Artemis of the Ephesians: Acts 9

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. When Paul and his disciples entered Ephesus there was a silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, the patron diety of Ephesus, which brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. The silversmith called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. Now this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty."

Deities such as Artemis were honored with festivals, prayers, and sacrifices. Annual festivals included banquets, entertainment, sacrifices, processions, athletic contests, and the performance of mystery rites. Prayers included invocation, praise, and petition with the goal of receiving the favor of the goddess. Sacrifices were offered for praise, thanksgiving, or supplication. Can we begin to imagine the difficulties that Paul and his followers must have had trying to convince the Ephesians to change centuries of close-held belief? In the early church, the character of Christians was very important for gaining a hearing and for winning converts as they boldly gave testimony of their new faith. What were these Christians like?

When Rome conquered the Western world, the rulers saw how important religion was to the people. Rather than fight against this, they took advantage of it by putting images of the Roman emperors in places of worship with the other deities. This wasn't a big problem for the Greeks. Apart from the fact that the Romans were their rulers, Greeks weren't exclusive in their worship. To worship one deity didn't preclude worshiping others as well.

For the Christians, however, Jesus was Lord; there could be no other gods besides Him, and they couldn't bow before anyone who claimed divine authority, including the emperor. However, since in the minds of the Romans the emperor represented the state, to refuse to bow before his image was to be an enemy of the state.

The riot in Ephesus that resulted from Paul's teaching was prompted partly by monetary concerns; the craftsmen were afraid of losing business. But the chant, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians" which went on for two hours--by people who didn't even know what the specific problem was--shows that money was not the only issue. The strength of religious devotion to the civic cults was such that Roman emperors saw the advantage of identifying with them instead of fighting them.