The Temple of Artemis or Artemision Temple (Greek: Ἀρτεμίσιον; Turkish: Artemis Tapınağı), also known as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to an ancient, local form of the goddess Artemis (identified with the Roman goddess Diana). The temple was located in Ephesus (near the modern town of Selçuk, 50 km south of Izmir in today's Turkey). It was devastated or destroyed in 401 AD. Only the foundations and fragments of the last temple remained in the area.

Was it really a temple? We cannot see it like the Great Pyramid, the Hanging Gardens, the Rhodes statue. Yes, sources write that it was visited by the people as a temple, but the Temple of Artemis was not just a temple. It was known as the most beautiful structure in the world at that time. The temple was built in honor of Artemis, the ancient Greek goddess of hunting and nature. Here is information about the Temple of Diana-Artemis near the Ancient City of Ephesus on the Aegean Coast;

The earliest version of the temple (a Bronze Age temeno) was years before the Ionian migration. Callimachus, in his Hymn to Artemis, attributed this to the Amazons. It was destroyed by a flood in the 7th century BC. Around 550 BC, its more grandiose reconstruction began under the responsibility of Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes. The project was financed by Croesus of Lydia (Karun - Kreisos) and took 10 years to complete. It was all marble. It was decorated with statues of Pheidias, Polycleitus, Kresilas and Phradmon, the most famous artists of the period. The Temple of Artemis was also a market and religious institute. Over the centuries, it was visited by merchants, tourists, artists and kings who offered their faith and made requests to the goddess. Gold and ivory statues of Artemis, bracelets, earrings and necklaces, which were gifts from pilgrims, were found during the excavations. Some were brought from Persia, Egypt, and India. And on the night of July 21, 356 BC, a man named Herostratus destroyed the temple by arson and his name as he so desired was immortalized. It is a strange coincidence, but on the same night Alexander the Great was born. The Roman historian Plutarch wrote that that night the goddess was unable to protect the temple because she was busy giving birth to Alexander. When Alexander the Great, who was seen as the cause of the destruction, conquered Anatolia, he helped the construction of the temple, which was financed by the Ephesians. Its greatest and final form is described in the Greek poet Antipater of Sidon's list of the Seven Wonders of the world. The temple was restored 200 years later.

Sources write that the origin of the temple existed in the 7th century BC, but in the history of wonders it is stated that it was built in 550 BC.

In the 1st century, when St. Paul came to Ephesus and started to  proselytize Christianity, the belief for Artemis began to collapse. In 362, the Goths again destroyed the temple, but the Ephesians rebuilt it. And by the 4th century, most of the Ephesians were now Christians and the temple had lost its charm. In 401, St. John Chrysostom had the Temple of Artemis completely destroyed, and no one lived in Ephesus anymore. The first excavations were made in the 19th century, and the foundations of the temple, several columns and parts of the sunken city were unearthed. The rellics found here were smuggled abroad due to the ignorance and indifferent approach of the Ottomans. Today, nothing remains but a few stones stacked on top of each other.

General structure of the Temple of Artemis. The temple is known to be rectangular. As in similar temples, but unlike similar ones, it was entirely made of marble, and its front side faced a very large courtyard. It is approximately 80x130 m. surrounded by marble steps. It was on a platform. There were Ionic relief inscriptions on the 127 20-meter columns surrounding it. In the middle of the platform, when you go down, there was the house of the goddess.

When rebuilding the temple, you may wonder what techniques were used to move the architraves, which are very heavy stones placed on top of the pillars on which the roof rests, to a height of about 20 m. The construction technique is unfortunately unknown, but historians working on the site will eventually find the answer. The fact is that an architrave weighs about 24 tons, which makes one ponder over the capacity of the people of the time to build very tall buildings.