Herostratus

Herostratus (also known as Eratostratus) was an arsonist who set fire to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, in 356 BCE. His goal was to become infamous, and his name has since become a byword for someone who commits a crime purely for fame. Very little is known about him—nothing about his family, birthplace, occupation, or social status survives. Historians assume he may have been a citizen of Ephesus (near modern Selçuk, Turkey), but this is uncertain. Because the punishment for his crime was typically reserved for non-citizens, some scholars suggest he was a slave, former slave, or foreigner, possibly of low social standing.

The temple, dedicated to the Greek goddess Artemis, was built over 120 years starting around 560 BCE, designed by Chersiphron and Metagenes. Pliny the Elder estimated it was twice the size of the Parthenon, and it was made almost entirely of marble, except for the wooden statue of Artemis and the roof. Ancient writers like Philo of Byzantium and Pliny called it "the only house of the gods" and "the most wonderful monument of Græcian magnificence." On the day Alexander the Great was born, the temple was set ablaze—some say the large wooden roof was the target. Herostratus was arrested, tortured on the rack, and confessed he wanted everlasting fame. He was executed, and Ephesus passed a law forbidding anyone from mentioning his name, hoping to deny him the notoriety he sought.

There may be gaps in this account. Historian Albert Borowitz notes that Herostratus confessed his motives under torture, rather than shouting his name publicly, which was unusual. Torture was not always seen as reliable for obtaining truth. Ephesians may have suspected he was hired by enemies of the city, hiding his true intentions. The temple was rebuilt starting in 323 BCE, larger than before, but was looted and burned by the Goths around 262/267 CE, and finally destroyed by a Christian mob in 401 CE. As of 2017, only a single reassembled column remained standing.

Herostratus’s motives remain unclear. Ancient sources agree he wanted eternal fame, but not why. The leading theory since antiquity is that he resented some perceived injustice and could not gain a good reputation, so he turned to crime. Greek satirist Lucian first suggested jealousy or a feeling of mediocrity drove him—fame could only come by burning the temple, a perversion of the Greek admiration for honor and heroism. Russian poet Semyon Nadson wrote that Herostratus saw himself as a "maggot squashed by destiny." Roman historian Valerius Maximus noted his sacrilege as a factor.

The damnatio memoriae law failed to silence ancient writers; if anything, it may have ensured his posthumous fame, argues Matthew Fraser. The first to mention him was Theopompus, a contemporary historian, in his work *Philippica*. Valerius Maximus later used Herostratus as an example of a criminal quest for glory, alongside Pausanias, who killed Philip II of Macedon. Around the second century CE, Lucian linked the arson to Peregrinus’s self-immolation at the Olympics. By the Middle Ages, Herostratus was a familiar figure in Europe. Writers like Geoffrey Chaucer referenced him to criticize unscrupulous bids for celebrity, noting that fame for wrongdoing often outlasts deserved glory. In Juan Ruiz de Alarcón’s 1630 comedy *The Suspicious Truth*, the protagonist argues that obscurity makes a person an "animal" and that fame must be sought by any means. Colley Cibber’s 1699 play *Richard III* also draws on his story. Modern scholars see his crime as prefiguring terrorist acts, such as the assassination of Empress Elisabeth of Austria and the September 11 attacks.