Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: The Temple of Artemis

Summary

Ridiculous History: Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – The Temple of Artemis

Podcast: Ridiculous History (iHeartPodcasts)
Hosts: Ben Bowlin, Noel Brown, Max Williams
Date: October 30, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this latest installment of their Seven Wonders of the Ancient World series, Ben, Noel, and super-producer Max take listeners on a lively, irreverent journey through the storied and often ridiculous history of the Temple of Artemis, also known as the Artemision. As always, they blend deep historical research with trademark banter, weaving in ancient politics, mythology, architectural feats, bizarre catastrophes, and even a dose of Civilization video game strategy—because, as they say, history is both beautiful and ridiculous.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. Who Was Artemis? Context & Influence

• Artemis: Greek goddess of the hunt, wild animals, vegetation, chastity and paradoxically, childbirth.
  • “She’s like a problematic Captain Planet.” — Ben (09:07)
• Roman adaptation as Diana, noting the Romans’ well-known tendency to "plagiarize" Greek culture.
• Artemis as a “fan favorite” among rural Greeks—a goddess with broad and sometimes contradictory domains.

2. Location & Importance of the Temple

• Situated in Ephesus (modern Turkey), the temple was not just a religious site but a civic centerpiece.
  • “It’s seen as this testament to humanity’s ‘hold my beer’ approach to making unnecessarily amazing things.” — Ben (05:00)
• Early Ephesus: Hotbed of political intrigue, alliances, and suzerainty (subservient autonomy under bigger powers).
  • Ben and Noel riff on the difference between “suzerainty” and true sovereignty, with modern analogies. (12:42–13:56)

3. Legendary Origins: Amazons and Multiple Temples

• Ancient Greeks attributed the worship of Artemis in Ephesus to the legendary Amazons—“not Jeff Bezos.”
• Archeology revealed three layers of temples built atop each other, reminiscent of the Monty Python line (“burned down, fell over, and sank into the swamp”).
  • “Not only it burned down, fell over, and then sank into the swamp. So we have two previous temples that for reasons didn’t make it. And then this wonder of the ancient world was built on top of those.” — Noel (20:04)

4. Architectural Marvels & Ancient Flexes

• The wonder temple (built ca. 550 BCE) was renowned for its immense size—over 100 Ionic columns, each 60 feet tall.
  • “You like columns? You like Ionic columns? Well, we got you. We got so many columns.” — Ben (23:01)
• Innovative structure and lavish ornamentation made it a “show-stopping stunner” and set standards even for later Roman architecture.

5. A Cycle of Destruction and Reconstruction

• First Temple: Destroyed by a flood (7th century BCE), causing foundation instability.
  • “The subsequent flooding led to further silt deposits which gradually elevated the site by about 2 meters and caused it to become structurally unsound.” — Noel (26:23)
• Second Temple: Rebuilt grander (ca. 550 BCE); destroyed by arson in 356 BCE, allegedly by Herostratus—a man who sought fame through infamy.
  • “He wanted to go down in history as the dude who set one of the world’s greatest temples on fire.” — Ben (34:06)
  • But: Modern historians suggest this could be a cover-up for mismanagement or even possible insurance fraud by temple officials.
• Third Temple: Rebuilt (from 355–330 BCE) “bigger, bolder,” but partially destroyed in 267 CE during a Gothic raid; lapsed into ruin after the rise of Christianity in the region.

6. The Fate of the Temple and Historical Legacy

• After repeated disasters and the shift to Christianity, the temple was ultimately abandoned, repurposed, and erased.
  • “They’re not super concerned about preserving historical works at this point.” — Ben (39:55)
• No substantial remains of any version have survived.

7. Wonders in Civilization (the Game)

• Max Williams briefs the group on the Temple of Artemis’s status as a “wonder” in Sid Meier’s Civilization games.
  • “In Civ 6, it is probably one of the most overpowered wonders in the game because you can get it very early on.” — Max (41:05)
  • “If you have the right setup, it’ll turn your country into the happiest little country of all time.” — Max (41:57)
• Earlier titles: not present, or “meh.” In Civ 6: coveted S-tier status with the right city planning.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Artemis’s Role:
  • “She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, not Jared. And she is the twin sister of Apollo, the god, not your dog.” — Ben (07:40)
• On the Temple’s Endurance:
  • “The rumors about the temple sinking into the swamp are malarkey. Come see Temple 2.” — Ben, adopting infomercial voice (32:33)
• On Historical Blame Games:
  • “They point out that it would have been incredibly difficult for him [Herostratus] to access the framing… They decided to hang it on this poor fellow.” — Noel (34:50)
• On Repurposing the Past:
  • “If anything, they’re more interested in bulldozing over them or at the very least, repurposing them in their own image.” — Noel (39:46)
• Monty Python Reference:
  • “Not only it burned down, fell over, and then sank into the swamp…” — direct homage to classic British comedy (20:04)

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Fun & Memorable Bits

• Joking about architectural one-upmanship: “Got columns? We got columns!” (23:01)
• Explaining “suzerainty” via modern countries (13:56)
• Video game digressions: Elder Scrolls’ Daedra, Civilization strategy (10:04, 40:13)
• Multiple callbacks to Monty Python’s “swamp castle” line (19:49–20:04)
• Running riff: the “plagiarism of the Romans” (18:32, 38:26)

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Timeline of Key Sections (Timestamps)

• 00:26 – Beginning of Artemis series episode, table-setting
• 04:45 – Introduction to Artemis’ mythology and ancient context
• 11:26 – History of Ephesus; political power-plays and suzerainty explained
• 19:08 – Amazons and the earliest temples
• 23:01 – Architectural marvels and comic “pitch”
• 25:33 – What happened to the previous temples?
• 31:41 – The big rebuild (Temple v2.0); more columns, more marble
• 33:25 – Temple destroyed by arson; Herostratus and possible cover-up
• 36:33 – Temple v3.0, Gothic sack, and the end of the wonder
• 39:46 – Christianity’s rise; temple falls to neglect and repurposing
• 40:13 – Civilization game digression: Is the Temple of Artemis worth building?
• 41:45 – Final takes, ratings — “meh” in early Civ games, “S-tier” in Civ 6

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Tone & Style

As always, Ben and Noel deliver a mix of pop culture references, historical rigor, and playful skepticism. Their rapport creates a casual, comedic atmosphere that makes even ancient history accessible and fun:

“You can get away with dodging any social situation by saying, ‘I’m sorry, I… I can’t make it. I have become strange.’” — Ben (20:22)

They balance jokes (“bit of a head meeting a butt”) with digestible explanations, never missing a chance to poke fun at bureaucracy (ancient or modern) or the “hold my beer” attitude behind the world’s greatest wonders.

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Takeaways

• The Temple’s Story is one of ambition, disaster, resilience, and ultimately, obsolescence—mirroring many grand human projects.
• Artemis—a complex figure—reflects the multiplicity and humor of ancient faith and culture.
• History Repeats: What people claim as disasters or accidents may sometimes conceal deeper motives (insurance fraud, scapegoating).
• Lasting Cultural Impact: Ancient wonders still shape pop culture and gaming, proving their creative and symbolic power endures—even if their columns are no longer standing.

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For fans of history, mythology, and lively comedic commentary, this episode offers an engaging, accessible window into one of the grandest (and weirdest) construction projects in antiquity.

Transcript

[Ben Bolly]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the show, fellow ridiculous historians. Thank you as always, so much for tuning in. Let's hear it for the wonder of the podcasting world, Our super producer, Mr. Max Williams.

[Max Williams]

Is there anything more wonderful than a wonder, Max?

[Noel Brown]

Wonders really are wonderful, Williams.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, that's Noel Brown. I'm Ben Bolly.

[Noel Brown]

We're.

[Ben Bolly]

We're coming to you live and direct, and we are going to roast our brother in podcast arms a little bit here because you are the research associate for this one, Max. You wrote the sentence wonders are really are wonderful, and then you appropriately roasted yourself because you knew I was gonna do it if you did.

[Noel Brown]

That's a wonderful starting line, he says. Wonderful job there, Max. And we're here for you to say the same thing. Thank you, Max. What a wonderful compliment. That's you thanking yourself, but we're also giving it to you as outsiders looking in.

[Ben Bolly]

Yes, of course, Noel. Can we say this part together? The last sentence of that one?

[Noel Brown]

Oh, gosh, yes, of course, Max.

[Ben Bolly]

You are just wonderful.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, man.

[Max Williams]

Love talk about the temple of Artemis.

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[Noel Brown]

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[Noel Brown]

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[Ben Bolly]

This is a continuing series for us. We've got some. We've got more episodes on the way. Spoiler 3. And it's not going to end the way you think. This one is part five of this series. It is the Temple of Artemis, also known as the Artemisia.

[Noel Brown]

Artemis is the one with the bow and arrow, right?

[Ben Bolly]

Yes. Yeah, basically. Basically it's like a Temu brand of Diana.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah. Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt. Always depicted with a bow and arrow.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah. So the Temple of Artemis, according to Ephesian tourism and DMC is or was, spoiler, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. And it is seen as similar to like the Colossus of Rhodes. It's seen as this testament to humanity's hold my beer approach to making unnecessarily amazing things.

[Noel Brown]

Borderline weird flexes, but okay.

[Ben Bolly]

Oh yeah. Oh, for sure. It was located in the city of Ephesus, which is now part of modern day Turkey. And it was, you know, it was a temple. It was a site of religious significance. Before we get into the story, we gotta understand some of the context and the context that you so beautifully foreshadowed there, Noel, is the concept of Artemis in general in Greek religion back in those days, as in the modern day, you have to be kind of a big deal to have a statue or a temple or a building named after you.

[Noel Brown]

Truth. Yeah. No. Nowadays you can just commission one to be built for yourself.

[Ben Bolly]

Sure. Maybe at the White House.

[Noel Brown]

Possibly.

[Max Williams]

Cool.

[Ben Bolly]

Walk down the street from that one we love down k Street, down K3. Ooh, nice. Ah, I love that. Yeah. So the thing that we adore about Greek mythology is that it is a polytheistic enterprise. So Artemis is the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, the goddess of vegetation, the goddess of chastity and paradoxically, childbirth.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, well it's also paradoxical that she's the goddess of wild animals, the hunt and vegetables. She is, she's a bit of an omnivore.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, that does feel like it's 4:30 on a Friday and they're just figuring out attributes.

[Noel Brown]

Just chuck that one in there too. Just popping for vegetables.

[Ben Bolly]

Someone's like snapping their fingers in the pitch meeting and they're going, animals. Also hunting animals.

[Noel Brown]

Minerals. There are minerals in there.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this, this character, this concept, this deity is later identified by the famous plagiarist, the Romans, with Diana.

[Noel Brown]

Hey, you know, if you're going to steal steel. Well, they did, they did a pretty good job. Made it their own. And yeah, she was a bit of a fan favorite. Artemis.

[Ben Bolly]

Oh, very much. She's the daughter of Zeus and Leto, not Jared. And she is the twin sister of Apollo the God, not. Not your dog.

[Noel Brown]

Oh yeah, that's named after, I do believe, or possibly named after Apollo Creek because he's tough. But so was Apollo the God. So yeah, like I was saying, among the, the, the locals, the rural populace, Artemis was a favorite goddess because they really relied on the hunt. They relied on crops, then she kind of. And they relied on healthy childbirth. You know, hopefully not dying in childbirth, which was certainly a thing that happened more often than one would like. So she represented a lot of things that were very important to the average humans, the average citizens.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, 100% dude. And also like so many other gods in these pantheons, her aspects or specific functions, the things people would worship her for, they vary over place to place. Right. So you could go to one town and they would be like, Artemis is awesome at vegetables. You go to another town and they'd be like, Artemis is awesome for chastity. And then you go to another town, they'd say, well, we're more into the childbirth aspect. So apparently if you look at the forest instead of just the individual trees of temples, behind all of the aspects that there was this goddess who embodied wild nature. The forest, the mountains, the marshes, she was the sportsman's ideal. So in addition to killing wild game, she also protected wild animals. She's like a problematic Captain Planet.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, well, you know, I mean, there's a balance to that. Right? I mean, even today we've got the. Whatever, the Fish and Wildlife Organization. I'm sorry, I'm totally getting the name wrong, but the idea of like you have to have a hunting license so that you can balance out how many animals are killed versus how many are born, etc. Not to say that it's a perfect science, but this idea of the balance of nature is very important even to this day. And probably not honored nearly as well as it was back under. Under Artemis Watch.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah. Also, there were a lot more wild non human animals back in the day. So we want to give a special shout out to super producer research associate Max Williams for shouting out the Daedra from Elder Scrolls. I know you well, bro. Her scene. That's a great reference. You want to say something about Hircine real quick?

[Max Williams]

No.

[Ben Bolly]

All right, fair enough.

[Noel Brown]

Max with the facts.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, let's do it. Also, to follow up real quick, for Skyrim fans, you can get a ring of Hircine, which allows you more werewolf transformations.

[Max Williams]

You can also get the hide a here scene, which you get from ripping the hide off of a werewolf.

[Ben Bolly]

Yes, yes. Graphic. So those are the two most important parts of this episode. With that done, Noel, let's talk a little bit about the location of the Temple of Artemis, which leads us to how it became a wonder of the world in the first place.

[Noel Brown]

Well, yeah, you start hearing about ephesus around the mid 7th century BCE. Britannica writes that it was attacked by Cimmerians, not Sumerians. This is C I M M E R I A N S. That's not the same thing. Right.

[Ben Bolly]

There's no.

[Noel Brown]

It's like Conan, the Sumerians and Sumerians. So for part of the early 6th century, it was under the rule of tyrants. This is a, you know, a ruling, plundering people that essentially, you know, wrecked shop and took over.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, very much not a democracy. The might is right Rule is what decides the political machinations of the day. So the issue here is very high stakes Game of Thrones stuff. We're talking about political alliances through marriage. So our good friends in the town of Ephesus are allied by or allied by marriage to the kings of Lydia, which means that this other dude, a Lydian guy named Croesus, runs the place. He has suzerainty over it.

[Noel Brown]

You rock Suzerain a lot, don't you, Ben? I seem to give it to us again because I'm kind of misconstruing the meaning a little bit.

[Ben Bolly]

It's like the best way to say it is. It's a kind of fake autonomy or a miniature version of sovereignty. So suzerainty means that you will have two states and there's a vassal state or a subservient lower state, and it has its own government, but it can't really do anything other than what the daddy state tells it to do.

[Noel Brown]

So it's almost like a democracy in name only, right?

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, you could say.

[Noel Brown]

Or autonomy in name only, I suppose, perhaps.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah. Internal autonomy. So like Iceland has relative autonomy internally, but ultimately another government from the European Union controls it. Or you could say Svalbard has. Since we're sticking to North Atlantic, Svalbard has internal autonomy, but ultimately Norway makes all the global calls.

[Noel Brown]

I believe India is a suzerainty. Oh, yeah, I think that's right. Yeah. I'm looking up some modern examples and that one's coming up. But that might be a topic for another day because I think we've clearly kicked it around enough that maybe it's worth further exploration. Everybody knows Shaq, but off camera, he's.

[Ben Bolly]

Just a regular guy.

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[Ben Bolly]

If we dive into the story and we go to 7wonders.org, we'll see that there are ancient Greek tales that attribute the origin of Artemis worship in Ephesus to a legendary group called the Amazons.

[Noel Brown]

NotJeff Bezos no, this is like the. Yeah, the warrior class, right, the warrior group.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, the warrior women.

[Noel Brown]

Yes, exactly. Thank you. Thank you. I believe Wonder Woman was one. Indeed. She was one of the wonders of the ancient world herself. Archeological excavations that happened before World War I discovered three previous versions of temples, each stacked and built atop the other one on the same site. We'll get back to this a little bit. The idea of. What's that bit from Monty Python? The Holy Grail. The castle that kept it sunk into the swamp. So I built another castle and it's sunk into the swamp too.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

And then.

[Noel Brown]

Yes. And this one stood.

[Ben Bolly]

Or the ancient city of Troy.

[Noel Brown]

Also true.

[Max Williams]

Have you guys seen the title? Look at the title. The name of this episode in the brief.

[Ben Bolly]

Yes. Oh, yes.

[Max Williams]

One burned down, fell over into the. When I was writing that, so all I could think about was the Monty Pythons.

[Noel Brown]

Oh, gosh. Yeah, do go and check out that bit. It's delightful and I was totally misquoting it, but yeah, you nailed it. Not only it burned down, fell over, and then sank into the swamp. So we have two previous temples that for reasons didn't make it. And then this wonder of the ancient world was built on top of those.

[Ben Bolly]

I love for reasons. By the way, that's up there with Mistakes were made or I have become strange. Oh, yes, that's. That's our old way. By the way, folks speak behind the curtain on a different show, a buddy, Noel and I figured out that you can get away with dodging any social situation by saying, I'm sorry, I. I can't make it. I have become strange.

[Noel Brown]

I would not say necessarily get away. It's an out for sure. But then there are questions.

[Ben Bolly]

There's a diminishing return at a certain point. It will work once in any group chat, for sure.

[Noel Brown]

I think the best move that you originated, Ben, is just the. Hey, it's Ben from earlier, which I use all the time in my private life. Not with your name, with. With my name.

[Ben Bolly]

But yeah, it's a great one. Yeah. Introduce yourself as comma, from earlier in most social situations. And people will be so mortified by the idea of admitting that they don't know who you are that 9.3 times out of 10 they will go with us. So anyway, look back to the more important thing. How did this become, this succession of temples? How did it become considered one of the ancient wonders of the world? It gets its entry into the list. Around 550 BCE, there is a Cretan architect named Chersiphron and his son co signs him here, the king of Lydia Croesus, the guy we mentioned earlier who has suzerainty and is kind of a pill.

[Noel Brown]

Bit of a butthead.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, bit of a head meeting a butt. There's this new statue of the goddess that's sculpted by a guy named Indios E N D O I O S And then they also made a small temple that had like a little pop up mini temple that had columns or pillars, a triangular structure above the look. They made it a thing is what.

[Noel Brown]

We'Re saying, sort of an ark, a way of housing the goddess, the sculpture of the goddess herself. It was, according to Ephesian tourism and the dmc, quite the archite masterpiece. Exemplifying the skill and artistry of ancient builders. It demonstrated a lot of very, very important architectural structural techniques that were perfected by the Romans.

[Ben Bolly]

Absolutely. Let's imagine if television existed and you heard a TV ad for this, or if podcasts existed and you heard an ad for this. They would say the Temple of Artemis. You like columns, you like Ionic columns? Well, we got you. We got so many columns. We got more than 100 columns. Maybe 130, maybe 127. You gotta see for yourself. But we'll tell you, the columns are so tall, 60ft. This is an imposing temple.

[Noel Brown]

Dude, your pitch right there reminds me of. There's this store in New Jersey, there's a band named after it called Fountains of Wayne and it is a store that just sells fountains and it's in Wayne, New Jersey. And it is featured in an episode of the Sopranos where Tony goes to buy a fountain. And it also, they sell things like weird sculptural busts and stuff that you might have, you know, on your lawn or veranda.

[Ben Bolly]

You need a balustrade, you need a cordiche.

[Noel Brown]

Come on. Yeah, come on down to Columns of Wayne.

[Ben Bolly]

We got you Columns of Wayne. So the temple roof is super fancy. They've got these intricate, ornate carvings and sculptures that all depict various scenes from Greek mythology. And you see this the world round in holy sites, right? Like Angkor Wat is another famous example a world away. This stuff is so incredibly impressive and it's an exhibition of high level craftsmanship for the time. This makes the temple of Artemis an absolute show stopping stunner. That's the first temple. It's really impressive. And then it got destroyed and we see again, there's a pattern here. You're thinking, folks, fellow ridiculous historians, you're thinking, I'm going to tick. Because you apparently have a bad British accent. You're thinking this is episode five of you guys with the wonders of the world. So what about the previous four wonders? What are we talking about? Check out our Hanging Gardens episode.

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, it's a banger. Are we about to get into some mayhem here? We've teased some burnings and sackings and crushings and topplings. We gotta get to it, right?

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, let's do it, Noel.

[Noel Brown]

Well, the first one's a little underwhelming. As we've already teased with the Monty Python refs, the temple faced its first catastrophic, let's say failure due to a severe flood in the 7th century, causing more than half a meter of sand and debris to be deposited, which covered the original clay foundation of the temple. And the subsequent flooding led to further silt deposits which gradually elevated the site by about 2 meters and caused it to become structurally unsound.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, and for a lot of us, especially people who live in a low elevation area, this feels counterintuitive because we're thinking, oh, it raised from the ground, right? Shouldn't that make it more safe? Unfortunately, it was a real tut tut situation because as the centuries continued, the thing kept rising due to that debris you described, and people kept using the temple until it sank.

[Noel Brown]

Everybody knows Shaq, but off camera, he's.

[Ben Bolly]

Just a regular guy.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

People never believe me when I say I'm just like them. I take out the trash, do dishes, and I struggle with moderate obstructive sleep apnea, or osa. And a lot of adults with obesity also struggle with moderate to severe osa. You know, those scary breathing interruptions during sleep, the loud snoring, choking and daytime fatigue. I knew I had to talk to my doctor. Don't sleep on the symptoms. Learn more@don'tsleeponosa.com this information is provided by.

[Noel Brown]

Lilly A Medicine company. All I know is what I've been.

[Ben Bolly]

Told and that to have truth is a whole lie.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story. I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her. We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.

[Ben Bolly]

Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.

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My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.

[Noel Brown]

I did not know her and I.

[Ben Bolly]

Did not kill her or rape or burn or any of that other stuff that y' all said.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured.

[Noel Brown]

Gas on her.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

From Lava for Good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.

America, y' all better wake the hell up.

[Noel Brown]

Bad things happens to good people and small towns.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcast.

[Noel Brown]

It'S Anna Ortiz and I'm Mark and Delicato.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

You might know us as Hilda and.

[Noel Brown]

Justin from Ugly Betty.

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We played mother and son on the show, but in real life we're best friends.

[Noel Brown]

And I'm all grown up now.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

Welcome to our new podcast, Viva Betty. Can you believe it has been almost 20 years? I that's not even possible. You're the only one that loves looks that much different. I look exactly the same. We're rewatching the series from start to finish and getting into all the fashions, the drama, and the behind the scenes moments that you've never heard before.

[Noel Brown]

You're gonna hear from guests like America Ferreira, Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, Becky Newton, Tony Plana, and so many more icons.

[Ben Bolly]

Each and every one, all of a.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

Sudden, like, someone like, comes running up to me and it's Salma Hayek. And she's like, you are my Ugly Betty. And I was like, what is she even talking about? Listen to Viva Betty. As part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Eva Longoria. And I'm Maite Gomez Rejoan. And on our podcast Hungry for History, we mix two of our favorite things. Food and history. Ancient Athenians used to scratch names onto oyster shells and they called these ostracon to vote politicians into exile. So our word ostracize is related to the word oyster. No way. Bring back the ostracon. And because we've got a very mi casa es su casa kind of vibe on our show, friends always stop by.

[Ben Bolly]

Pretty much every entry into this side of the planet was through the El golf of Mexico. El golfo de Mexico. Continuadaciendo a si. Forever and ever.

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It blows me away how progressive Mexico was in this moment. They had land reform. They had labor rights, they had education rights. Mustard seeds were so valuable to the ancient Egyptians that they used to place them in their tombs for the afterlife. Listen to Hungry for History as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Noel Brown]

What goes up must come down. However, they weren't gonna. They weren't gonna put up with this. Those Ephesians, those crafty Ephesians. So they decided to rebuild it after a reconstruction period in around 550 BCE that was paid for by CR, who's the ruler of Ephesus? The architect Cheresafron and his son Metagenes. Metagenes. Perhaps. They were responsible for overseeing the massive construction project. And they did some, you know, they did some plussing up of it as well. They added some marble structures measuring 115 meters long and 46 meters wide and adding further, you know, wow factor, architectural embellishments like the double rows of columns that.

[Ben Bolly]

Do you want columns?

[Noel Brown]

Yeah, we got more columns down to Ephesus.

[Ben Bolly]

We got so many columns. The rumors about the temple sinking into the swamp are malarkey. Come see Temple 2.

[Noel Brown]

Temple 2, I love it. 13 meters high, surrounding what was referred to as the Chela, which was an inner sanctum that actually housed the image of Artemis.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, and this again, as you said, I love the phrase plussed up. This is bigger, better, bolder, faster, stronger, et cetera, or however that song went. What was that?

[Noel Brown]

Daft Punk? Yeah, yeah, it's one of the bigger, faster, harder, stronger. I think we might have left one out.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, we got there.

[Noel Brown]

We get the idea. That was what's going on here. If you're gonna come back, you gotta come back harder for sure. So as we've hinted, this one didn't last either.

[Ben Bolly]

Temple v2.0 gets destroyed in 356 BCE, this time due to a fire. The fire consumes the area. And look, folks, it may sound weird when you hear a fire destroying a largely stone and marble temple, but we have to remember there was a bunch of flammable stuff around there as well. Fabric and various decorations and of course, human beings.

[Noel Brown]

Well, and of course we know that, you know, over time long enough, exposure to heat will degrade the structural soundness of even the, you know, the heaviest materials.

[Ben Bolly]

Sure. And they depend upon wooden roof beams as well. The second destruction is probably due to an arsonist, a guy named Herostratus or Herostratus. He wanted to be famous. It's something a lot of people experience in Ancient civilization and in the modern day. So for a long time his character was ruined because people said this guy wanted to go down in history as the dude who set one of the world's greatest temples on fire. Luckily, other historians and modern boffins have gone back and done some research on this.

[Noel Brown]

It appears there may have been something of a cover up afoot or a conspiracy, like this guy maybe was made a fall guy. They point out that it would have been incredibly difficult for him to access the framing of the roof that would have caused the structural issues that we're talking about here. And they suggest the possibility that it was actually the temple administrators who were asleep at their post and instead of fessing up to what they had done or what they hadn't done, their negligence, they decided to hang it on this poor fellow.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, they, the temple admin might have done something like insurance fraud. They may have secretly started the fire.

[Noel Brown]

Because they didn't even think about that.

[Ben Bolly]

Temple ad structural issues anyway. Yeah, fast forward.

[Noel Brown]

Well, they also got his confession through, you know, like enhanced interrogation. Let's just.

[Ben Bolly]

Right, right, yeah. We do know the plucky Ephesians can't be kept down. So they, they build this thing again on the same site. We said the fire occurred in 356 BCE remember, we count down when we're counting BCE so just a little bit later in 3:55 BCE the next year they begin construction on the third temple. It takes a while and it's done by 330 BCE. And this one, believe it or not folks, just like the story of the houses of the three little piggies. This is the brick one. This is way better, way cooler, way more ostentatious than both of the other two temples. Way more columns, way more. Do you want columns?

[Noel Brown]

Clearly we do. Clearly columns is what the people want.127 to be precise. And as you can imagine, we've got one final whoopsie here in the form of the Goth who came along in 267 CE. Love the Goths, led by Respa Veduk and Thurar. Black metal stuff there, I love it. They raided Ephesus and allegedly, like raiders are wont to do, set fire to the temple of Artemis, also known as the temple of Diana. Right, right.

[Ben Bolly]

Depending on how much you respect the plagiarism of the Romans. Yeah, so I like Max, I like that you popped in just a nod on that one.

[Max Williams]

But it was, by this point in time it had ticked over and so now it was Roman rule. So they're calling it by a different name, but it was the same dang thing.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah. And we don't know still how much damage was inflicted on this temple by the Goths, who were, as you said, just absolutely tearing up the town. But we do believe that this was what we call an inflection point, because after that Temple v3.0 falls into intense disrepair. It becomes what we in Atlanta call a bando.

[Noel Brown]

Remember when that interstate collapsed because there was like piles of construction material underneath it that supposedly were set on fire by. They hung it on again, an individual, an unhoused drug user, a person that they claimed was smoking a certain substance. That very similar kind of felt like a fall guy situation. Can I also just say the plagiarism of the Romans got me too, because I believe earlier, when we were much earlier in the episode, I credited the Romans with those architectural advancements that they so liberally nicked from the Greeks.

[Ben Bolly]

The Romans.

[Noel Brown]

My bad.

[Ben Bolly]

Chatgpt.

[Noel Brown]

They would have loved it.

[Ben Bolly]

So look, you can find the history of Temple v3.0 closing during the persecution of pagans later in the Roman Empire. And if you look toward the boffins of the day like Ammonius of Alexandria, you'll see suggestions that the temple may have closed down as early as 407, Common Era, or may have lasted as long as the mid 4th century. Anyway, it's a long time. It's weird when we get into these kind of numbers because calendars are ridiculous. But after the temple closes and polytheistic worship has kind of entered its sunset era, the city converts to Christianity. And people across the town of Ephesians alter different things, including the temple itself, and they alter it to remove the name Artemis. They're not super concerned about preserving historical works at this point.

[Noel Brown]

No. If anything, they're more interested in bulldozing over them or at the very least, repurposing them in their own image.

[Ben Bolly]

And right now we know that you cannot go and see any of the three versions of the temple as they stood in the days of yore. We actually don't know how the final temple fell. But we do have one important thing we wanted to end on.

[Noel Brown]

So very important. We can't do a wonder of the ancient world and not talk about civ.

[Ben Bolly]

That's right, Sid Meier's civilization. The thing everybody is thinking about. This counts as one of the wonders of the world that you can build in some, but not all iterations of the game civilization. So let's go live to our civil correspondent, Mr. Max Williams. Max, is it Worth building or not?

[Max Williams]

I mean, it really depends on which civ you're playing. Obviously In I believe civs 1 and 2, it's not worth building because you. You can't build it. It's not in the game. But in a lot of the civilizations it's just like, okay, but in Civ 6, because it has not appeared in the newest one 7 yet in Civ 6, it is like probably one of the most overpowered wonders in the game because you can get it very early on.

[Noel Brown]

So building these gives you like, buffs, right? Is that the deal? Okay.

[Max Williams]

And only one civilization can have one. So let's just say we're all three of us are in the game. And Noel, you build Temple of Artemis. I can't build the Temple of Artemis. What really sucks is I could be like one turn away from finishing the Temple of Artemis and you build it. Yeah, it's a real kick in the shin that you missed and went a little higher, let's just say.

[Ben Bolly]

But you get some of your resources. You get your resources back. The issue is really whether or not in earlier iterations of suit of Pre Civilization 6, the Temple of Artemis is mainly meant to be an advantage for trade and culture wins.

[Max Williams]

Right. And this one, it's for building like a mega city, basically. It gives you a bunch of housing, a bunch of food, and it has this really complex mechanic that we're not going to explain on air because it'll bore down.

[Ben Bolly]

It'll take a while.

[Max Williams]

Yeah, it's hard for me to understand. Basically, if you have the right setup, it'll will turn your country into the happiest little country of all time.

[Noel Brown]

That sounds nice. It is nice.

[Max Williams]

I love building it.

[Ben Bolly]

All right, so we've got the. We've got the official rating of this as what you would call a meh wonder. Correct, Max?

[Max Williams]

No, no, it's meh before Civ 6, it is a tier. I would say S tier if you have a bunch of camps, pastures and plantations around that within four tiles.

[Ben Bolly]

And with that, folks, we hope you enjoyed our series, our newest installment on Wonders of the Ancient World. We will be back next week. We've got a classic this weekend that we're quite excited about and we can't wait to hang out with you in the future. Big, big thanks to super producer and research associate Max Williams. Big thanks to Alex Williams, who composed his this Bangin track you're hearing. And negative thanks to Jonathan Strickland, AKA the Quister.

[Noel Brown]

You know, I ran into Jonathan at the office the other day. For the first time in ages. And I just reminded him that we cursed his name at the end of every episode, followed usually by a tacit. But also, we really liked that guy.

[Ben Bolly]

Yeah, also, he was tickled.

[Noel Brown]

He was tickled.

[Ben Bolly]

We do really like him and he will return in the future because every good hero needs a nemesis. Big thanks also to Dr. Rachel Big Spinach Lance AJ Bahamas Jacobs nickname. We won't explain. Who else, who else? Who else?

[Noel Brown]

Oh, well, Dr. Venkman. I'm adding him to the thank yous, Ben.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

All right.

[Ben Bolly]

Thank you, man. Big thanks to Apollo, though.

[Noel Brown]

Thanks. Yeah, well, that's appropriate for today. We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Everybody knows Shaq, but off camera, he's.

[Ben Bolly]

Just a regular guy.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

People never believe me when I say I'm just like them. I take out the trash, do dishes, and I struggle with moderate obstructive sleep apnea, or osa. And a lot of adults with obesity also struggle with moderate to severe osa. You know, those scary breathing interruptions during sleep, the loud snoring, choking, and daytime fatigue. I knew I had to talk to my doctor. Don't sleep on the symptoms. Learn more at don'tsleeponosa.com this information is.

[Noel Brown]

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[Noel Brown]

Johnny Knoxville here. Check out Crimeless Hillbilly Heist, my new true crime podcast from Smartless Media, Campside Media and big money players. It's the true story of the almost perfect crime and the nimrods who almost pulled it off. It was kind of like the perfect.

[Ben Bolly]

Storm in a sewer. That was dumb.

[Noel Brown]

Do not follow my example. Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

I live below a cult leader and I fear I've angered her.

[Noel Brown]

Wait a minute, Sophia, how do you.

[Ben Bolly]

Know she's a cult leader?

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

Well, Dakota, luckily it's I'm not afraid of a scary story. We can't on the OK Storytime podcast so we'll find out soon. This person writes, My neighbor has been blasting music every day and doing dirt rituals and now my ceiling is collapsing. I tried to report them, but things keep getting weirder. I think they might be part of a cult.

[Ben Bolly]

Hold up a real life cult.

[Noel Brown]

And what is a dirt ritual?

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

No clue, Dakota. Find out how it ends. Listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever.

[Noel Brown]

You get your podcasts.

[Various Advertisers/Guests]

This is an iHeart podcast.