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Chap. Liv

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BUILDINGS, ETC. (Continued.) Temple of Diana at Ephesus-Laocoon-Babylon-Alhambra. TEMPLE OF DIANA, AT EPHESUS. - The chief ornament of Ephesus was the temple of Diana, built at the common charge of all the states in Asia, and, for its structure, size, and furniture, accounted among the wonders of the world. This great edifice was situated at the foot of a mountain, and at the head of a marsh; which place they chose, if we believe Pliny, as the least subject to earthquakes. This site doubled the charges; for they were obliged to be at a vast expense in making drains to convey the water that came down the hill into the morass and the Cayster. Philo Byzantius tells us, that in this work they used such a quantity of stone, as almost exhausted all the quarries in the country; and these drains, or vaults, are what the present inhabitants take for a labyrinth. To secure the foundations of the conduits or sewers, which were to bear a building of such prodigious weight, they laid beds of charcoal, says Pliny, well rammed, and upon them others of wood: Pliny says, four hundred years were spent in building this wonderful temple, by all Asia: others say, only two hundred and twenty. It was four hundred and twentyfive feet in length, and two hundred in breadth, supported bv