<P> The earliest version of the temple ( a temenos ) antedated the Ionic immigration by many years , and dates to the Bronze Age . Callimachus , in his Hymn to Artemis , attributed it to the Amazons . In the 7th century BC , it was destroyed by a flood . Its reconstruction , in more grandiose form , began around 550 BC , under the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes . The project was funded by Croesus of Lydia , and took 10 years to complete . This version of the temple was destroyed in 356 BC by Herostratus in an act of arson . The next , greatest and last form of the temple , funded by the Ephesians themselves , is described in Antipater of Sidon 's list of the world 's Seven Wonders : </P>
<P> The earliest version of the temple ( a temenos ) antedated the Ionic immigration by many years , and dates to the Bronze Age . Callimachus , in his Hymn to Artemis , attributed it to the Amazons . In the 7th century BC , it was destroyed by a flood . Its reconstruction , in more grandiose form , began around 550 BC , under the Cretan architect Chersiphron and his son Metagenes . The project was funded by Croesus of Lydia , and took 10 years to complete . This version of the temple was destroyed in 356 BC by Herostratus in an act of arson . The next , greatest and last form of the temple , funded by the Ephesians themselves , is described in Antipater of Sidon 's list of the world 's Seven Wonders : </P>
when was the temple of artemis first destroyed
when was the temple of artemis first destroyed
In the 7th century BC
In the 7th century BC