The Temple of Artemis
The temple of Artemis at Ephesus is described as being 377 feet long and 180 feet wide, made almost entirely of marble. It is thought that the temple had 127 ionic columns, each 60 feet tall. The temple was completed around 550BCE.
The temple was used to house a great deal of art from sculpture to painting. It is said that the numerous famous Greek sculptors and artists competed to create the finest work for the temple. It is also said that many of the sculptures were of Amazons (the women warriors) who are said to have founded the city of Ephesus (in present day turkey).
In 356BC the temple was burned by Herostratus in a desperate, and apparently successful, attempt for fame at any cost. One story also says that it was burned on the very day that Alexander the great was born. Because Artemis was a fertility god the story went that she was too busy with Alexander’s birth to bother with her burning temple. The temple was later rebuilt, however, the renovated version was itself destroyed by raiding Goths in 262. Very little of it remains to this day. The archeological remains of the temple were said to be rediscovered in an expedition sponsored by the British museum in 1869.