Palimpsest THIS!

1) (re)Build. 2) Destroy. 3) Raise foundation. (Repeat as needed.)

Pliny the Elder describes the Temple of Artemis as the “most wonderful monument of Graecian magnificence” in his Natural History. It is located in Ephesus, on a site composed of marshy soil, in order to compromise for the effects of violent earthquakes. But since the foundation was loose and shifted, layers of trodden charcoal and fleeces covered with wool were laid on top.

This temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, had been burned down and rebuilt over and over again. Each time the Temple of Artemis was destroyed, it was rebuilt on the same site, except at a higher level and with greater magnificence and richness.

800 BCE – Temple of Artemis was first built.

550 BCE – Temple is destroyed in war. King Croesus of Lydia conquers Ephesus and rebuilds another temple on the same site.

356 BCE – Temple is burned down by Herostratus, whose motive was eternal fame.

350 BCE – Temple begins to be rebuilt.

333 BCE – Temple is still not completely reconstructed. Alexander the Great offers to finance its completion (only if Ephesus credits him as the builder); the city refused to carve his name on the temple.

When Ephesus fell into a decline, the ruins of the temple was used as a source of building materials. In order to make http://ipalimpsest.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/lighthouse/ for wall plaster, the fine sculptures were pounded into powder. The stones of the temple were used to construct a Christian church nearby. When the Turks came years later, they turned that ancient Christian church into a quarry for building materials to create a mosque.

Some portions of the temple remains are kept at the British Museum today. D.G. Hograth found evidence of five temples constructed on top of each other at the site of the Temple of Artemis.

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