"Then they [the Amazons] turned to Ionia and Aeolia, and made provinces of them after their surrender. Here they ruled for some time and even founded cities and camps bearing their name. At Ephesus also they built a very costly and beautiful temple for Diana, because of her delight in archery and the chase--arts to which they were themselves devoted."
Jordanes, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths (VII.51)
This silver cistophoric tetradrachm is from the early reign of Claudius and was issued in Asia. It depicts the decorated tympanum of the temple pediment, which was pierced by three openings or windows, by which the goddess may have been displayed. It may be, too, that the figures shown on the pediment are the bronze statues of the Amazons.
The pediment exists only in fragments. But there also was a Temple of Artemis at nearby Magnesia on the Meander, and another coin, issued there by Hadrian, shows similar rectangles. The frames and cornices of those openings do survive and confirm that the same openings must have appeared on the temple at Ephesus. It is numismatic evidence such as this that provides the means to reconstruct such architectural features.
Obv. TI CLAVD CAES AVG bare head of Claudius left; Rev. DIAN EPHE, Statue of Diana of Ephesus standing facing within a tetrastyle temple. Reference: RIC I 118, BMC 229, RSC 30
In AD 57, the apostle Paul was obliged to leave Ephesus.
"About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together, with the workermen of like occupation, and said, 'Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. And you see and hear that not only at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may count for nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.' When they heard this they were enraged and cried out, 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!' So the city was filled with the confusion; and they rushed together into the theater....for about two hours they all with one voice cried out, 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!' And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, 'Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky?'"
Acts of the Apostles, 19:23-29, 34-35
Reference: Classical Numismatic Group (5/2001) Item 725624.
