Herostratus

Herostratus (also known as Eratostratus, active around 356 BCE) is remembered as the arsonist who set fire to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—purely to secure lasting fame. His name has since become a byword for someone who commits a crime solely to gain notoriety.

Very little is known about his life. No details survive about his family, birth date, residence, occupation, or social status. Historian Albert Borowitz notes that his identity “is shrouded in mystery except for the name that history attributes to him.” It is often assumed he was a citizen of Ephesus (near modern Selçuk, Turkey), but this is uncertain. Because the punishment he received typically applied only to noncitizens, some historians suggest he was not Ephesian by birth, or that he was a slave or former slave. Others suppose he came from a low social standing.

The Temple of Artemis was dedicated to the Greek goddess of childbirth and the hunt. Built over 120 years starting around 560 BCE, it was designed by Chersiphron and Metagenes and was a product of rivalry between Ephesus and Samos. Pliny the Elder estimated it was twice the size of the Parthenon. Nearly all of it was marble, except for the wooden statue of Artemis and the roof. Ancient sources listed it among the Seven Wonders; Philo of Byzantium called it “the only house of the gods,” and Pliny deemed it “the most wonderful monument of Græcian magnificence.”

In 356 BCE—the same year Alexander the Great was born, according to ancient sources—a man burned the temple down; some historians say he set its large wooden roof ablaze. The crime was attributed to Herostratus. He was quickly arrested and tortured, where he confessed that his motive was to gain everlasting fame or notoriety. He was then executed. To thwart his ambition, Ephesus passed a *damnatio memoriae* law forbidding anyone from speaking his name. The arson shocked and grieved the city, possibly pushing it to the brink of panic.

There may be gaps in this account. Borowitz notes that Herostratus confessed his motives under torture rather than crying out his name publicly—and torture was often not considered a reliable way to obtain information. It is also possible that Ephesians suspected his true intention remained hidden, for instance, if enemies of the city had hired him.