Not much to look at, eh? This lonely pillar is all that remains of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. And Antipater of Sidon claimed it was the best of the seven.
Artemis was a virginal hunting god always pictured at Ephesus covered with fertility-like ‘eggs’ that, depending on the scholars you listen to, are either breasts or bull testicles. The temple was so famous in its day that some idiot named Herostratus burned it to the ground in 356 BCE in an attempt to become famous. (It sort of worked.) It was rebuilt, only to finally be destroyed by a Christian mob led by St. John Chrysostom. I’m guessing they weren’t down with the temple slave-women who ‘served’ Artemis, and other trappings of paganism.
As I’ve always said, if you want your World Wonder to last, build it in the shape of a pyramid.
