Acts 19:1 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Paul—came to Ephesus— Ephesus was the metropolis and principal mart not only of Ionia, but even of all the proconsular Asia, situated on the river Cayster, celebrated for its swans, on the side of a hill, which toward the west has the prospect of a lovely plain, watered and beautified with the pleasant circles of the river, turning and winding in so many curious mazes, that some travellers have mistaken it for the Meander; and this the rather, because the Turks have given it the name of Mendres. It was most celebrated for the magnificent temple of Diana, which was two hundred and twenty years in building, was reared at the common charge of all Asia Propria, and was accounted one of the seven wonders of the world. It was four hundred and twenty-five feet long, and two hundred and twenty broad, supported by a hundred and twenty-seven marble pillars, each of them sixty feet high; the work of a king, who erected them as a token of his magnificence. It had been twice burned down before this period: the first time was on the very day on which Socrates was poisoned, about four hundred years before Christ's incarnation; and the second was on the night in which Alexander the Great was born. It was then set on fire on purpose by Erostratus, who, being condemned to die for it, confessed, that he had destroyed so exquisite a structure purely that he might be remembered in future ages: upon which they not only put him to death, but made a decree, very fruitless indeed in its effects, that his name should never be mentioned more. It was again rebuilt,—the famous Denocrates, whom Alexander the Great afterwards employed in planning and building the magnificent city of Alexandria, being architect; and it was wonderfully adorned, especially by the Ephesians, the ladies contributing very largely towards it. After this, Nero plundered it of its riches; but in St. Paul's time it retained a great deal of its ancient grandeur. In the days of Gallienus the emperor, the Goths entirely destroyed it. It is at present become a mean and sordid village, with scarcely a single family of Christians dwelling in it: nay, indeed, the place where it stood is so little known, that it affords matter of conjecture to travellers. The only two buildings worth observing, are a strong and lofty castle situated on an eminence, and a beautiful church, honoured with the name of St. John, but now converted into a Turkish mosque; and, according to some travellers, there are a few stately ruins, which they suppose to be the remains of the once magnificent temple.