The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

The Temple of Artemis, also known less precisely as Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to a goddess of Greek identified as Artemis that was completed in its most famous phase around 550 BC at Ephesus (in present-day Turkey). Although the monument was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World only foundations and sculptural fragments of the temple are remained today. There were previously other temples on this site where evidence of a sanctuary dates mentioned are as early as the Bronze Age. The whole temple was made of marble except for the roof.The temple antedated the Ionic immigration by many years. Callimachus, in his Hymn to Artemis, attributed the origin of the Temenos at Ephesus to the Amazons whose worship was based upon imagination, already centered upon an image. In the seventh century the old temple was destroyed by a flood. The construction of the “new” temple which accept was to be known as one of the wonders of the ancient world began around 550 BC. It was a 120-year project, initially designed and built by the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Mutagens, at the expense of Croesus of Lydia