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In the section on the question What was Herostratus famous for? given by the author May Yubkina the best answer is Herostratos (Herostratos) (years of birth and death unknown), Greek from the city of Ephesus (M. Asia), who burned in 356 BC. e. temple of Artemis of Ephesus (considered one of the 7 wonders of the world), in order to immortalize his name ...
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The city of Ephesus on the coast of Asia Minor, north of the river. Meander was the center of worship of the goddess Artemis, whose cult merged with the cult of the local goddess of fertility, depicted as a mother-nurse. In the 6th c. BC e. began the construction of a temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis. It was decided to build the temple on swampy soil, having previously strengthened the foundation in order to avoid destruction from earthquakes that were frequent in those places. Architects Khersifon and Metagen from Fr. Crete erected a rectangular temple (55 × 105 m), which was surrounded by 127 Ionic columns 18 m high. Each of the two rows of the main facade had 8 columns. The construction of the temple was completed 120 years later by the architects Peonit and Demetrius. In 356 BC e. a resident of Ephesus, Herostratus, deciding to perpetuate his name, set fire to the famous temple: the walls were damaged, the roof collapsed. It was decided to rebuild the sanctuary. With the collected funds, the architect Heirocrates rebuilt the temple, making minor changes: the foundation of the temple was raised, the number of steps was increased. Inside was a huge statue of Artemis in the form of a mother-nurse (15 m). The sculpture was made of wood, clothes and jewelry were made of gold. The following centuries brought a lot of destruction: in 263 the temple was plundered by the Goths, during the Byzantine Empire, the marble slabs of the temple were used for other buildings, and later a Christian church that has not survived was erected on the site of the temple. But the swampy soil on which the temple was located brought the greatest destruction. As a result of excavations, the foundation of the structure has now been found, fragments of columns decorated with reliefs (now in the British Museum).
Human ambition knows no bounds. They are especially dangerous when they stem from the desire to become famous and immortalize one's name. Here you can call such a name as Herostratus. It was this man who committed a terrible sacrilege for the sake of the ghostly glory and memory of his descendants. He burned the famous temple of Artemis, located in the city of Ephesus. It happened in 356 BC. e. And 50 years after this terrible event, the historian Timaeus from Stavromenia began to assert that the temple was burned on the night when Alexander the Great was born.
Artemis is the sister of Apollo and the daughter of Zeus. The ancient Greeks considered the goddess of hunting and fertility. It was to her that a temple of white marble was erected on the western coast of Asia Minor in the city of Ephesus. They erected the greatest architectural creation in the first half of the 6th century BC. e. The Lydian king Croesus was directly involved in the construction of the temple. It was he who allocated the bulk of the money from the treasury.
Temple of Artemis - reconstruction
The temple is luxurious. It was 100 meters long, 18 meters high and 50 meters wide. The roof was supported by 127 columns. Inside was the figure of the eternally young goddess, made of ivory. The sandals on the feet were made of pure gold. The people who inhabited Hellas considered it a happiness to see this greatest architectural creation. Throughout the year, residents of the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor walked and rode to the temple. The temple was known both in ancient Egypt and in Mesopotamia. That is, the entire civilized world of that time sincerely admired its beauty.
Very little is known about Herostratus, who burned this greatest creation of human hands. He lived in Ephesus and at the time of the crime was a very young man. His social status is unknown, and nothing is known about his parents. It can be assumed that this young man had exorbitant ambitions. They played a decisive role in his future destiny.
On a summer night (presumably July 21, 356 BC), Herostratus entered the temple of Artemis and set it on fire. How the young man carried out the fire is shrouded in mystery. But the temple burned down, and only ashes remained in its place.
The arsonist was immediately seized, as he did not even try to escape. During interrogation, he stated that he had committed a crime in order to perpetuate his name for centuries. Herostratus was executed and forbidden under pain of the most severe punishment to call this name. The ban extended not only to Ephesus, but also to other cities of Hellas and the Mediterranean.
Herostratus lit a fire in the Temple of Artemis
However, among the Greeks there was a man who mentioned the name cursed by the priests. It turned out to be the historian and orator Theopompus. He was born in 380 BC. e. and was a contemporary of a terrible event that shook all of Hellas. He could not resist and mentioned Herostratus in one of his works. The historian and geographer Strabo, who lived at the beginning of the 1st century AD, carefully studied the works of Theopompus. e. He learned the name of the arsonist and named him. This information was received by a contemporary of Strabo, the Roman writer Valery Maxim.
He, of course, embellished this image, endowing it with characteristic human passions. And then it was the turn of the poet Publius Ovid, who knew Valery Maxim well. He, too, in all possible colors described the sinister young man, endowed with remarkable conceit. Thus, at the very beginning of our era, everyone learned about Herostratus, and the arsonist who had sunk into oblivion was reborn from the ashes, like a Phoenix bird.
Nowadays, this name is known to everyone. It symbolizes exorbitant human ambitions, selfishness and disregard for morality. Herostratus is associated with those people who commit crimes in order to become famous. Unfortunately, such personalities, although not often, do occur..
There has long been confusion with the temple of Artemis of Ephesus, and therefore it is not entirely clear which of these temples to speak of: the last or the penultimate? From time immemorial, authors writing about this wonder of the world have inaccurately imagined what Herostrat burned and what Hersiphron built. The Temple of Artemis was built many times. But the early wooden buildings fell into disrepair, burned down or died from the frequent earthquakes here, and therefore in the middle of the 6th century BC it was decided to build a new one. The project of the famous Khersifron was recognized as the best. He proposed to build a temple of marble, and according to the then rare principle of the Ionic dipter, that is, to surround it with two rows of marble columns.
The sad experience of the previous construction in Ephesus made the architect think about how to ensure the temple a long life. The decision was bold and non-standard: to put the temple in a swamp by the river. Hersifron reasoned that soft marshy soil would serve as a shock absorber for future earthquakes. And so that the marble colossus would not sink into the ground under its weight, a deep pit was dug, which was filled with a mixture of charcoal and wool - a pillow several meters thick. This pillow really justified the architect's hopes and ensured the durability of the temple. True, not this, but another ...
Obviously, the construction of the temple was a complete engineering puzzle, as there is information in ancient sources. Not to mention the calculations that had to be made in order to be sure of such an unorthodox foundation, it was necessary to solve, for example, the problem of delivering multi-ton columns through the swamp. What wagons the builders did not design, under the weight of the load, they inexorably bogged down. Hersifron found an ingeniously simple solution. Metal rods were driven into the ends of the column shafts, and wooden bushings were put on them, from which shafts went to the bulls. The columns turned into rollers, wheels obediently rolling behind teams of dozens of pairs of bulls. How it was decorated, what statues stood in it and what frescoes and paintings there were, what the statue of Artemis itself looked like, we do not know. And it is better not to believe those authors who describe in detail the decoration of the temple, its carved columns created by the wonderful sculptor Skopas, the statue of Artemis, and so on. This has nothing to do with the described temple. Everything that Hersiphron and his successors did disappeared because of Herostratus.
The story of Herostratus is perhaps one of the most instructive parables in the history of our planet. A man, unremarkable, decides to achieve immortality by committing a crime that no one else has ever committed (at least if you consider that Herostratus did without the help of the army, priests, coercion apparatus and executioners). It is for the sake of glory, for the sake of immortality, that he burns the temple of Artemis, which stood for less than a hundred years. This happened in 356 BC. By the way, it was on the day when Alexander the Great was born.
The wooden parts of the temple, dried by the sun, stocks of grain dumped in its cellars, offerings, paintings and clothes of the priests - all this turned out to be excellent food for the fire. Ceiling beams burst with a crash, columns fell, splitting, and the temple ceased to exist.
And now the compatriots of Herostratus face a problem: what terrible execution to invent a scoundrel, so that no one else has a similar idea?
Perhaps, if the Ephesians had not been gifted with a rich imagination, if there had not been philosophers and poets there who puzzled over this problem and felt responsible to future generations, Herostratus would have been executed, and that would be the end of it. For a few more years, the townsfolk would have said: “There was a madman who burned down our beautiful temple ... only what was his name, God forbid memory ...” And we would have forgotten Herostratus.
But the Ephesians decided to put an end to the claims of Herostratus with one blow and made a tragic mistake. They decided to forget Herostratus. Not to mention his name anywhere and never - to punish with oblivion a person who dreamed of immortal glory.
The gods laughed at the wise Ephesians. All over Ionia, in Hellas, in Egypt, in Persia - everywhere people said: “Do you know what an amazing execution they came up with in Ephesus for this arsonist? He will now be forgotten forever. Nobody will know his name. And by the way, what was his name? Yes, we will definitely forget this Herostratus."
And, of course, they didn't forget. And the Ephesians decided to build the temple again. This temple was recognized as a wonder of the world, although, perhaps, the first one built by Hersiphon had more grounds for this title. Inside, the temple was decorated with wonderful statues by Praxiteles and Skopas, but the paintings of this temple were even more magnificent.
In our imagination, Greek ancient art is first of all sculpture, then architecture. But Greek painting, with the exception of a few frescoes, we almost do not know. But painting existed, was widespread, highly valued by contemporaries and, according to the opinions of connoisseurs, who cannot be suspected of ignorance, often surpassed sculpture. It can be assumed that the painting of Hellas and Ionia, which has not survived to this day, is one of the biggest and bitter losses that world art had to suffer. The calculations of the architects who built the temple in the swamp turned out to be accurate. The temple stood for another half a millennium. The Romans held him in high esteem and with rich gifts contributed to his fame and fortune. It is known that Vibius Salutarius donated to the temple, better known in the Roman Empire under the name of the Temple of Diana, many gold and silver statues, which were taken out to the theater for public viewing on major holidays.
The glory of the temple was largely the cause of its death during early Christianity. Ephesus remained a stronghold of the pagans for a long time: Artemis did not want to yield glory and wealth to the new god. It is said that the Ephesians expelled the Apostle Paul and his supporters from their city. Such sins could not go unpunished. The new god sent Goths to Ephesus, who plundered the sanctuary of Artemis in 263. The growing Christianity continued to hate the deserted temple. Preachers raised crowds of fanatics against this personification of the past, but the temple still stood.
When Ephesus fell under the rule of Christian Byzantium, the next stage of its death began. Marble cladding from it began to be taken away to different buildings, the roof was also dismantled, the unity of the structure was violated. And when the columns began to fall, their fragments were sucked in by the same swamp that saved the temple from destruction earlier. And a few decades later, under the slurry and sediments of the river, the last traces of the best temple of Ionia were hidden. Even the place where he stood was gradually forgotten.
It took the English archaeologist Voodoo many months to find traces of the temple. October 31, 1869 he was lucky. The foundation of the temple was completely uncovered only in our century. And under it are the traces of the temple burned by Herostratus.
