H. A. White. DIAMOND.— See Stones (Precious).
DIANA OF THE EPHESIANS is the Latinized rendering of the name Artemis {'Apreius tCiv 'E(p(aiai'), by which the Greeks designated a
foddess whose sanctuary was situated close to IphesuB. The situation and splendour of the temple, and the part that the sanctuary and its priests played in the history of the city, through the influence of the conservative anti-Greek parly, which favoured the interests of the temple and the power of the goddess, are described under Ephesus. The goddess, who had her seat in the rich valley near the mouth of the Cayster long before Gr. colonists had set foot on the Asian coast, had little in common with the chaste virgin goddess Artemis of Greek poetry and mythology. She Avas the impersonation of the vitality and power of nature, of the reproductive power which Keeps up the race of man and animals in an un- broken series of oll'spring, and of the nourishing power by which the earth tenders to the use of mail and animals all that they require to keep them in life. She was worshipped, with almost complete identity of character and image, over the whole of Lydia ; and the Lydian Artemis prcsenta such close analogies with the Phrygian Cybele, and with other feminine envisagements of the divine power in Asiatic countries, like the Cappadocian Ma, the Phccnician A.starto or Ash- taroth, the Syrian Atarg.atis and Mylitta, as to suggest that these are all mere varieties of one ultimate religious conception, presenting in dill'erent countries certain dillerences, due to varying develop- ment according to local circumstances and national character. The old hypothesis that this wide- spread similarity was due to I'hicn. colonists, wlio carried their own goddess with them to new lands, is now discredited : there is no evidence that Phoenicians ever si ttled in the Cayster Volley, still less in other parts >f Lydia.
The Kphesian goddess was represented by a rude idol, which was said to have fallen from heaven (Ac 19"") — a tradition which attached to many sacred and rude old statues, such as that of Cybele at Pessinus (said to be merely a shapeless stone), Athena Polias on the Athenian Acropolis, etc. In the representation which is familiar to
• In this place the rendering • which fell down from Jupiter ' (AY and U\ ) tri^ e8 a wron^ iniprewion : the word ittynrtZt merely indicates that the image waa helieved to have fallen from the cleftr sky. In Kuhp. I ph. T. t>77, 13S4, «u^»«u virtjiMi is ^ven tfl the equivalent and explanation of iivwtrlt kyeiXij.^.
US from coins, statues, and statuettes, the goddess appears as a standing idol, in shape partly human ; the upper part of the body in front is covered with rows of breasts (symbolizing her function as the nourishing mother of all life) ; the lower part is merely an upright block, without distinction of le;js or feet, covered with symbols and figures of animals ; the arms from below the elbows are extended on each side, and the hands are supported by props ; the head is surmounted either by a lofty ornament, polos, or by a mural crown, and something like a heavy veil hangs on each side of the face down to the shoulders ; the ligure stands on a peculiarly shaped pedestal, gener- ally low on coins, out sometimes high ; frequently stags accompany the goddess, one on each side. A similar representation of the native goddess is found very widely both in Lydia and in Phrygia. The Gr. colonists in Ephesus identified this Oriental deity with their own Artemis, on account of certain analogies between them ; they represented her on their coins in the Gr. character, and intro- duced some of the Gr. mythology of the twins Artemis and Apollo ; but they never succeeded in really aflectiug tlie cultus, which remained always purely Asian and non-Greek. The chief priest bore the Persian title lilegabyzos, and in earlier time he had to be a eunuch ; but Strabo seems perhaps to imply that this condition was no longer required, when he was writing (about A.D. 19). Some authorities think that there was a body of Mega- byzoi in the ritual ; but Canon Hicks seems rightly to argue that the title was appropriated to the single chief priest, who represented the divine associate of the goddess, Attis or Atys, whom she herself mutilated. A large body of priestesses were under his authority, divided into three classes (Plutarch, Anseni sit per. resp. p. 795, § 24), called MeOierai, Hierai, and Parierai ; and accord- ing to Strabo they originally had to be virgins. Some authorities seem to apply the name Melissai, ' Bees,' to them ; and the bee is the most charac- teristic type on earlier Gr. coins of Ephesus. A single priestess {Upaa) is mentioned in inscriptions, who was probably the head of the cultus and represcntativa of the goddess.
There was also a body of priests (some wrongly say a single high priest), to whom was given tlie title Essenes. The Essenes were appointed for a year only (Paus. viii. 13. 1) ; and they seem to have been othcials at once of the city and of the sar.ctu- ary, for they allotted new citizens to their proper tribe and division, sacrificed to the go<ldess on behalf of the city, and seem in general to have guarded the relations between the State and the goddess. Various other bodies of ministers at- tended the sanctuary, such as the Kouretes, the Akrohatai, the Hieroi, whose nature and duties are obscure (the first two, perhaps, colleges similar to the modern dervishes, the la.st a Greek form of hierodouloi). There can be no doubt that the ritual was of an orgiastic type, and accompanied with ceremonial prostitution and other abominations : traces of the ritual and its accomi>animents are collected in the works on Eiihesus (which see) ; the Lydian ritual of the Mysteries, which are mentioned at Ephesus in inscriptions (Hicks, p. 147, CIG 30U2 ; Strabo, p. (JIO), a.-* well as in many other cities, is described in Cities and Bishoprics of Phri/<jiir (Ramsay), i. p. 91 11'., and the general character of the religion in Lyd. et le Monde Grec. (Radet), p. 2(il If.