I am now in Turkey, but apparently I will not reach one of the Wonders of the World - the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus. It's a pity. I would like to.
It remains only to read more about this …
Not far from the shores of the Aegean Sea are the ruins of Sardis, an ancient city that was once the capital of Lydia. To date, archaeological scientists are actively conducting excavations in this area. So far, they cannot name the exact date of the founding of the city of Sardis - no information about this has yet been discovered.
It is only known that the capital of Lydia, the city of Sardis was approximately in 680-547 BC. Among the most famous rulers of Lydia, King Croesus is remembered first of all, who ruled there in 563-546 BC. He left his noticeable mark in history not only thanks to his innumerable wealth, but also because it was he who gave the order for the minting of the first coins in Lydia. An old legend says that the presence of gold dust in the Pactola River (the city of Sardis stood on it at that time) can be explained by the fact that once upon a time the mythical king Midas washed his palms in it.
Even untold wealth could not save King Croesus. His fate was very sad - during the conquest of Sardis by the troops of Cyrus II, King Lydia Croesus was burned alive at the stake. In 334 BC, the city of Sardis was conquered by the troops of Alexander the Great, then the Romans conquered it. It was during their reign that the Sardis finally acquired the status of a metropolis. For many centuries the city of Sardis has always been a very important commercial and cultural center.
As a rule, people go to Sardis to see the ruins of the Temple of Artemis in Sardis - the largest ancient sanctuary in Asia Minor. It looked like the famous "wonder of the world" - the temple of Artemis of Ephesus, which is better known to the general public. Its likeness in the rarely visited Sardis can be seen even now, if not entirely, but at least in the form of very impressive ruins.
In fact, both temples, in Ephesus and in Sardis, were originally intended for the Anatolian goddess Cybele, and only under the influence of the Greeks, these sanctuaries were dedicated to the Greek Artemis, and in Sardis they went even further and reformatted the temple into a place of worship for the Roman emperor Antoninin Pius (138-161) and his wife.
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Cybele was the main Phrygian deity, so the popularity of her cult in Lydia and Ionia (in Ephesus) testified to the spread of Phrygian culture throughout Asia Minor. Or, it can be assumed that initially the all-Anatolian cult of the Great Mother manifested itself similarly throughout western Asia Minor.
The service of the Great Mother demanded great sacrifices from her priests - they were all eunuchs-eunuchs. Often the priests of Cybele deprived themselves of their male accessories even on their own, but the majority became eunuchs in their youth. Eunuchs in the East almost everywhere occupied an important position in society and their number was large, they were in charge of not only religion, but often, and administration.
The cult of Cybele demanded orgiastic rituals, in which not only eunuchs participated, but also women - temple prostitutes, the number of which was also very significant, "sacred prostitution" brought significant incomes to the temples. The number of prostitutes in Sardis and their financial capabilities is indirectly evidenced by the size of the burial mound of the Lydian king Aliattus (the story about him will be later) - this is the largest mound on the globe, its height is 70 m, and its diameter is 355 m. According to Herodotus this mound was created by the efforts of the prostitutes of the city of Sarda, the Greeks called it - the mound of debauchery. Although, it is known that they could lie, so they always disliked the Lydians.
After the conquest of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great in the 4th century. BC. on the site of the temple of the Phrygian goddess, a larger temple in the Greek style was erected. It was a classic antique peripter. Anatolian Cybele turned into Artemis, however, there is every reason to believe that the essence of the divine services in the temple has changed little, since the cult of Artemis, the goddess of hunting and fertility, was similar to the cult of the Mother of the Gods, so it can be assumed that the same were held in the new temple. sacraments”, as in the temple of the times of the Lydian kings.
The Temple of Artemis in Sardis has become one of the largest ancient temples, its length is 100 m, it is 1.5 times larger than the Athenian Parthenon. It was built for a very long time, the beginning of the temple was laid by one of the Seleucids, and then the construction continued for centuries. In 17 A. D. the temple, like the whole city, was badly damaged by the earthquake, perhaps the Romans, the then rulers of Sardis, had to completely rebuild it. Moreover, the temple was intended to glorify the cult of the Roman emperors, archaeologists have found here two colossal statues - the emperor Antoninus Pius and his wife Faustina (2nd century AD).
It is interesting that all such sanctuaries of Artemis in Asia Minor were built outside the city walls and did not have their own defensive walls either. At the same time, these institutions were fantastically rich and simply burst with gold and valuable gifts - and no protection.
This incredible fact can testify to several things at once, firstly, that the ancients truly believed that the Great Goddess was able to protect her temples herself, and by the way, not only the premises itself with its riches, for example, it is known that such a temple Artemis in Ephesus served as a refuge for all kinds of persecuted people: debtors, fugitive slaves - any unarmed person received immunity on the territory of the temple.
And secondly, another important fact flowed from this state of affairs - since now we are all rationalists and do not really believe in an omnipotent goddess, but it is also very wrong to consider the ancient simpletons, it can be assumed that, indeed, there were some factors that protected wealth similar temples and not only them. Most likely, the living conditions of the ancient Greeks and Lydians were such that they had no one to defend against … They all had their own - both the Lydians and the Greeks had similar beliefs, and somewhat similar culture, and this situation lasted a very long time, by the way, similar temples were also known in Greece itself, for example, the famous sanctuary in Olympia initially did not have walls either.
Here we can conclude that the great ancient, mainly Greek, civilization was born in relatively safe conditions, and this was perhaps the most important factor in its existence - without security there would be no ancient city-states, democracy, and the whole of Europe as we know it.
Although there have been exceptions that only confirm the basic conclusion. In the 7th century. BC. the west of Asia Minor was subjected to massive raids by the Cimmerians - guests from the gloomy eastern depths, who destroyed the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, and took Sardis by attack, most likely the local temple of Cybele also suffered, and did many more unpleasant deeds - so the Greeks remembered them as immigrants from the depths of hell, and subsequently, portrayed the Cimmerians as the terrible guardians of hell living in the far north. This example well demonstrates how just a few military campaigns of "barbarians" can destroy the fragile local cultural balance …
In the 4-5 centuries. a Byzantine church was built next to the temple, which suggests that the ancient building itself was not used by Christians, and was abandoned. In any case, there was no longer a need for such a huge structure, in Byzantine times Sardis lost their former splendor.
At the same time, for the early Christians Sardis was important, it is not for nothing that this city is mentioned in the Revelation of John the Theologian:
“I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and Last that which you see, write in a book and send to the churches that are in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea"
And further:
“And write to the Angel of the Sardis Church: thus says He who has the seven spirits of God and seven stars: I know your works; you bear the name as if you are alive, but you are dead. Stay awake and affirm other things close to death; for I do not find that thy works may be perfect in the sight of my God. Remember what you have received and heard, and keep and repent. If you do not stay awake, then I will find you like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will find you. However, you have a few people in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes, and will walk with Me in white [clothes], for they are worthy."
The biblical definition of Sardis - "you bear a name as if you are alive, but you are dead", indeed, very accurately characterized the state of the city at the beginning of our era.
When the temple was discovered by European travelers, only these two columns towered above the surface of the earth, all its ruins were covered by the earth that descended from the acropolis mountain.
The Temple of Artemis in Sardis, the ancient capital of Lydia, is one of the largest buildings of the Ionic order (Fig. 243; Table 101). Its dimensions along the stylobate are 48.5 x 104.0 m. When the temple was rebuilt around 325 BC. BC, after the fire, part of the foundations and some of the columns of the sanctuary of the 5th century BC were used. e. It also underwent minor changes during the Roman era. The temple had 8 x 20 columns. He was pseudodipteral; a similar scheme was used in an Ionic temple for the first time and, perhaps, therefore, it was quite peculiarly developed along the eastern and western facades. The six-column prostrate porticoes of the cella were of considerable depth and were only one intercolumnium from the pteron columns (Fig. 243).
The spaces in front and behind the naos probably did not have overlap (Fig. 244). The columns of the spacious portico stood on square plinths, between which there were steps. The middle span was much wider than the others, and they all gradually narrowed towards the corners. The column bases were excellently cut (Table 104, Fig. 3). Fragments have also been preserved, which made it possible to reconstruct the framing of the cella's huge doorway (Fig. 245).
The temple in Sardis, built over a long time, allows us to trace some change in the order. So, it is significant to compare the bases of the columns of this temple, belonging to the 5th and 4th centuries BC, as well as their comparison with the bases of other Ionic temples (Fig. 246-247 a, b, c).
The first excavations in Sardis were started in 1910 by Professor G. Butler, the head of the expedition organized at the initiative of D. Robinson. The work was carried out during several excavation seasons, including the fifth in 1914 and the sixth in 1922. The main object of the study was the large Ionic pseudo-peripteric temple of Artemis, two Ionic columns of which rose 9 m above the ground. The construction of the temple began in the 4th century. on the site of earlier structures destroyed in 546. The temple had eight columns at the ends and twenty at the sides and deep porticoes. Two columns of the eastern portico, 18 m high, have survived in their entirety, and thirteen more - at half their original height. The two columns have bases, most likely in imitation of those of Ephesus. One capital and one base are now in the Metropolitan Museum, which also houses several Lydian vases,terracotta masks and sculptures, painted terracotta architectural slabs with molded reliefs, roof tiles and several Lydian inscriptions. The Lydians were the first to invent rhyme. The bilingual inscription - in Lydian and Greek - indicates that the name "Bacchus" is of Lydian origin. Many Lydian words have been identified, but the complete Lydian texts have not yet been read.