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Bright Sun
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One of the Seven
Wonders of the World in
ancient times, the Temple
of Artemis (Artemision) at Ephesus was
a famous place of pilgrimage for
centuries.
Anatolia has
always had a fertility goddess: Mita to
the Phrygians, Cybele (or
Kybele) to many other Anatolian peoples, Artemis to
the Greeks and Diana to
the Romans.
Unfortunately little remains of
the vast, rich marble temple: only
a few bits of marble column favored
by the storks who
arrive in the nearby town of Selçuk each
spring.
There's not a lot to see, but it's
worth dropping in at the Artemision
ruins on the 3-km (2-mile, 30-minute)
walk from Selçuk to
the Ephesus
archeological site along shady Dr
Sabri Yayla Boulevard.
Imagine a vast marble temple with
lissome sacred maidens doing ancient belly
dances....
When St Paul gave
his famous sermon in the Great
Theater at Ephesus, he was
accused by the city's silversmiths of
being disrespectful to Artemis.
Actually, they were upset because
St Paul's efforts to win converts to
Christianity were making it more difficult
to sell silver statuettes of
Artemis to visiting pilgrims. Paul
ruined their business, so they eventually
succeeded in driving him out of Ephesus.
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The few remaining
bits of the Artemision,
with stork in
residence atop the tall column.
In the background, Selçuk's St
John Basilica.
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