The sacred site at Ephesus was far older than the Artemision. Pausanias understood the shrine of Artemis there to be very ancient. He states with certainty that it antedated the Ionic immigration by many years, being older even than the oracular shrine of Apollo at Didyma. He said that the pre-Ionic inhabitants of the city were Leleges and Lydians. Callimachus, in his Hymn to Artemis, attributed the origin of the temenos at Ephesus to the Amazons, whose worship he imagines already centered upon an image {bretas).

Pre-World War I excavations by D.G. Hogarth,[7] who identified three successive temples overlying one another on the site, and corrective re-excavations in 1987-88[8] have confirmed Pausanias' report.

Test holes have confirmed the site was occupied as early as the Bronze Age, with a sequence of pottery finds that extend forward to Middle Geometric times, when the clay-floored peripteral temple was constructed, in the second half of the eighth century B.C.[9] The peripteral temple at Ephesus was the earliest example of a peripteral type on the coast of Asia Minor, and perhaps the earliest Greek temple surrounded by colonnades.

In the seventh century, a flood destroyed the temple, depositing over half a meter of sand and scattering flotsam over the former floor of hard-packed clay. In the flood debris were the remains of a carved ivory plaque of a griffon and the Tree of Life, apparently North Syrian. More importantly, flood deposits buried in place a hoard against the north wall that included drilled amber tear-shaped drops with elliptical cross-sections, which had once dressed the wooden effigy of the Lady of Ephesus; the xoanon must have been destroyed in the flood. Bammer notes that though the flood-prone site was raised about two metres between the eighth and sixth centuries, and a further 2.4 m between the sixth and the fourth, the site was retained: "this indicates that maintaining the identity of the actual location played an important role in the sacred organization" (Bammer 1990:144).

The new temple, now built of marble, with its peripteral columns doubled to make a wide ceremonial passage round the cella, was designed and constructed around 550 BC by the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes. A new ebony or grapewood cult statue was sculpted by Endoios, and a naiskos to house it was erected east of the open-air altar.

This enriched reconstruction was built at the expense of Croesus, the wealthy king of Lydia. The rich foundation deposit of more than a thousand items has been recovered: it includes what may be the earliest coins of the silver-gold alloy, electrum. Marshy ground was selected for the building site as a precaution against future earthquakes, according to Pliny the Elder.[12] The temple became a tourist attraction, visited by merchants, kings, and sightseers, many of whom paid homage to Artemis in the form of jewelry and various goods. Its splendor also attracted many worshipers, many of whom formed the cult of Artemis.

Croesus' temple was a widely respected place of refuge, a tradition that was linked in myth with the Amazons who took refuge there, both from Heracles and from Dionysus.

Reconstructed Plan of the Tower and its Surrounding.

Crane Estate - Ipswich, Massachusetts - A castle influenced stone tower and walls surround the lawn and gardens as the sun starts to go down on an overcast day. The image was captured on analog black and white film.

Wooden gilded bier under the outer coffin, resting on the bottom of the sarcophagus

Heavy wooden bed-shaped bier, gesso gilt, having within outer framework an imitation webbing. On the front two heads of lions, on the back tails of lions; the legs, in like manner, represent the fore and hind feet of a lion. The head is of concave form to fit and receive the convex bottom of the anthropoid outer coffin. The under part of the imitation mesh webbing is varnished with black resin.

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Babylon: Its Coming Destruction!

by N. W. Hutchings

"The Entrance of Alexander the Great into Babylon"

The ancient agora ruins at Aphrodisias Turkey

Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,

Joshua 21:13 King James Version

role.bandcamp.com/album/per-lomicida

A lookout point over Saint Pauls Bay overs a fantastic view of the bay and the Lindos acropolis. The citadel was fortified successively by the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Knights of St John and the Ottomans.

Jon & Tina Reid | Portfolio | Blog

Crane Estate - Ipswich, Massachusetts - A castle influenced stone tower and walls surround the lawn and gardens as the sun starts to go down on an overcast day. The image was captured on analog black and white film.

the Temple of Zeus at ancient Euromos Turkey

The Roman Baths are a well-preserved thermae in the city of Bath, Somerset, England. A temple was constructed on the site between 60-70AD in the first few decades of Roman Britain. Its presence led to the development of the small Roman urban settlement known as Aquae Sulis around the site. The Roman baths—designed for public bathing

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Baths_(Bath)

the Temple of Apollo at ancient Didyma Turkey

Picture from the book "The Seven Wonders of the World" by John and Elizabeth Romer

Fruits and flowers... Waterfalls... Gardens hanging from the palace terraces... Exotic animals... This is the picture of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in most people's minds. It may be surprising to know that they might have never existed except in Greek poets and historians imagination

Location

On the east bank of the River Euphrates, about 50 km south of Baghdad, Iraq.

The ancient agora ruins at Aphrodisias Turkey

These female figures, dressed in long, richly pleated cloaks with intricate hairstyles or delicate hats, show us the elegant ladies of Alexandria. Sculpted by local artisans throughout the 3rd century BC, some still retaining vivid colours, they were discovered in tombs of the city's necropolis. Some carry a child, others play instruments, while others still, less elegant, lift their skirts and expose themselves. They were 'dolls of death' which accompanied the deceased to the other word.

The Tanagra figurines were a mould-cast type of Greek terracotta figurines, named after the Boeotian town of Tanagra, where many were excavated and which has given its name to the whole class. However, they were produced in many other Mediterranean sites, including Alexandria, Tarentum in Magna Graecia, Centuripe in Sicily and Myrina in Mysia.

Although not portraits, Tanagra figures depict real women—and some men and boys—in elegant but everyday costumes, with familiar accessories like hats, wreaths or fans.

3rd century BC

Graeco-Roman Museum

Alexandria, Egypt

This head was created for insertion onto a now missing body. The sitter is represented as a mature woman whose face is modelled in broad planes with the slightest hint of nasolabial furrows impressed into her somewhat corpulent features dominated by a prominent nose and a projecting chin, clearly discernable in the profile views. Her almond-shaped eyes with pronounced upper lids are unarticulated and exhibit neither plastically rendered pupils nor indications of their irises. These are set into sockets with their eyebrows designed as plastically raised, incised planes.

Several scholars have attempted to identify this image as a portrait of Domitia, the wife of the Roman emperor Domitian, based on both the countenance of the face and the hairstyle. Others have challenged this identification because the bust was discovered in a private tomb which suggests it represents a citizen of Alexandria. This suggestion is countered by the observation that the bust's presence in a private Alexandrian tomb may represent a homage to the deified Domitia. Although the hairstyle is associated with female members of the Roman Flavian family, it gained currency later, adopting the chronology proposed for the Fayum portraits of women so coiffed. It took a while for the fashion popular in Rome to establish itself in Alexandria. Since this was the case, the most prudent interpretation is that the bust represents an Alexandrian woman and was created in the first quarter of the 2nd century CE and is contemporary in date with similarly coiffed women portrayed in the Fayum portraits.

White Marble

Provenance Kom el-Shoqafa

Inv. 3516

Graeco-Roman Museum

Alexandria Egypt

"The Entrance of Alexander the Great into Babylon"

From Panoramio

US forces were criticised for building a helipad on ancient Babylonian ruins following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, under the command of General James T. Conway of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. The vibrations from helicopter landings led a nearby Babylonian structure to collapse.

US forces have occupied the site for some time and have caused damage to the archaeological record. In a report of the British Museum's Near East department, Dr. John Curtis describes how parts of the archaeological site were levelled to create a landing area for helicopters, and parking lots for heavy vehicles. Curtis wrote that the occupation forces

"caused substantial damage to the Ishtar Gate, one of the most famous monuments from antiquity [...] US military vehicles crushed 2,600-year-old brick pavements, archaeological fragments were scattered across the site, more than 12 trenches were driven into ancient deposits and military earth-moving projects contaminated the site for future generations of scientists [...] Add to all that the damage caused to nine of the moulded brick figures of dragons in the Ishtar Gate by soldiers trying to remove the bricks from the wall."

The head of the Iraqi State Board for Heritage and Antiquities, Donny George, said that the "mess will take decades to sort out". Colonel Coleman issued an apology for the damage done by military personnel under his command in April 2006, and claimed that they were protecting the site from looters of the strife that filled the streets of Iraq's major cities following the US invasion.

"Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?" The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, "This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you." Daniel 4:30-31

The Biblical Argument for the Rebuilding of Babylon

An aerial view of Babylon showing the reconstructed Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, with adjacent helipad (at the top, between the palace and the lake) and trailers for military housing (PHOTO Martin Bailey January 25, 2005)

www.albionmonitor.com/0510a/iraqheritage.html

Some 90 kilometres to the south of modern Bagdhad lie the ruins of ancient Babylon, the original name of which, "bab-ili", may be translated as "the Gate of the Gods". For the world at large Babylon ranks as one of the most famous cities of antiquity, renowned alike for its refinement, beauty and magnificence. As a centre of culture and government it flourished for about fifteen centuries, from the arrival of the Amorites ca. 1850 B.C. down to Alexander the Great, who died there in 322 B.C. One of the best known of the city's early rulers was the great law-giver, Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.).

In classical times the city walls of Babylon were spoken of with admiration and astonishment, while her "Hanging Gardens" were accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-563 B.C.) Babylon was extensively re-built on an altogether magnificent scale, the city becoming at this period both the most beautiful and the most prosperous of the ancient world. Bisected from north to south by the river Euphrates, the city was surrounded by a moat and by two massive walls, the outer being about 16 kilometres in length, the inner about 8 kilometres. Within the inner city wall were brick- and bitumen-paved Thoroughfares and imposing buildings, of which numerous traces and ruins may still be seen by the visitor today. In particular there is part of Babylon's great Procession Street which passes through the Ishtar Gate and on towards the site of the city's huge staged temple tower or "Ziggurat". On one side of the Procession Street are the ruins of the South Palace (300 x 190 metres) amongst which are to be found those of the famous "Hanging Gardens" mentioned above. To the north of the South Palace are the ruins of the Principal Gate, the broken walls of which consist of baked bricks laid with gypsum mortar. Also within the circuit of the inner wall and surrounded by residential buildings are the temples of Marduk, Ishtar, Gula and Ninurta.

For the past two thousand years the ancient buildings of Babylon have been extensively quarried for their excellent baked bricks. Thus, what survives today is generally only the lower courses of the walls or simply their foundations. Moreover, what survives is threatened by salt and the high local water table. Action is urgentls required to rescue these ruins.

Fotunately there already exist plans and reconstructed drawings on many of Babylon's principal buildings, even some of which little now remains but their foundations. These plans and drawings were made by German archaeologists who dedicated some seventeen years to the excavation of Babylon before the First World War.

As the product of fifteen centuries of human toil and endeavour Babylon belongs to all people and to all nations. Visitors from all over the world are anxious that something should be done to further the restorations and reconstruction of babylon's principal buildings, so that the city's former grandeur may be better appreciated. It is appropriate, we feel, that all countries should assist in this work, not only in recognition of Babylons' great place in history, but also in recognition of her great cultural importance for everyone.

Link: www.culture-iraq.com/pages/babylon.html

From Panoramio

Babylon

This booklet is the first in a series which has been published in 1982 by the Iraq Government on the preservation and restoration of the monuments of Babylon.

Some 90 kilometres to the south of modern Bagdhad lie the ruins of ancient Babylon, the original name of which, "bab-ili", may be translated as "the Gate of the Gods". For the world at large Babylon ranks as one of the most famous cities of antiquity, renowned alike for its refinement, beauty and magnificence. As a centre of culture and government it flourished for about fifteen centuries, from the arrival of the Amorites ca. 1850 B.C. down to Alexander the Great, who died there in 322 B.C. One of the best known of the city's early rulers was the great law-giver, Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.).

In classical times the city walls of Babylon were spoken of with admiration and astonishment, while her "Hanging Gardens" were accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-563 B.C.) Babylon was extensively re-built on an altogether magnificent scale, the city becoming at this period both the most beautiful and the most prosperous of the ancient world. Bisected from north to south by the river Euphrates, the city was surrounded by a moat and by two massive walls, the outer being about 16 kilometres in length, the inner about 8 kilometres. Within the inner city wall were brick- and bitumen-paved Thoroughfares and imposing buildings, of which numerous traces and ruins may still be seen by the visitor today. In particular there is part of Babylon's great Procession Street which passes through the Ishtar Gate and on towards the site of the city's huge staged temple tower or "Ziggurat". On one side of the Procession Street are the ruins of the South Palace (300 x 190 metres) amongst which are to be found those of the famous "Hanging Gardens" mentioned above. To the north of the South Palace are the ruins of the Principal Gate, the broken walls of which consist of baked bricks laid with gypsum mortar. Also within the circuit of the inner wall and surrounded by residential buildings are the temples of Marduk, Ishtar, Gula and Ninurta.

For the past two thousand years the ancient buildings of Babylon have been extensively quarried for their excellent baked bricks. Thus, what survives today is generally only the lower courses of the walls or simply their foundations. Moreover, what survives is threatened by salt and the high local water table. Action is urgentls required to rescue these ruins.

Fotunately there already exist plans and reconstructed drawings on many of Babylon's principal buildings, even some of which little now remains but their foundations. These plans and drawings were made by German archaeologists who dedicated some seventeen years to the excavation of Babylon before the First World War.

As the product of fifteen centuries of human toil and endeavour Babylon belongs to all people and to all nations. Visitors from all over the world are anxious that something should be done to further the restorations and reconstruction of babylon's principal buildings, so that the city's former grandeur may be better appreciated. It is appropriate, we feel, that all countries should assist in this work, not only in recognition of Babylons' great place in history, but also in recognition of her great cultural importance for everyone.

With the blend of the handing gardens and the mysterious towered Ziggurat, Babylon has captured the imaginations of artists and ancient historians throughout the centuries. The fanciful pictures of Grecian temples with lush gardens and Ziggurats of multi-layers towers with platforms of equal size are now becoming balances with the evidence of more recent archeological excavations. Yet as Herodotus said, “Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world.” Yes it was the head of gold, in which all subsequent empires would be depicted of inferior metals.

Actually, the oldest and recognized as the most reliable historical record of the Hanging Garden came from the third century BCE annals of a Chaldean priest in Babylon called Berossus. In his book, called the ‘Babylonica’, he records with great detail the life of the ancient Babylonians which was taken from the primary source of clay cuneiform tablets more ancient than his era. His history of the city, the record of the creation myths and the Epic of Gilgamesh, the dynasties of the kings and countries they ruled over, highlight even the most reliable and accurate account of the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar.

Engineers and plumbing experts have for years been examining the remains of Babylon with wonder. To maintain the lush beauty of such garden in the hot desert atmosphere required an engineering pump system to lift the water from the Euphrates to the heights of the garden terraces.

www.theplumber.com/history.html

Basilllica Cistern - Yerebatan Sarnıcı

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It is not known exactly where these two heads came from, but there is a rumour saying that they were brought here after being removed from an antique building of the late roman period. Another mystery is about one of the Medusa's heads is upside down while the other is tilted to one side. But it is commonly accepted by scientists that they were placed in that way deliberately. If one wants to go deeper in wanting to know about the history of the mythological rumour of Medusa one can come across the following story:

It is said that Medusa was one of the three underground Gorgona Giant Sisters. Out of these three sisters only Medusa was mortal and she had the power of transforming people who looked at her into stones. It is said that in the old times, the statues and pictures of Medusa were placed in very important buildings and private places to keep them a way from bad camens.

Babylon was the capital of Babylonia, the alluvial plain between the Euphrates and Tigris. After the fall of the Assyrian empire (612 BCE), Babylon became the capital of the ancient Near East, and king Nebuchadnezzar adorned the city with several famous buildings. Even when the Babylonian Empire had been conquered by the Persian king Cyrus the Great (539), Babylon remained a splendid city. Alexander the Great and the Seleucid kings respected the city, but after the mid-second century, the city's decline started.

The Greek word 'Babylon' is a rendering of Babillu, a very old word in an unknown language. When Mesopotamia was infiltrated by people who spoke a Semitic language (Akkadians or Amorites), they recognized their own words Bâb ("gate") and ili ("gods") and concluded that this place was 'the gate of the gods'. (A similar etymology was invented for Arbela.)

The oldest building phase of Babylon can not be recovered. The city was (and the ruins are) situated on the banks of the river Euphrates, and the remains of the oldest city are below groundwater level. From written sources, however, we know that the city became important after the fall of the empire of the Third dynasty of Ur, when the Amorites had invaded the area.

In the first half of the second millennium, especially during the reign of king Hammurabi (1792-1750?), Babylon became the capital of Mesopotamia, and even though the political power of Babylonia had its ups and downs in the next millennium or so, Babylon remained the cultural capital of the ancient Near East.

One of the results was that the hitherto unimportant city god of Babylon, Marduk, gained prestige. He superseded the Sumerian supreme god Enlil, took over many of his attributes, and now became the head of the pantheon. The syncretism is expressed in the words that Marduk is "the enlil of the gods", an expression that is perhaps best translated as "president of the council of gods".

The famous temple of Marduk, Esagila, and its ziggurat, Etemenanki, were considered to be the foundation of heaven on earth. In the creation epic Enûma êliš, Babylon is the center of the universe, an idea that is also implied (or parodied?) in the Biblical account of the "tower of Babel", in which the confusion of languages is followed by people spreading all over the world out of Babylon.

The theological fact that Babylon was the center of the world, was reflected in several aspects. One of these was the New Year's Festival (Akitu), during which gods left their cities, visited Marduk, and announced their plans for the new year. Several quarters of Babylon received the name of important Babylonian cities (e.g., Eridu), as if Babylon were some sort of microcosm.

As cultural capital of the ancient Near East, even a politically powerless Babylon was an important city, which created a problem to the Assyrian kings, who conquered Babylonia in the eighth century. From Tiglath-pileser III (744-727) on, they had themselves enthroned as kings of both Assyria and Babylon: by uniting the city in a personal union with their empire, they wanted to express their respect for the Babylonian civilization, institutions, and science. However, the Babylonians revolted under Marduk-apla-iddin (703; the Biblical Merodach Baladan), and king Sennacherib sacked the city in 689 - an act of terrible impiety, because he broke the "axis" between heaven and earth. Babylon's population was deported to Nineveh and the site was left alone for some time.

Finally, king Esarhaddon (680-669) allowed the people to return. A text says that the gods had decreed the Babylon was to be in ruins for seventy years, but that they regretted their harshness, turned the tablet of destiny upside down, and allowed the people to return after eleven year (in cuneiform, the numbers 70 and 11 relate to each other as our 6 and 9).

A new model of ruling the city and its environs was found by Aššurbanipal (668-631), who appointed his brother Šamaš-šuma-ukin as king, but he revolted too (ABC 15), and again, Babylon was captured. Another brother served as king of Babylon, and in 627, the Assyrian king sent two of his relatives as governors. They were expelled by a Babylonian soldier named Nabopolassar, who had once fought in the Assyrian army but now started a kingdom for himself..

According to the Babylonian chronicle known as ABC 2, he was recognized as king on 23 November 626. This seems to have been the beginning of a series of insurrections against the Assyrians. In 612, Nineveh the Babylonians and Medes sacked Nineveh (text), and Babylon became the new political capital of the Near East.

The son of Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, ruled from 605 to 562 (more...) and is credited with rebuilding his capital as the most splendid city in the Near East. The famous blue Ištar Gate is an example. Elsewhere, the royal palace was improved, the Etemenanki reconstructed, and somewhere in the city, a beautiful park seems to have been created, that has become famous as the "Hanging Gardens". Archaeologists have been unable to identify this monument, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but perhaps this will change. For the time being, scholars believe that this park was either in Nineveh, or is nothing but a fairy tale.

www.livius.org/ba-bd/babylon/babylon.html

Built by Nebuchadnezzar II, the Ishtar Gate was one of the main entries to the city of Bablyon, capital of the Babylonian Empire. The arched gate at the left was made of brick glazed with a copper turquoise glaze alternating with unglazed brick covered with gold leaf. Lions, bulls, and dragons stride along in rows flanking the entrance. The top is crenelated (notched), and would have provided cover for archers defending the city entrances. At the right is another panel, this one from the throne room of the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, mentioned in the Bible. On the throne room panel, lions are arranged in a frieze below a row of stylized palms. These reconstructed fragments of the Ishtar Gate are all that remain of Bablyon. The Hanging Gardens and the Ziggurat of Marduk exist only in written descriptions. The use of glazed brick and tile in architecture is a recurrent theme in building of the Middle East, and we will see it again later in places as far away as the mosques and madrasas of Samarqand and the Nazarid Palaces of Granada, Spain.

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An artist's reconstruction, depicting a royal procession moving along Marduk's way, through the Ishtar gate, and turning into the courtyard of Nebuchadrezzar's palace which lies behind the lush growth of the famous hanging gardens. In the distance, the ziggurat of Marduk can be seen.

What impression the magnificent city of Babylon made upon the exiles can only be imagined. Nebuchadrezzar had made Babylon into one of the most beautiful cities in the world. This great metropolis straddled the Euphrates and was surrounded by a moat and huge walls 85 feet thick with massive reinforcing towers. Eight gates led into the city, the most important being the double gate of Ishtar with a blue facade adorned with alternating rows of yellow and white bulls and dragons. Through the Ishtar gate a broad, paved, processional street known as "Marduk's Way" passed between high walls, past Nebuchadrezzar's palace and the famous "hanging gardens" to the ziggurat of Marduk, the national god. This tremendous brick structure named E-temen-an-ki, "the House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth," was 300 feet square at the base and rose in eight successive stages to a height of 300 feet. Temples dedicated to various gods and goddesses abounded. Beyond the city were lush orchards, groves and gardens, fed by an intricate canal system, from which supplies of fruits and vegetables were obtained. Domesticated animals, fish, wild fowl and game provided a varied diet. From east and west, north and south, came caravans with goods for trade and barter. In festal seasons, sacred statuary from shrines in nearby cities was brought to Babylon by boat and land vehicles. Truly Babylon was, as her residents believed, at the "center" of the world. The magnificent splendor of the city must have impressed the Jews, and as we shall see, there is some evidence that Babylonian religious concepts also made an impression on the exiles.

A royal procession. Water color by W. Anger (Pergamon Museum, Berlin;)

In front: the Procession Street;

center: the Ištar Gate;

on the horizon: the Etemenanki Tower of Babel.

Neo-Babylonian Period

(626–539 bc). The Babylonians, in coalition with the Medes and Scythians, defeated the Assyrians in 612 bc and sacked Nimrud and Nineveh. They did not establish a new style or iconography. Boundary stones depict old presentation scenes or the images of kings with symbols of the gods. Neo-Babylonian creativity manifested itself architecturally at Babylon, the capital. This huge city, destroyed (689 bc) by the Assyrian Sennacherib, was restored by Nabopolassar (r. 626–605 bc) and his son Nebuchadnezzar II. Divided by the Euphrates, it took 88 years to build and was surrounded by outer and inner walls. Its central feature was Esagila, the temple of Marduk, with its associated seven-story ziggurat Etemenanki, popularly known later as the Tower of Babel. The ziggurat reached 91 m (300 ft) in height and had at the top a temple (a shrine) built of sun-dried bricks and faced with baked bricks. From the temple of Marduk northward passed the processional way, its wall decorated with enamelled lions. Passing through the Ishtar Gate, it led to a small temple outside the city, where ceremonies for the New Year Festival were held. West of the Ishtar Gate were two palace complexes; east of the processional way lay, since the times of Hammurabi, a residential area. Like its famous Hanging Gardens, one of the SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD, (q.v.), at the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II little of the city remains. The Ishtar Gate (c. 575 bc) is one of the few surviving structures. The glazed-brick facade of the gate and the processional way that led up to it were excavated by German archaeologists and taken to Berlin, where the monument was reconstructed. The complex, some 30 m (about 100 ft) long, is on display in the city’s Vorderasiatische Museum. On the site of ancient Babylon, restoration of an earlier version of the Ishtar Gate, the processional way, and the palace complex, all built of unglazed brick, has been undertaken by the Iraq Department of Antiquities.

Nabonidus (r. 556–539 bc), the last Babylonian king, rebuilt the old Sumerian capital of Ur, including the ziggurat of Nanna, rival to the ziggurat Etemenanki at Babylon. It survived well and its facing of brick has recently been restored.

In 539 bc the Neo-Babylonian kingdom fell to the Persian Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great. Mesopotamia became part of the Persian Empire, and a royal palace was built at Babylon, which was made one of the empire’s administrative capitals. Among the remains from Babylon of the time of Alexander the Great, the conqueror of the Persian empire, is a theater he built at the site known now as Humra. The brilliance of Babylon was ended about 250 bc when the inhabitants of Babylon moved to Seleucia, built by Alexander’s successors.

The ancient agora ruins at Aphrodisias Turkey

In early 331, Alexander returned to his pursuit of Darius. He marched with his army toward Babylon, where Darius had been organizing a force for a showdown against him, a force that included Indian elephants and chariots armed with scythes. Along the way, during the early summer, Alexander conducted a campaign against a rebellion in Samaria. There a group of Jews had captured and burned alive their governor. Samarians surrendered those responsible for the killing, and Alexander had the murderers executed on the spot. Then, as a further lesson against such rebellions, he expelled Samaria's inhabitants, and in their place he invited Macedonians to populate the city.

Moving eastward across Mesopotamia, Alexander came again to the Royal Road, and he turned south toward Susa. On October 1, Darius and his army of a million men arrived on a wide plain along the Royal Road, by a town called Gaugamela, and the two armies clashed. Commanding his army from his chariot, Darius was slow in correcting weaknesses that developed in troop positions, and he was slow in taking advantages of weaknesses that had developed in the position of Alexander's army. Darius had failed to delegate enough command to subordinates. When he thought he saw Alexander's army over-powering his army, he fled with his retinue - the second time that he deserted men who were dying for him. And Darius' poorly led army was massacred.

Leaving behind his chariot, bow and a substantial hoard of coins as a prize for Alexander, Darius fled to Arbela, without destroying river bridges behind him. There he was joined by Bactrian cavalrymen, 2,000 loyal Greek mercenaries and a few of his surviving Royal Guards. From Arbela they pushed east through the Zagros Mountains and then south, dropping down to Ecbatana. Darius' nerve had been broken by his last defeat, but he hoped to gather and re-organize his army. He expressed hope that Alexander and his army would weaken themselves in luxury, idleness and the women they would find in Babylon, and he wrote nervously to his governors in Bactria and elsewhere in the east, urging them to remain loyal.

Alexander marched southward unimpeded, leaving the Royal Road and traveling along the Tigris River, past great fertile fields of barley and millet, past rows of date palms, man made canals and huge estates, to Babylon. The Persian governor of Babylon surrendered the city to him, and with his army Alexander entered the city in triumph.

The local priesthood made a show of welcoming Alexander, and Alexander in turn displayed his respects. He consulted the local priesthood on the correct worship of the Babylonian god, Marduk, and he made animal sacrifices to Marduk. He pleased the priesthood by ordering the restoration of Marduk's statue and the temples that the Persians had long before destroyed as punishment for a revolt. Men of wealth in the area, wishing to make peace with Alexander, gave him great sums of money. For Alexander's soldiers it was time for another rest, and they spent their pay on Babylon's women.

Royal Chariot and Guards - Kral Arabası ve Muhafızlar

Ancient Orient Museum, Gülhane, Fatih District, Istanbul, TR

SUGRAPHIC ~ Always Under The Light of Your Love ...

Sanatın Ustaları ~ Masters of Art ~ One 1stanbul Photo Album - Candidate Photos

ISTANBUL 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics for Peace on Earth..

DÜNYADA BARIŞ için ISTANBUL 2024 Yaz Olimpiyatları ve Paralimpiksleri..!

This is a screenshot from the Google Earth of Nebuchadnezzar's palace in Babylon.

Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Thassalos of Athena. Boetia Greece

the Colosseum Rome Italy

O Tijolo de Nabucodonosor

Achado está no Museu Arqueológico do Unasp

por Rodrigo P. Silva

História do achado - A forma como esse tijolo chegou até aqui é simplesmente fantástica e revela-nos a maravilha da providência divina. Tudo começou há mais ou menos vinte anos quando um projetista brasileiro foi enviado ao Iraque para dar assessoria temporária a uma firma de construção civil. Era seu costume caminhar nas tardes de sábado pelas ruínas de Babilônia que ficam a céu aberto, não muito longe da capital, Bagdá. Entre os milhares de cacos de barro e pedras antigas que ainda jazem no lugar, um pedaço de tijolo lhe chamou a atenção. Ele continha estranhas letras que certamente representariam uma antiga inscrição. Um soldado iraquiano, que se tornara seu amigo, permitiu lhe trazer o tijolo como uma espécie de suvenir das terras iraquianas.

Entrevista publicada em fevereiro de 2003 na revista Adventista

www.scb.org.br/areas/arqueologia/TijoloNabucodonosor.htm

The Ishtar Gate, one of the eight gates of the inner city of Babylon, was built during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (604- 562 BC). Only the foundations of the gate were found, going down some 45 feet, with molded, unglazed figures. The gateway has been reconstructed in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin, from the glazed bricks found, so its original height is different in size. Reconstructed height is 47 feet.

The Lady of Ephesus, 1st century CE (Museum of Ephesus), Efes, Turkey

Artemis was the Greek goddess, the virginal huntress and twin of Apollo, who supplanted the Titan Selene as Goddess of the Moon. Of the Olympian goddesses who inherited aspects of the Great Goddess of Crete, Athene was more honored than Artemis at Athens. At Ephesus, a goddess whom the Greeks associated with Artemis was passionately venerated in an archaic, certainly pre-Hellenic cult image that was carved of wood, and kept decorated with jewelry. Robert Fleischer identified as decorations of the primitive xoanon the changeable features that since Minucius Felix and Jerome's Christian attacks on pagan popular religion had been read as many breasts or "eggs"—denoting her fertility. Most similar to Near-Eastern and Egyptian deities, and least similar to Greek ones, her body and legs are enclosed within a tapering pillar-like term, from which her feet protrude. On the coins minted at Ephesus, the apparently many-breasted Goddess wears a mural crown (like a city's walls), an attribute of Cybele (see polos). On the coins she rests either arm on a staff formed of entwined serpents or of a stack of ouroboroi, the eternal serpent with its tail in its mouth. As was Cybele, the goddess at Ephesus was served by hereditary hierodules called megabyzae, and by (korai).

Modern scholars are likely to be more concerned with origins of the Lady of Ephesus and her iconology than her adherents were at any point in time, and are also prone to creating a synthetic account of the Lady of Ephesus by drawing together documentation that ranges over more than a millennium in its origins, creating a falsified, unitary picture, as of an unchanging icon.[2]

The Lady of Ephesus, 1st century CE (Museum of Ephesus), Efes, TurkeyThe "eggs" of the Lady of Ephesus, it now appears, must be the iconographic descendents of the amber gourd-shaped drops, elliptical in cross-section and drilled for hanging, that were rediscovered in 1987-88; they remained in situ where the ancient wooden cult figure of the Lady of Ephesus had been caught by an eighth-century flood (see History below). This form of breast-jewelry, then, had already been developed by the Geometric Period. A hypothesis offered by Gerard Seiterle, that the objects in Classical representations represented bulls' scrotal sacs[3] cannot be maintained (Fleischer, "Neues zur kleinasiatischen Kultstatue" Archäologischer Anzeiger 98 1983:81-93; Bammer 1990:153).

A votive inscription mentioned by Florence Mary Bennett,[4] which dates probably from about the third century BCE, associates Ephesian Artemis with Crete: "To the Healer of diseases, to Apollo, Giver of Light to mortals, Eutyches has set up in votive offering (a statue of) the Cretan Lady of Ephesus, the Light-Bearer."

The Greek habits of syncretism assimilated all foreign gods under some form of the Olympian pantheon familiar to them, and it is clear that at Ephesus, the identification that the Ionian settlers made of the "Lady of Ephesus" with Artemis was slender.

The Christians stood out from all contemporaries in their unique approach to gods that were not theirs. A Christian inscription at Ephesus[5] suggests why so little remains at the site:

Destroying the delusive image of the demon Artemis, Demeas has erected this symbol of Truth, the God that drives away idols, and the Cross of priests, deathless and victorious sign of Christ.

The assertion that the Ephesians thought their cult image had fallen from the sky, though it was a familiar origin-myth at other sites, is only known at Ephesus from an uncorroborated Christian source, Acts 19:35.

From Wiki

Basilica Cistern - Yerebatan Sarnıçı

Sanatın Ustaları ~ Masters of Art

One 1stanbul Photo Album,Sultanahmet Square, Fatih District, Istanbul, TR

SUGRAPHIC ~ Always Under The Light of Your Love ...

SUpport ISTANBUL 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, BRIDGE TOGETHER

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From Wiki

Bull in colourful glazed bricks.

This colorful striding lion of glazed brick with its mouth opened in a threatening roar, once decorated a side of the 'Processional Way' in ancient Babylon (the Biblical city of Babel). The 'Processional Way' led out of the city through a massive gate named for the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war, Ishtar, whose symbol was the lion.

It was Nebuchadnezzar who said, "Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?"

Babylon was renowned for its high, well-fortified walls and for the magnificence of its temples and palaces. Its famous Hanging Gardens, built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Amytas, were one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Amytas was a Medes and her home was in mountainous country, so the King reputedly had the Hanging Gardens built to allay her homesickness.

Nowadays, its ruins covers about 302 km lying on the east bank of Euphrates 90 km south of Baghdad and about 10 km north of Hilla. The most important of the standing monuments of Babylon today are the Summer and Winter Palaces of King Nebuchadnezzar II, the Ziggurat attached to it, the Street of Processions, the Lion of Babylon, and the famous Ishtar Gate.

In Akkadian times, around 2350 BC, Babylon was a small village, which in 5 or 6 centuries had grown in size and importance, mostly during the reign of the 3rd Dynasty, until it rose like a city meteor to deal the coup de grace to Sumerian authority in Mesopotamia under Amorite kings. Babylon itself became a major city-state, as the capital of the great Amorite soldier, the famous king, law-giver and social reformer King Hammurabi, with a code of common law, and a king with genuine concern for the well-being of his subjects - an unusual feature in those times.

The Ishtar Gate (Berlim) Recriado nas suas dimensões originais remontando meticulosamente os inúmeros pedaços de tijolos partidos achadas nas escavações.

The gate into Babylon and the royal processional way was decorated with hybrid creatures. They may have influenced Daniel's description of the evil empire beasts.

Temple of Diana at Ephesus measured 300 by 150 feet, with columns 60 feet high. This great temple dedicated to the goddess Diana was begun about 555 B.C. by Croesus, king of Lydia. Avandal burned down the original temple in 356 B . C., but it was rebuilt by Alexander the Great.

1100 d.C.: Uma tropa de Cruzados para em uma pequena aldeia barrenta na Ásia Menor. O líder dá uma olhada. Confuso, desmonta. Este lugar não é o que ele esperava. Ele leu nos textos antigos que este era um porto de mar grande com muitos navios ancorados em sua baía. Não era. O mar está quase a três milhas. A aldeia está localizada em um pântano. Não há nenhum navio. O líder aborda um homem perto.

" Senhor, é este a cidade de Efesus "?

" Foi chamada assim há algum tempo. Agora é Ayasalouk ".

" Bem, onde é a sua baía ? Onde os navios comerciantes estão? E onde está o magnifico templo grego que nós ouvimos falar? "

Agora é a vez do homem se confundir. " Templo? Que templo, Senhor? Nós não temos nenhum templo aqui..."

E assim 800 anos depois de sua destruição, o magnífico Templo de Artemis em Efesus, uma das Sete Maravilhas do Mundo Antigo, foi completamente esquecido pelas pessoas da cidade. O mesmo Templo que era sinal de orgulho pelos seus habitantes.

E não há nenhuma dúvida que o Templo era realmente magnífico. " Eu vi as paredes e Jardins Suspensos da Babilônia, " escreveu Philon de Byzantium, " a estátua de Zeus olímpico, o Colosso de Rhodes, o trabalho poderoso das Pirâmides altas e a tumba de Mausoléu. Mas quando eu vi o templo em Efesus que sobe às nuvens, todas estas outras maravilhas foram postas na sombra ".

Então, o que aconteceu a este templo? E o que aconteceu para a cidade ? O que fez Efesus passar de um movimentado porto de comércio para um pântano?

Os Vários Templos a Artemis (ou Diana)

O primeiro santuário para a Deusa Artemis foi construído provavelmente em torno de 800 a.C. em uma faixa pantanosa perto do rio em Efesus. A Deusa Artemis de Efesus, às vezes chamada de Diana, não é a mesma Artemis cultuada na Grécia. A Artemis grega é a deusa da caça. A Artemis de Efesus era uma deusa de fertilidade e foi pintada freqüentemente com peitos múltiplos, símbolos de fertilidade.

Aquele templo mais antigo tinha uma pedra sagrada, provavelmente um meteorito que tinha caído de Júpiter ". O santuário foi destruído e foi reconstruído várias vezes durante uns cem anos. Em 600 a.C., a cidade de Efesus tinha se tornado um porto principal de comércio e um arquiteto nomeado Chersiphron foi designado para construir um novo templo, só que maior. Ele o projetou com altas colunas de pedra. Preocupado que as carroças que fossem carregar as colunas atolassem, Chersiphron pôs as colunas nos lados rolou-as até o local onde elas seriam erguidas.

Este templo não durou muito. Em 550 a.C. o Rei Croesus de Lydia conquistou Efesus e as outras cidades gregas de Ásia Menor. Durante a luta, o templo foi destruído. Croesus se provou um vencedor cortês, contribuindo generosamente à contrução de um novo templo.

Este estava próximo do último dos grandes templos de Artemis em Efesus. Acredita-se que o arquiteto é um homem chamado Theodoro. O templo de Theodoro tinha 300 pés de comprimento e 150 pés de lado, com uma área quatro vezes maior que a do templo anterior.. Mais de cem colunas de pedra apoiavam o telhado volumoso. O novo templo era o orgulho de Efesus até as 356 a.C. quando uma tragédia, chamada Herostratus, surpreendeu.

Herostratus de Efesus, um jovem que não media esforços para ter seu nome escrito na história. E ele conseguiu isso, queimando o templo, e levando-o ao chão.Os cidadãos de Efesus ficaram tão apavorados com esse ato que eles decretaram que quem falasse em Herostratus seria executado.

Logo após esta ação horrível, um templo novo foi "encomendado". O escolhido foi Scopas de Paros, um dos escultores mais famosos da época. Efesus era neste momento uma das maiores cidades na Ásia Menor e nenhuma despesa foi poupada na nova construção. De acordo com Piny um antigo historiador romano, o templo era um " monumento maravilhoso do esplendor grego, e que é digna da nossa admiração."

O templo foi construído no mesmo lugar pantanoso, como antes.

Acredita-se que a contrução foi a primeira a ser completamente construída com mármore e uma das suas características mais incomuns eral 36 colunas, cujas porções mais baixas foram esculpidas com figuras de alto-alívio. O templo também alojou muitas obras de arte, incluindo quatro estátuas de bronze de mulheres Amazonas.

O comprimento do novo templo era de 425 pés e a largura era de 225 pés. 127 colunas de 60 pés de altura sustentavam o talhado. Em comparação com o Pathernon, cujas ruínas estão em Acrópolis em Atenas, tinha apenas 230 pés de comprimento, 100 pés de largura e tinha 58 colunas.

De acordo com Piny, a construção levou 120 anos, entretanto alguns peritos suspeitam pode ter levado só a metade do tempo. Nós sabemos que quando o Alexandre o Grande chegou em Efesus em 333 a.C., o templo ainda estava em obras. Ele se ofereceu financiar a conclusão do templo se a cidade o creditasse como o construtor. Os vereadores não quiseram o nome de Alexandre esculpido no templo, mas não quiseram lhe contar isso. Eles deram a resposta diplomática : " Não está certo que um deus construa um templo para outro" e Alexandre não levou a sua idéia adiante .

Rampas térreas foram empregadas para levar as vigas de pedra pesadas para cima das colunas. Este método parecia funcionar bem até que uma das maiores vigas fosse colocada em cima da porta. Foi abaixo, torta e o arquiteto não achou nenhum modo para conseguir desentortá-la. Ele estava preocupado até que ele teve um sonho na qual a Deusa apareceu lhe dizendo que ele não deveria se preocupar, pois Ela tinha movido a pedra para a posição formal. Na manhã seguinte, o arquiteto achou que o sonho foi verdade. Durante a noite, o povoado tinha colocado a viga no seu devido lugar.

A cidade continuou prosperando durante uns cem anos era o destino de muitos peregrinos que iam ver o templo. Um comércio de souvenirs se espalhou ao redor do santuário. Eles vendiam miniaturas de Artemis, talvez semelhante a estátua dela do templo. Foi um desses empresários, Demetrius, que deu a St. Paul momentos desagradáveis em sua visita a cidade, 57 d.C.

St. Paul veio para a cidade para converter pessoas para a então nova religião, o Cristianismo. Ele obteve tanto sucesso que Demétrius ficou com medo que as pessoas esquecessem de Artemis e ele fosse perder o seu sustento. Ele chamou outros comerciantes e deu um ganhar convertido para a religião nova de então de Cristianismo. Ele teve tanto êxito que Demetrius temeu que as pessoas virariam longe de Artemis e ele perderia o sustento dele. Ele chamou outros do comércio e fez um discurso agressivo : "Grande é Artemis de Efesus !". Então eles agarraram dois companheiros de St. Paul e uma multidão seguiu. Finalmente a cidade foi em silêncio, os homens de St. Paul liberados e Paul voltou para Macedonia.

Foi o Cristianismo de Paul que ganhou no fim. Na época em que o grande Templo de Artemis foi destruído durante uma invasão gótica em 262 D.C., a cidade e a religião de Artemis estavam em declínio. Quando o Imperador romano Constantine reconstruiu muito de Efesus , depois de um século, ele se recusou recontruir o templo. Ele tinha se tornado um cristão e tinha pouco interesse em templos pagãos.

Apesar dos esforços de Constantine, Efesus caiu em relação a sua importância como uma das capitais do comércio. A baía onde navios ancoravam desapareceu, e o lodo do rio tomou conta dela. No fim, a cidade ficou a milhas do mar, e muitos dos habiyantes deixaram o pantano para viver em colinas vizinhas. Os que permaneceram usaram as ruínas do templo para realizar contruições. Muitas das finas esculturas foram moidas e viraram pó, para fazer gesso.

Em 1863 o Museu Britânico enviou John Turtle Wood, arquiteto, para procurar o templo. Wood encontrou muitos obstáculos. A região estava infestada de bandidos. Trabalhadores eram escassos. O orçamento dele era muito pequeno. A maior dificuldade era descobrir onde estava o templo. Ele procurou o templo durante seis anos. Cada ano o Museu britânico ameaçava cortar os fundos a menos que ele achasse algo significante, e ele sempre os convencia a arcar por mais um ano.

Wood continuou voltando ao local todo ano apesar do sofrimento. Durante a primeira estação ele foi lançado de um cavalo e quebrou a clavícula. Dois anos depois ele foi apunhalado no coração numa tentativa de assassinato do Cônsul Britânico em Smyrna.

Finalmente em 1869, 20 pés ao fundo de uma cova, a tripulação dele bateu na base do grande templo. Wood escavou e removeu 132,000 jardas cúbicas de pântano para deixar um buraco de 300 pés de largura. Foram achados os restos de algumas esculturas e foram transportados o para Museu Britânico onde eles podem ser vistos até hoje.

Em 1904, uma outra expedição do Museu Britânico, sob a liderança de D.G. Hograth continuou a escavação. Hograth achou evidências de cinco templos no local, construídos um em cima do outro.

Hoje o local do templo é um campo pantanoso. Uma única coluna está erguida para lembrar aos turistas que uma vez, esteve naquele lugar uma das maravilhas do mundo antigo.

Image From Panoramio

In 1985, Saddam Hussein started rebuilding the city on top of the old ruins, investing in both restoration and new construction, to the dismay of archaeologists, with his name inscribed on many of the bricks, in imitation of Nebuchadnezzar. One frequent inscription reads: "This was built by Saddam Hussein, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq". This recalls the ziggurat at Ur, where each individual brick was stamped with "Ur-Nammu, king of Ur, who built the temple of Nanna". These bricks became sought after as collectors' items after the downfall of Hussein, and the ruins are no longer being restored to their original state. He also installed a huge portrait of himself and Nebuchadnezzar at the entrance to the ruins, and shored up Processional Way, a large boulevard of ancient stones, and the Lion of Babylon, a black rock sculpture about 2,600 years old.

When the Gulf War ended, Saddam wanted to build a modern palace, also over some old ruins; it was made in the pyramidal style of a Sumerian ziggurat. He named it Saddam Hill. In 2003, he was ready to begin the construction of a cable car line over Babylon when the invasion began and halted the project.

Interestingly enough, an article published in April 2006 states that UN officials and Iraqi leaders have big plans for restoring Babylon, making it a gem of a new Iraq as a cultural center complete with shopping malls, hotels, and maybe even a theme park. "One day millions of people will visit Babylon."

Remains of Mount Nemrut - Nemrut Dağı Kalıntıları

Sanatın Ustaları ~ Masters of Art

One 1stanbul Photo Album, Miniatürk Theme Park, Beyoğlu District, Istanbul, TR

SUGRAPHIC ~ Always Under The Light of Your Love ...

SUpport ISTANBUL 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, BRIDGE TOGETHER

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Greek geographer Strabo - "It consists of vaulted terraces raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These are hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars, the vaults, and terraces are constructed of baked brick and asphalt."

"The ascent to the highest story is by stairs, and at their side are water engines, by means of which persons, appointed expressly for the purpose, are continually employed in raising water from the Euphrates into the garden."

Strabo and Philo of Byzantium give the following records.

"The Garden is quadrangular, and each side is four plethra long. It consists of arched vaults which are located on checkered cube-like foundations... The ascent of the uppermost terrace-roofs is made by a stairway..."

"The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns... Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels... These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the roots of plants and keeping the whole area moist. Hence the grass is permanently green and the leaves of trees grow firmly attached to supple branches... This is a work of art of royal luxury and its most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads of the spectators".

So here in this desert land with virtually no rainfall, a lush mountain garden was built, using a ‘chain pump’ bucket brigade method of raising water from the level of the Euphrates River to over 300 feet into the air. Here the water would flow down channels thru these terraces, lines with bitumen for water proofing; the plants along the terraces were watered and fertilized by the silted waters of the Euphrates.

Strange as it may sound, the Babylonian records of Nebuchadnezzar or any of his descendants are silent on the Hanging Garden. It is only recorded in the histories of the later writers and chroniclers. According to these stories, Amyitis, the wife of Nebuchadnezzar, was the daughter of the king of the Medes. Here was a dynastic wedding, but the daughter of the Median king was homesick for her home in the green and verdant foliage of the rugged mountainous terrain of the land Media now in northern Iran.

Somewhere in the 43 years of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, which began in 605 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar began to build an artificial mountain with terraces of gardens, trees and beautiful foliage. Here the marvel of this wonder of the ancient world rose over the walls of the mighty city of Babylon. These garden, also called the Garden of Semiriramis, who lived about 810 BCE. There are some legends that the Hanging Gardens were actually built by Queen Semiriramis, but the firmer archeological evidence suggests that her memory is invoked in this grand structure. The building itself was built over masonry arches with multilayer of terraces and gardens. Beneath the garden luxurious apartments were constructed.

Remains of the Temple of Apollo at his Oracle site in Delphi. Supplicants entered the temple seeking answers and prophecies from the God. Boetia Greece

Artemis was the Greek goddess, the virginal huntress and twin of Apollo, who supplanted the Titan Selene as Goddess of the Moon. Of the Olympian goddesses who inherited aspects of the Great Goddess of Crete, Athene was more honored than Artemis at Athens. At Ephesus, a goddess whom the Greeks associated with Artemis was passionately venerated in an archaic, certainly pre-Hellenic cult image that was carved of wood, and kept decorated with jewelry. Robert Fleischer identified as decorations of the primitive xoanon the changeable features that since Minucius Felix and Jerome's Christian attacks on pagan popular religion had been read as many breasts or "eggs"—denoting her fertility. Most similar to Near-Eastern and Egyptian deities, and least similar to Greek ones, her body and legs are enclosed within a tapering pillar-like term, from which her feet protrude. On the coins minted at Ephesus, the apparently many-breasted Goddess wears a mural crown (like a city's walls), an attribute of Cybele (see polos). On the coins she rests either arm on a staff formed of entwined serpents or of a stack of ouroboroi, the eternal serpent with its tail in its mouth. As was Cybele, the goddess at Ephesus was served by hereditary hierodules called megabyzae, and by (korai).

Modern scholars are likely to be more concerned with origins of the Lady of Ephesus and her iconology than her adherents were at any point in time, and are also prone to creating a synthetic account of the Lady of Ephesus by drawing together documentation that ranges over more than a millennium in its origins, creating a falsified, unitary picture, as of an unchanging icon.[2]

The Lady of Ephesus, 1st century CE (Museum of Ephesus), Efes, TurkeyThe "eggs" of the Lady of Ephesus, it now appears, must be the iconographic descendents of the amber gourd-shaped drops, elliptical in cross-section and drilled for hanging, that were rediscovered in 1987-88; they remained in situ where the ancient wooden cult figure of the Lady of Ephesus had been caught by an eighth-century flood (see History below). This form of breast-jewelry, then, had already been developed by the Geometric Period. A hypothesis offered by Gerard Seiterle, that the objects in Classical representations represented bulls' scrotal sacs[3] cannot be maintained (Fleischer, "Neues zur kleinasiatischen Kultstatue" Archäologischer Anzeiger 98 1983:81-93; Bammer 1990:153).

A votive inscription mentioned by Florence Mary Bennett,[4] which dates probably from about the third century BCE, associates Ephesian Artemis with Crete: "To the Healer of diseases, to Apollo, Giver of Light to mortals, Eutyches has set up in votive offering (a statue of) the Cretan Lady of Ephesus, the Light-Bearer."

The Greek habits of syncretism assimilated all foreign gods under some form of the Olympian pantheon familiar to them, and it is clear that at Ephesus, the identification that the Ionian settlers made of the "Lady of Ephesus" with Artemis was slender.

The Christians stood out from all contemporaries in their unique approach to gods that were not theirs. A Christian inscription at Ephesus[5] suggests why so little remains at the site:

Destroying the delusive image of the demon Artemis, Demeas has erected this symbol of Truth, the God that drives away idols, and the Cross of priests, deathless and victorious sign of Christ.

The assertion that the Ephesians thought their cult image had fallen from the sky, though it was a familiar origin-myth at other sites, is only known at Ephesus from an uncorroborated Christian source, Acts 19:35.