In the magnificent Gardens of the Villa d'Este there are avenue of trees, reliefs in marble or stone, extraordinary fountains and nymphaea. We should never forget how the artists of the renaissance and baroque age, when the main masterpieces of the gardens were completed, were inspired a lot by what was the classical culture. And it is, therefore, very easy for us today to admire a statue or a fountain, and, in a certain way, travel back in space and time.

Take what you see in the photo, for example. This is the small nymphaeum, dedicated to Diana of the Ephesians, whose worship was deeply felt in ancient times, especially in the area of Ephesus, a city which became, later, known for its full christianization. Ephesus became, historically, a sort of bulwark of the polytheism of the Greek culture as a whole. In addition to the temple, in fact, stood near a majestic library, of the age of Trajan in this case. For the general conception, an ancient library is a depository of knowledge and of the knowledge of the world of the time. A series of values that, because simply of the history, have been partially lost with the advent of Christianity. But let's go back now to the real star of the picture: the Diana of the Ephesians. As you can we have a female figure adorned like a queen, that has a series of breasts, from which protrude small jets of water. This is the way of representing Diana, not as the Goddess of the Hunt, or the personification of the moon, but as the Goddess of life and fertility. From this concept the many breasts of which is provided with this Diana is the protagonist of a form of worship that had its climax in the ancient city of Ephesus, located along the modern coast of Turkey.

Here was built a temple dedicated to Diana (or Artemis in the Greek version), a sacred place that will come to be considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world! You understand, therefore, the extent of this worship, and the importance of the temple as a building. According to some sources, and some archaeological evidences, it seems that the area became a sacred place, or at least frequented, already in the XV century b.C. We are talking about a time that was centuries earlier the foundation of Rome, to have an idea. But the evolution of the area took a turn in the VII century b.C., when the first sacred enclosure was built. The first temple, peripteral with cell stone to house the cult statue, was built in the VII century b.C. But at the VI century, around the 560 b.C., the temple was reconstructed in forms more monumental thanks to the legendary king Croesus of Lydia. This man will go down in history for being a sort of King Midas, able to turn everything he touched into gold. It is probable, however, that this exaltation derived from the extraordinary economic and political success achieved by the king, capable of making modern for the era, his kingdom and its cities. In fact, it seems that he came to the minting of gold coins! Of course, not easy to 2500 years ago.

But, above all, a fact that will go down in history: the great fire of the 21st July, 356 to b.C., that completely destroyed the temple, an act of arson carried out by Erostrato, a man who with his gesture, he simply wanted to enter into history and be remembered forever. Amazing to think in the modern world, if we want to, the gesture: in order to be recognizable, even to be remembered by posterity, Erostrato has not had scruples in committing an act that, even today, has all the trappings of the sacrilegious. He has not only destroyed a building, even at the time, was considered an architectural marvel. No, because Erostrato did much more: he challenged openly the deity, Diana, in this case. Remember how centuries ago, perhaps more than today, you really had a fear of the deity, which, if challenged, were capable of a punishment terrible. But Erostrato, in order to be recalled, however assembled and burned the fire. It's a shame because, despite all the attempts made by the ancients, her name is effects mentioned (and I'm talking to myself now...), so have the certainties even of the year and date. Something very difficult for the ancient sources, then, considering that we are talking about more than 2400 years ago. Alexander the Great, when he moved on to Ephesus a few years later, he will find the remains of the destroyed temple, they decided to rebuild. The memory was still alive and the remains still smoldering. But now think of this: how far back in time, and space, we went? Yet we are within a garden of extraction of the late renaissance, we are in a place designed "only" five centuries ago. But admiring a small nymphaeum, like this, instead, we went much further back. And we understood, finally, how much man can suffer from delusions of grandeur...