The world's first terrorist, whom many of us remember as Hasan Sabbah, was not Hasan Sabbah. He was Herostratus of Ephesus who burned the temple of Artemis. Would you like to get to know Herostratus of Ephesus, who burned Artemis just to attract attention?
In Ephesus, the first terrorist recorded in history... History shows the year 356 BC. Why did Herostratus burn the temple, one of the 7 wonders of the world, built in the name of Goddess Artemis by the people of Ephesus with great efforts and sacrifices? In addition, Ephesus was in a politically sensitive period, was under Persian Invasion, and was ruled by the Persian Governor Tsafernes.
There is nothing worse than advertising
To have his name written down in history, and to have his name spoken of by people centuries later... The young Herostratus of Ephesus, who saw the secret of immortality in having his name written down in history, burned down the Temple of Artemis in 550 BC, as they say, there is no such thing as good or bad publicity. That temple was built by the people with great efforts on July 21, 356 BC. Its construction was completed in 120 years.
Herostratus was a 4th-century BC Greek, accused of seeking notoriety as an arsonist by destroying the second Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (on the outskirts of present-day Selçuk). The conclusion prompted the creation of a damnatio memoriae law forbidding anyone to mention his name, orally or in writing. The law was ultimately ineffective, as evidenced by surviving accounts of his crime. Thus, Herostratus has become an eponym for someone who commits a criminal act in order to become famous.
Considering that the Temple of Artemis, whose architects were Metagenes and Kersifron, is one of the seven wonders of the world, we can understand how eager this young man from Ephesus was to write his name in history. Well, we don't know why he was so eager to be remembered badly. If he had gone and developed two ideas, said aristocratic words, discovered fire, etc. (!) we would remember it better, right?
The penalty of having your name forgotten forever
He says that the only mark Kleon will leave on history is to have judged himself. At the end of this trial, Herostratus, who is both ambitious and arrogant, is sentenced to have his name forgotten forever.
His statement also goes down in history
His name has not been forgotten and the statement he made goes down in history. Herostratus's statement is as follows: "I burned the Temple of Artemis on my own. I could not share this victory with others. I climbed all the steps of fear one by one. I experienced each stage to my bones and it was over. The first was the fear I felt when I first thought of what I had done, but the glory and "This fear went away because I knew that I would gain fame. The second one caught me inside the temple while he was smearing pitch on the walls and setting fire to it with kindling. A few blows took away that fear as well."
His apology is bigger than his fault
We don't know if you will accept this situation as his apology being greater than his fault, but Herostratus is a really strange person. He did not stop with these sentences and continued his words as follows: "The worst thing was the third one. The temple was burning, the ceiling was cracking, the columns were falling down, and the marble was falling into pieces. People were screaming, tearing their hair, and coming to see the fire I lit. I got over this quickly, too. I climbed onto a mound next to the burning temple. And I screamed. Hey, listen to me. I burned this temple. I, Herostratus. They heard me, but suddenly they became silent. There were only sounds coming from the burning temple. Then, they started coming towards me. Those faces. I saw the flames in their eyes. That was the fourth moment. "I heard the fear. The fear of death. That was the weakest thing. Because I don't believe in death."
Wow, what a poetic language all these archaic Greeks had. He may have gone down in history as the first criminal who was so shameless and made such a poetic statement. It can truly be said that Herostraus was an interesting criminal.
Strabo wrote
Ironically, history was on his side and we are reading these lines about him today. Of course, we are not the ones who make Herostratus' dreams come true. Greek historian Strabon, who lived between 63 and 23 BC, recorded this event and the name.
'Forget Herostratus'
Also, Russian writer Grigory Gorin wrote a play called 'Forget Herostratus'. The play tells the story of Herostratus burning down the temple of Artemis to become famous.
Herostratic Fame
We owe the phrase 'Herostratic Fame' to this young friend from Ephesus who speaks shamelessly and poetically. This idiom is used to describe people who want to become famous at all costs. And don't we see a lot of Herostratus on social media today?