Falkener, Edward: Ephesus and the temple of Diana (London, 1862)

VIII.

FINAL DESTRUCTION, AND CONCLUSION.

" "TTTHAT is become of the Temple of Diana?
* ' Can a wonder of the earth be vanished
like a phantom, without leaving a trace behind!"
Such was the question Dr. Chandler asked on
viewing the site of Ephesus. And, indeed, it is
extraordinary, not only that there are no remains
left us to point out the site Avhere the Temple once
stood; but that we should have such few and
uncertain records of its destruction, and not a
single account from any historian, geographer, or
traveller, of its lying in a state of ruin. That the
Temple itself should have disappeared is not extra-
ordinary, when we consider how other monuments
of antiquity have vanished from the earth. Whoever
has had the opportunity of seeing ancient remains,
cannot but have remarked how some portions of a
wall are as perfect as if just constructed, while other
portions of the same wall have disappeared, and the
grass grown over the site as fresh and beautiful as
if the ground had never been used for other pur-
poses than for sheep to pasture on. Whenever this