Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1875 — Ephesus. [ARTICLE]

Ephesus.

It is just twelve years since the Trustees of the British Museum inaugurated the researches at Ephesus which six years later culminated in the discovery of the Temple of Diatffc—one of the socalled seven wonders of the world. A firman was obtained from the Turkish Government, and Mr. John T. Wood, of London, was selected to superintend the excavations. The choice of Mr. Wood, an architect hy profession, was most happy, and there have been great results from the wisdom of the selection made by the Trustees. For eleven years the investigations continued; and were brought to an end, we are told, through motives of economy on the part of the British Government. Not, however, fortunately, before some of "the discovered relics were safely placed within the walls of the British Museum. * Before Mr. Wood began his work little was known definitely of Ephesus—one of the seven churches—and in its day a city magnificent in all its parts. The date of the founding of the city was 1043 B. C. It was the ancient capital of lonia and was celebrated for its splendor. The first prominent result of Mr. Wood’s work was the discovery of a beautiful building, fifty feet in diameter, having sixteen columns, standing in the middle of a quadrangle, believed to be the tomb of Bt. Luke, as a most reliaole historian has stated that the apostle was buried at Ephesus. In 1866 thq exploration of the Great Theater was commenced. This vast edifice was found to be 495 feet in diameter, %nd

Mr. Wood calculates that it was capable of holding 24,500 persons. On the last day of the year 1869 Mr. Wood came upon the pavement of the Temple of Diana, some twenty feet below the present surface,and outside the precincts of the ancient city. At a gate of entrance two roads were found to diverge, one of which had deep ruts of chariot wheels, by following which the temple was reached. Pliny gave the dimensions of the temple as 425 feet long by 220 feet wide, but Mr. Wood found these were the dimensions of the lowest step of the base on which the building stood, the actual dimensions of the temple itself being 308 by 168 feet. Ctesiphon is named as the chief architect, and Pliny says there were 127 columns, sixty feet high, of Parian marble, furnished by so many Kings. Mr. Wood found the altar in its proper position, and a sculptured figure of Diana was discovered. A vast block of marble, about eleven tons in weight, part of the frieze of the temple, elaborately sculptured with a representation of the ninth labor of Hercules, was among the “treasure trove,” and may be seen, together with every other morsel of the sculpture, at the British, Museum. Mr. Wood found evidence in the relics that the the temple was adorned with gold and rich coloring. The discovery of a lime-kiln on the lower step of the platform, and a large heap of marble chips, is suggestive of what became of the missing part of the edifices.—Boston Advertiser.