Spectacular Find: Lost Temple Of Goddess Artemis Has Been Found On Greek Island Of Euboea

AncientPages.com - Archaeologists have made a spectacular find. The lost temple of Artemis, a famous open-air sanctuary of antiquity has been discovered on the Greek island of Euboea.

The Temple of Artemis was built by King Croesus of Lydia to replace an older site destroyed during a flood and honoring a local goddess conflated by the Greeks with Artemis, their goddess of the hunt, the wild and childbirth. The Ephesian Artemis, the “great mother goddess” was extremely popular in the ancient world.

A Swiss-led team of archaeologists in Greece has discovered the temple of Artemis.

On July 21, 356 BC, Herostratus in his quest for fame set fire to the Temple of Artemis. The temple was constructed of marble and considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

Herostratus proudly claimed credit in an attempt to immortalize his name in history. He surrendered to the temple authorities and was imprisoned.

His name has become a metonym for someone who commits a criminal act in order to become famous.

In modern languages, the term “Herostratic Fame” relates to someone who commits a criminal act in order to bask in the resultant notoriety.

See also:

Herostratic Fame Relates To Herostratus Who Burned The Beautiful Temple Of Artemis To Become Famous

Goddess Artemis – One Of The Most Respected Olympians

Scientists have tried to locate the sanctuary for more than a century and the site was finally found at the foot of the Paleoekklisies hill near the small fishing town of Amarynthos on the Greek island of Euboea. It’s about 10km from the place where the temple was wrongly thought to be located.

 

In 2007, Karl Reber, a Professor at the Universty of Lausanne and director of the Swiss School of Archaeology in Athens started to look for the lost temple. Researchers found parts of a massive wall dating back to the classical era, which they believe belongs to the stoa or portico built near the temple.

Some years later, in 2012 Exploratory trenches were opened in Amarynthos and a Swiss brought to light a bigger part of the building.

Now, after also finding artefacts with inscriptions, they are sure that they have located the site of the Artemis Amarynthia, which was the end point of the annual procession of people from the once prosperous trading city of Eretrea, 10km away.

Ancient people held a festival in honor of Artemis, the untamable goddess of hunting in Greek mythology. She was worshipped as the patron goddess of Amarynthos, which takes its name from an Eretrean man who was besotted by Artemis.

The discovery of the lost temple of Artemis is undoubtedly a very significant archaeological find.

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