Herostratus burns the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Artemision standing in 356 BCE was destroyed by arson. The ancient tradition names the arsonist Herostratus and attributes to him the motive of wanting his name remembered, which is why the name survives at all. The temple was rebuilt afterwards on a still larger scale.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (the Artemision) · temple (destroyed) · Türkiye
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
De septem mundi miraculis (On the Seven Wonders of the World), ascribed to Philo of Byzantium
The fullest ancient description of the wonders as a set, written centuries after most had been ruined, and by a later Paradoxographer rather than the 3rd-century BCE engineer Philo Mechanicus.
Transmitted in Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek, Codex Palatinus graecus 398 · 4th–6th century CE (disputed) · Partly verified
Codex Heidelbergensis Palatinus graecus 398, fol. 56v onwards, where the work is ascribed to Philo of Byzantium; edited by Leo Allatius as Philonis Byzantii De septem orbis spectaculis (Rome: Mascardus, 1640s); dating discussion in Hermann von Rohden's linguistic analysis (avoidance of hiatus)
Recorded on Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (the Artemision)
- Antipater of Sidon writes the earliest surviving list of seven wonders
- Herostratus burns the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
- The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is pulled down
- Mausoleum sculpture is removed to the British Museum
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.