Arson, murder and goddesses: secrets of a Seventh Wonder of the Ancient World

Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine. Today we're journeying back to the ancient world to shine a spotlight on one of its most captivating marvels, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This magnificent temple was not just a feat of architectural brilliance, but a vibrant centre of religious and cultural life. To find out more, Rachel Dinning is joined by the acclaimed historian, broadcaster and author Bethany Hughes, who's the presenter of a new series on the Seven Wonders that's airing now on Channel 5, or available to stream on 5.

Welcome Bethany to the History Extra podcast. It's great to have you back. Lovely to be back. Lovely to see you again. Very lovely to see you.

And today we are going to be talking about the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which is now in western Turkey. And this was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. So this great temple was built by Croesus, king of Lydia, in about 550 BC, and it was rebuilt after being burned by a madman in 356 BC. And we're going to get onto all of that a little bit later. But Bethany, I wanted to kickstart off this podcast by asking you, what was it about this temple that made it so remarkable?

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