small sculptures in the room, as well as a relief that extends the whole perimeter of the building, and another relief on the front of the structure. The temple was built in the traditional Ionic style of the time period. There was nothing overtly exciting about the design, so the most likely function was more important than form. The scale of the temple was massive. This was not uncommon, though many architects who built temples, palaces or other city buildings made them quite large to demonstrate devotion to the gods or the Emperor. The building is rectangular and it seems to give the illusion that it is open. This is because it has an open center and a large walkway all surrounded by a number of pillars. Although if you look behind the pillars there appears to be a grey wall. This changes the perception of the building from one that is open, to one that has secrets in some areas.
This analysis may of course be faulty because the actual Temple of Artemis that the building was based off of is nothing but ruins. These ruins were found in 1869 by John Turtle Wood, who was an architect that was sent by the British Museum to find the temple. The ruins of the base of the temple were located at the bottom of a muddy test pit that was twenty-foot deep. After excavations were finished the distance of the area in which the temple had sat was 500 feet long and 300 feet wide. Wood sent many of the artifacts that were found during his excavations to the British Museum, including a piece of the base.
In 1871 after excavating for around five years a massive marble column was found lying upside down submerged under water. The column weighed more than 11 tons. Wood was able to erect the column properly using layers of timber and pulling the columns with ropes. After excavation was finally completed, this is what remained.
Little remains of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus
The marble columns on the replica seem to be smooth and seamless, while the column that remains on the original appears to be ridged, and made up of removable portions. This could have been for a number of reasons, the columns could have been made from other columns, this could have just been the way columns were constructed at the time or the modern excavators could have just pieced it together from the remains of a number of columns as a marker of sorts. Other than that one cannot tell much from the one column, except that it was white marble, and looked to be quite large. If each of piles of stones that are seen in the picture are where a temple once stood. Then we can see where seven columns once stood. They columns appear to not to be a great distance apart. Based on the picture, the best estimate would be that there was about seven feet between them. So while the temple was quite large, it may not have been as large as Pliny stated. The statues and reliefs that were sent to The British Museum show that for the Greek people religion as well as their history was a major part of their lives.
References
Bammer, A. (1990). A "Peripteros" of the Geometric Period in the Artemision of Ephesus. Anatolian Studies, 40, 137. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3642799
Bammer, A. (2016). Recent Excavations at the Altar of Artemis in Ephesus (1st ed.).
Hall, H. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.petersommer.com/blog/archaeology-history/the-great-ionic-temples-samos-ephesus-didyma/
Hooker, M. (2013). Artemis of Ephesus. The Journal Of Theological Studies, 64(1), 37-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jts/fls174.
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