St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1891-12-26
Ephesus the envy of the world. Great was


erva, to Neptune to Mercury, to Bacchus,
to Hercules, to Caesar, to Fortune, to Juplt-
er Olympus. What history and poetry and
chlsel and canvas have not presented has
come up at the call Of arche0loCists' powder
blast and crO1Fbar
But [ have now to unveii the chief wonder
of this chefest of cities. In 1858 un,lnr the
patronage of the English Government.
Mr.. Wood, the explorer, began at IJneluS
to feel along under the ground at gre It
depths for roads, for walls for tJ.ve5's, an !
here it is-that for which Z, 'heSuS WAS more
celebrated than all else beSitte5--tha temple
oil. the goddess Diana, caiiel tha sixth wonAA:
of the world, ana in 1883 we st3O AMI the
ruins of that temple measuring its pillars.
transtixed by its sculpture and contour }'l
at what was the greatest temple Of i!olatry,
in all time
As sat on piece Of one Of its fallen col
INNS | said "W hat eartnuuaEe rOci9i if
,iowIl, or what hurricane pushed it to tn :
earth, or unGler what strong WINE Of cenjU.-
les did the giant st2gger and fall?' There
have been seven temples Of Diana, the runs
Of each contributing something for the
spendor OF its architectural successors.
Two hundred and twenty years was this last
temple in construction. Twice as long as
the United States have stood was that tent
pie in building. 1t was nearly twice as large
as st. Paui's Cathedral LontOn. Lest it
should be disturbed by earthquakes which
have always been fond OF making U1osa re-
gions their playground the temple was built
on marsh, which was made firm by LAYERS
of charcoal, covered by tiaeceg OF wool. the
stone came from the quarry near by.
After it was decreed to build the temple it
was thought it would be necessary to BRING
the building stone from other lands, bu5 one
day shepherd by the name of PixoiOrus,
while watching his tocAs, saw two rams
fighting, and as they missed the interlCc!iing
OF their horns and one fell bis horn knocked
a splinter from the rock and showed 10y that
splinter the iustrcuS whlteness Of the rock
The shepherd ran to the city with piece OF
that stone, which revealed a quarry from
which place the temple was built, and every
month in all ages since the Mayor OF
EphesUs goes to that quarry to offer sacri
fees to ths memory OF that shepherd who
discovered this source OF splendOr ami
wealth Of the cities of Asia Minor
In removing the great stones from the
quarry to their destined places in the temple,
il was necessary, in order to keep the wheels,
which were twelve feet in diameter, from
sinking deep into the earth under the I'M
paraieled heft, that a frame OF tllnDerS be
arranged over which the wheels rolled. 10
put the immense block of marble in its place
over the doorway OF one Of these Temples
was so vast and difficult all undertaking that
the architect at one time gave it up, and il
his chagrin attempted suicide, but one night
in his sleep he dreamed that the stone had
settled to the right place, and the next day
he found that the great block Of marble had,
by its own weight, settled to the right
place.
The temple of Diana was four Lunire an
twenty-five feet long by tvs hundred and
twenty five feet vide All Asia was taxed
to pay for it. 1t had one bnudred AMI
tweuty-seyen pillars, each sixty saet high,
ana each the gift OF a king, and inscribed
with the name of the donor. Nov YOU sea
the meaning Of that passage in Revelation,
Just as a king presenting one OF these pillars
to the Temple of Diana had his own name
chiSeled on it and the name OF ms Owl
country so says Christ, Him that over.
cometh will make pillar in the temple Of
My God, and | will write upon him the name
OF My God and the name OF the city OF Ny
God which is New Jerusalem, ami I will
write upon Him Ny new name" How sug-
gestive and beautiful.
In addition to those pillars that I climbed
over while amid the ruins of DAMS temple,
| saw afterward eight of those pillars at
Constantinople, to which city they had been
removed, ami are now part Of the Mosque
of ST. Sophia. Those eight columns are all
green jasper, but some of those which stool
in Diana's temple at Ephesu5 were fairly
drenched with brilliant coors. Costly met
ais stood up in various parts Of the temple.
where they could catch the fullest flush OF
the sun. A flight OF stairs was carved out
of one grapevine. Doors OF cypress wood,
which had been kept in glue for years and
bordered with bronze in has relief, swung
against pillars of brass and resounded with
echo upon echo, caught up and sent on and
hurled back through the corridors.
In that building stood an image Of Diana,
the goddess. The impression was abroad as
the Bible records, that that image had
dropped plumb out OF heaven into that
temple, and the sculptors who really made
the image were put to death, SO ttat they
could not testify of its human manufacture
and so deny its celestial origin. 1t was
thought by intelligent people that the ma
terial from which this idol was formed might
have dropped out OF heaven as an aerolIte.
w have seen in the British museum, and III
universities Of our own west blocks OF stone
hurled off from other worlds. These aero
ites were seen to fall, and witnesses have
gone to the landing places, and scientists have
them to be the product Of other
worlds.
But the material out or which the image
Of Diana was fashioned contradicts that
notion. This image was carved out OF ebony
and punctured here and there with openings
kept full of spikenard SO as to hinder the
statue from decaying and make it aromauc,
but this ebony was covered With bronze and
alabaster A necklace OF acorn5 coIled grace
fully around her There we're four lions on
each arm, typical of strength. Her head
was coroneted Around this figure stood
statues which by wonderful lnventlon shed
tears. The air BY strange achlnery was
damp with descending perfumes. The walls
multiplied the scene by conceived mirrors:
Fountains tossed in sheaves Of light and teu
in showers of diamonds.
Praxiteles, the sculptor. and Apalles the
painter, filled the place with their trlumphs.
Croesus, the wealthiest of the ancients, put
h re and there in the temple golden helf3rs.
The paintings were 50 vivid and lltelke that
Alexander who was moved at nothing Oh
terror, shuddered at one battle scene on these
walls. and SO true to life was painting OF
horse that when Alexander's horse was led
up to it he began to neigh, as one morse Is &C
clstomed to greet another. One painting IN
that temple cost Sl93, $50 The treasures or
ali nations and the spoils of kingdoms were
kept here for safe deposit Criminals from
ali lands fed to the shelter of this temple,
and the law could not touch them. 1t seemed
almost strange that this mountain OF aren't
tectural snow outside did not melt with the
fires of color within.
The temple was surrounded with groves,
in which roamed for the temptation OF
hunters stays ana mares anu " I'LL ooai :, o"C'
all STYLES OF game, whether winged OF four
footei, There was a cave with statue 50
intensely brilliant that it extinguished the
eve of those who looked upon it, unless, at
the command of the priest. the hand OF the
spectator somewhat shaded the eye.
No wonder that even Anthony and Alex
ander and Darius cried out in the words of
nv text, Great is Diana Of the Ephe-
sians."
One whole month of each year, the month
of May, was devoted to her worship. Pro-
cessions in garbs of purple and violet AMI
scarlet moved through it, and there were
torches and anthems. and cnoirs in white,
and timbrels and triangles in music, sacri-
fees and dances. Nations voted large
amounts to meet the expense of the worship.
Fisheries of vast resources We're devoted 10
the support of this resplendence. Horace
and Virgil and Homer went into rhapsodies
VlniIa describing this Worship