点评:Little remains of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but the ruins are still worth visiting if you decide to explore the magnificent nearby archaeological site of the ancient city of Ephesus. There were several versions of the temple over the centuries and the most famous and grandest one, built in the 4th century BC/BCE, attracted pilgrims from all over the Mediterranean in its heyday. Sadly, it was destroyed by the Goths in the 3rd century AD/CE and it was never rebuilt.
If you wish to learn more about the temple and its history, you should visit the nearby Ephesus Museum, which contains sculptures and other recovered items from the site. It is difficult to imagine how grand the temple must have looked, but if we trust the ancient Greek poet Antipater of Sidon, it must have been a wonder to behold:
"I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand."
翻译:阿尔忒弥斯神庙是古代世界七大奇迹之一,如今仅存少量遗迹,但如果您决定探索附近宏伟的以弗所古城考古遗址,其遗址仍然值得一游。几个世纪以来,这座神庙曾有过多个版本,其中最著名、最宏伟的版本建于公元前四世纪,在其鼎盛时期吸引了来自地中海各地的朝圣者。可惜的是,它在公元三世纪被哥特人摧毁,此后再未重建。
如果您想了解更多关于这座神庙及其历史的信息,可以参观附近的以弗所博物馆,那里收藏着从遗址中发掘出的雕塑和其他文物。很难想象这座神庙当时的宏伟程度,但如果我们相信古希腊诗人西顿的安提帕特的话,它一定令人叹为观止:
“我曾目睹巴比伦巍峨的城墙,城墙上有一条战车之路,阿尔菲斯河畔的宙斯雕像,空中花园,太阳巨像,巍峨金字塔的宏伟工程,以及摩索拉斯的宏伟陵墓;但当我看到高耸入云的阿尔忒弥斯神殿时,其他奇迹都黯然失色,我不禁感叹:‘瞧,除了奥林匹斯山,太阳从未如此雄伟。’”