Temple of Diana, at Ephesus. - The chief ornament of Ephesus was the temple of Diana, built at the common charge of all the states in Asia, and, for its structure, size, and furni-ture, accounted among the wonders of the world. This great edifice was situated at the foot of a mountain, and at the head of a marsh; which place they chose, if we believe Pliny, as the least subject to earthquakes. This site doubled the charges; for they were obliged to be at a vast expense in making drains to convey the water that came down the hill into the morass and the Cayster. Philo Byzantius tells us, that in this work they used such a quantity of stone, as almost exhausted all the quarries in the country; and these drains, or vaults, are what the present inhabitants take for a labyrinth. To secure the foundations of the conduits or sewers, which were to bear a building of such prodigious weight, they laid beds of charcoal, says Pliny, well rammed, and upon them others of wood: Pliny says, four hundred years were spent in building this wonderful temple, by all Asia: others say, only two hundred and twenty. It was four hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and two hundred in breadth, supported by one hundred and twenty-seven marble pillars, seventy feet high, of which twenty-seven were most curiously carved, and the rest polished. These pillars were the works of so many kings, and the bas-reliefs of one were done by Scopas, the most famous sculptor of antiquity; the altar was almost wholly the work of Praxiteles. Cheiromocrates, who built the city of Alexandria, and offered to form Mount Athos into a statue of Alexandria, was the architect employed on this occasion.

Pyramids Of Gizeh. Egypt

Temple Of Tentyra In Egypt.

The temple enjoyed the privilege of an asylum, which at first extended to a furlong, was afterwards enlarged by Mi-thridates to a bow-shot, and doubled by Marc Antony, so that it took in part of the city: but Tiberius, to put a stop to the many abuses and disorders that attended privileges of this kind, revoked them all, and declared that no man, guilty of any wicked or dishonest action, should escape justice, though he fled to the altar itself.

The priests who officiated in this temple were held in great esteem, and entrusted with the care of sacred virgins, or priestesses, but not till they were made eunuchs. They were called Estiatores and Essena, had a particular diet, and were not allowed to go into any private house. They were maintained out of the profits accruing from the lake Selinusius, and another that fell into it; which must have been very considerable, since they erected a golden statue to one Artemidorus, who being sent to Rome, recovered them, after they had been seized by the farmers of the public revenues.

All the Ionians resorted yearly to Ephesus,with their wives and children, where they solemnized the festival of Diana with great pomp and magnificence, making on that occasion rich offerings to the goddess, and valuable presents to her priests.

The Asiarcha, mentioned by St. Luke, (Acts xix. 31,) were, according to Beza, priests who regulated the public sports annually performed at Ephesus, in honour of Diana; and were maintained with the collections during the sports, for all Asia flocked to see them.

The great Diana of the Ephesians, as she was styled by her blind adorers, was, according to Pliny, a small statue of ebony, made by one Canitia, though believed by the superstitious to have been sent down from heaven by Jupiter. This statue was first placed in a niche, which, we are told, the Amazons caused to be made in the trunk of an elm. Such was the first rise of the veneration that was paid to Diana in this place. In process of time the veneration for the goddess daily increasing among the inhabitants of Asia, a most stately and magnificent temple was built near the place where the elm stood, and the statue of the goddess placed in it. This was the first temple, and was not quite so sumptuous as the second, though reckoned, as well as it, one of the wondere of the world.

The second temple of the great Diana, was remaining in the times of Pliny and Strabo; and is supposed to have been destroyed in the reign of Constantine, pursuant to the edict of that emperor, commanding all the temples of the heathens to be demolished: - the former was burnt the same day that Alexander was born, by one Erostratus, who owned on the rack, that the only thing which had prompted him to destroy so excellent a work, was the desire of transmitting his name to future ages. Whereupon the common council of Asia made a degree, forbidding any one to name him; but this prohibition served only to make his name the more memorable, such a remarkable extravagance, or rather madness, being taken notice of bv all the historians who have written of those times.

Alexander offered to rebuild the temple at his own expense, provided the Ephesians would agree to put his name on the front; but they received his offer in such a manner as prevented the resentment of that vain prince, telling him, "it was not fit that one god should build a temple to another." The pillars, and other materials, that had been saved out of the flames, were sold, with the jewels of the Ephesian women, who on that occasion willingly parted with them; and the sum thus raised served for the carrying on of the work till other contributions came in, which, in a short time, amounted to an immense treasure. This is the temple which Strabo, Pliny, and other Roman writers, speak of. It stood between the city and the port, and was built, or rather finished, as Livy tells us, in the reign of king Servius. Of this wonderful structure there is nothing at present remaining but some ruins, and a few broken pillars, forty feet long, and seven in diameter.