Bronze Coins of Ephesus.
5. The Asiarchs. — Public games were connected with the worship of Diana at Ephesus. The month
EPHESUS
244
EPHESUS
of May was sacred to her. The uproar mentioned in the Acts very probably took place at this season. Paul was certainly at Epliesus about that time of the year (1 Cor. xvi, 8), and Demetrius niisht well be peculiar- ly sensitive if he found his trade failing at the time of greatest concourse. However this may be, the Asi- archs (Amdpxai, A. V. "chiefs of Asia") were pres- ent (Acts xix, 31). These were officers appointed, after the manner of the wdiles at Rome, to preside over tilt? games which were held in different parts of the province of Asia, just as otlier provinces had their Galatnrchs, Lyciarchs, etc. Various cities would re- quire the presence of these officers in turn. In the account of Polycarp's martyrdom at Smyrna (Hefele, Pat. Aposf. p. 28G) an important part is played by the Asiarch Philip. It is a remarkable proof of the influ- ence -which Paul had gained at I'.phesus that the asi- archs took his side in the disturbance. See Dr. Words- worth's note on Acts xix, 31. Comp. Asiarch.
6. Religion. — Conspicuous at the head of the harbor of Ephesus was the great temple of Diana or Artemis, the tutelary divinity of the city. She was worshipped under the name of Artemis. There was more than one : divinity which went by the name of Artemis, as the : Arcadian Artemis, the Taurian Artemis, as well as the Ephesian Artemis. (See Dougtaji Analect. ii, 91; Miinter, Relig. d. Karthag. p. 53.) Her worship in this instance was said to have originated in an image that fell from heaven (f lOTTfric, Acts xix, 35 ; comp. Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 14 ; Wetstein in loc), and believed to have been an object of reverence from the earliest times (Plinj', xvi, 79). The material of which it was composed is disputed, whether ebony, cedar, or other- wise (see Spanheim, ad Callim. Dian. ver. 239). She was represented as many-breasted (jzoKi'iiaaTOQ, viul- timamia, see Gronovii Thesaur. vii ; Zorn, Biblioth. Antiq. i, 439 sq. ; Creuzer, Symbol, ii, 176 sq.), al- though different explanations are given of her ligure in this respect. The following is the description given \)\ Mr. Falkener (Ephesus, p. 290, 291) of an antique statue of the Ephesian Diana now in the Naples Mu- seum : " The circle round her head denotes the nimbus of her glory ; the griffins inside of which express its brillian- cy. In her breast are the twelve signs of the zodiac, of which those seen in front are the ram, bull, twins, crab, and lion ; they are divided by the hours. Her necklace is composed of acorns, the primeval food of man. L;ons are on her arms to denote her power, and her hands are stretched out to show that she is ready to receive all who come to her. Her body is covered with various beasts and monsters, as si- rens, sphinxes, and griffins, to sliow she is the source of nature, tlie mollier of all thnigs. Her head, hands, and feet are of bronze, while the rest of the statue is of al- abaster, to denote the ever- varj'ing light and shade of the moon's figure. . . . Like , i;hea, she was crowned with turrets, to denote her domin- i(m over terrestrial objects." It will be seen, from the figure given, that this last differed materially from the Diana, sister of Apollo, whose attributes are the bow, the quivef, the girt-up robe, and the hound ; whose person is a model of fem-
inine strength, ease, and grace, and whose delights were in the pursuits of the chase. See Diana.
Around the image of the goddess was erected, ac- cording to Callimachus {Hymn, in Dian. 248), her large and splendid temple. This building was raised (about B.C. 500) on immense substructions, in consequence of the swampy nature of the ground. The earlier temple, which had been begun before the Persian war, was burnt down in the niglit when Alexander the Great was born (B.C. 355), by an obscure person of the name of Eratostratus, who thus sought to transmit his name to posterity (Strabo, xiv, 640 ; Plutarch, Alex. 3 ; Solin, 43 ; Cicero, De Nat. Dear, ii, 27) ; and, as it seemed somewhat unaccountable that the goddess should permit a place which redounded so much to her honor to be thus recklessly destroyed, it was given out that Diana was so engaged with Ol3'mpias in aid- ing to bring Alexander into the world that she had no time nor thought for any other concern. At a sub- sequent period Alexander made an offer to rebuild the temple, provided he were allowed to inscribe his name on the front, which the Ephesians refused. Aided, however, by the whole of Asia Minor, they succeeded in erecting a still more magnificent temple, which the ancients have lavishly praised and placed among the seven wonders of the world. It took two hundred and twent}^ j-ears to complete. Pliny {Hist. Nat. xxxvi, 21), who has given a description of it, says it was 425 feet in length, 220 broad, and supported by 127 columns, each of which had been contributed by some prince, and were 60 feet high ; 36 of them were richly carved. Chersiphron, the architect, presided over the under- taking, and, being ready to lay violent hands on him- self in consequence of his difficulties, was restrained by the connnand of the goddess, who appeared to him during the night, assuring him that she herself had accomplished that which had brouglit him to despair. The altar was the work of Praxiteles. The famous sculptor Scopas is said by Pliny to have chiselled one of the columns. Apelles, a native of the city, contrib-