Sardis Temple of Artemis
About
One of the largest Ionic temples ever built, begun around 300 BCE under Seleucid patronage but never finished in antiquity. By 117 CE only the Hellenistic cella and part of its colonnade stood complete, work having stalled generations earlier as Seleucid funding dried up. The gigantic double-cella Roman rebuild, wrapping the whole structure in a forest of new columns and adding an imperial-cult chamber beside Artemis's own, did not begin until Hadrian's reign after 117.
What happened here
The building itself is a house for the god, and most people never go inside. Everything public happens on the steps and at the altar in front: an animal led up, examined, killed cleanly, its organs read, the meat divided and eaten. The priest covers his head and a flute player keeps up a noise so no ill-omened word is heard. Worshippers leave what they can afford — a terracotta figure, a coin, a model of the body part they want healed — and the accumulated clutter is periodically cleared and buried on site. On festival days the doors are opened and the cult statue is dressed, garlanded, and sometimes carried out through the streets. The temple also holds money, which is why towns keep their treasury in one.
Sources
Nearby
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Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →