Ephesus, and the Temple of Diana

by Edward Falkener

The English architect and archaeologist Edward Falkener (1814 96) spent a fortnight sketching the ancient ruins of Ephesus during his trip through Anatolia in the 1840s. In Part I of this 1862 publication, he tries to reconstruct the architectural features of Ephesian buildings, tracing the history of the city. Falkener's accomplished sketches and layouts display his artistic talent, which won him the grand medal of honour at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855. Part II focuses on the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Falkener surveys ancient writings relating to the Greek temple, which still awaited rediscovery at that time. Although his speculations about the location of the temple were later proven wrong by John Turtle Wood, who correctly identified the site in 1869 (his 1877 account is also reissued in this series), Falkener's work added to the Victorian interest in ancient architecture."

410 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003

Reviews

[Merve]

It's a great book when you considered that it was published in 1862. Falkener explained the temple both from construction and the historical perspective by comparing it with other examples of its time period. I will not use this book in my thesis that much, but it would be great for people to see the transition in the knowledge of the Temple of Diana and Ephesus within context.

[Sian John]

An interesting book with some good history of Ephesus. It’s also interesting to see the different attitudes to collecting marbles from, or should that be despoiling ancient sites. However, there’s no difference in font size between the body and the notes on the kindle version I read. This makes it very difficult to read.