Herostratus
| Herostratus | |
|---|---|
| Native name | Ηρόστρατος |
| Died | c. 356 BC |
| Cause of death | Execution |
| Known for | Destroying the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus |
Herostratus (Ancient Greek: Ἡρόστρατος) — or Erostratus — was a 4th-century BC Greek arsonist, who sought notoriety by destroying one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. His acts then prompted the creation of a law forbidding anyone to mention his name. Nevertheless, his name has become a metonym for someone who commits a criminal act in order to become noted.
On a date said to be equivalent to 21 July 356 BC, seeking notoriety, Herostratus burned down the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, in the Persian Empire (now Turkey). The temple honoured a local goddess, conflated by the Greeks with Artemis, their goddess of the hunt, the wild, and childbirth. The temple was constructed largely of marble and was built by King Croesus of Lydia to replace an older site destroyed during a flood. Measuring 130 metres (430 feet) long and supported by columns 18 metres (59 feet) high, it was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Herostratus claimed credit for the arson in an attempt to immortalise his name. To dissuade those of similar intentions, the Ephesian authorities not only executed him, but attempted to condemn him to a legacy of obscurity by forbidding mention of his name under penalty of death. However, this did not succeed in wiping the name of Herostratus from history, because the event appears in Philippics of the ancient historian Theopompus and later in the works of Strabo. It is said that in fact his name has outlived the names of his judge, and in his Hydriotaphia Sir Thomas Browne said: But the iniquity of oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy, and deals with the memory of men without distinction to merit of perpetuity... Herostratus lives that burnt the Temple of Diana, he is almost lost that built it... Who knows whether the best of men be known? or whether there be not more remarkable persons forgot, than any that stand remembred in the known account of time?
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