The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, also known as the Temple of Diana, was an ancient temple at Ephesus dedicated to Artemis (Diana), the Greco-Roman goddess of nature, fertility, and the hunt.. Its origins are unknown, but the earliest known version was destroyed by a flood in the seventh century B. C. The "Wonder" version was built beginning around 550 B. C. and ending around 430 B. C. Excavations from before World War I have found three temples under each other at the site of the Wonder, and later excavations confirmed it.
Ephesus has been occupied since the Bronze Age, and a sequence of pottery finds show that there was a peripteral temple in the later half of the eighth century B. C. It was destroyed by Croesus of Lydia around 550 B. C., but he ordered the construction of a new temple. The temple was 377 ft. (115 m.) long and 180 ft. (55 m.) wide, making it three times as long as the Parthenon. It had 127 Ionic columns, each 60 ft. (18 m.) high. It was made of marble, the arch-typical Greco-Roman building material, and its columns formed a ceremonial passageway around the inner chamber. Famous sculptors beautified it, including Scopas. A new ebony statue was built by Endoios, and a naiskos for it was erected east of the alter.
The Temple was destroyed by a man named Herostratus on July 21, 356 B. C. Herostratus was a fame-seeker who decided that the best way to become famous was to destroy the Temple and proclaim that it was him. The Ephesians executed him and condemned him to "damnatio memoriae," or "damnation of memory," erasing all mention of his name. How well they succeeded need not be mentioned. The Temple was eventually restored after the death of Alexander the Great. It was later destroyed in A. D. 262 by the Thervengi Goths but was restored. It was destroyed for the last time in 401 by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom and some of its ruins were used in the Hagia Sophia. It was rediscovered in 1869 by John Turtle Wood and excavated for ten years. From 1904 - 6 D. G. Hogarth continued the excavations.
