The Priest of Artemis

Alexandros’s heart was beating so fast and so loud that it could have rivaled the drums played at the secret rites. As Alexandros felt the blood rushing through his veins in every part of his body, his eyes met Cassandra’s. The sparkle in the eyes of Cassandra, in the springtime of her sixteen years, was hidden behind a cloud of sorrow. She still could not believe that Alexandros, with whom she had dreamed of sharing her life, would soon become a priest of the goddess Artemis. The night before, when they had been alone together for the last time, she had asked him, “Why did you decide to become a priest of Artemis? Did you never love me?” Alexandros, his eyes filling with tears, had bowed his head and said, “You know that I loved you very much, but this is what Artemis wants. She comes into my dreams at night. By day I see her in the mountains and in the earth. She is calling me.”

What mortal could resist the will of Artemis, the great goddess of Ephesus, goddess of the mountains, the plains, and the wild creatures, in short, nature itself? So Artemis, too, had loved the young and handsome Alexandros and wanted him for herself. What could anyone do?

When the drumbeat calling Alexandros to join the priests of Artemis rang out, Cassandra, risking the wrath of the goddess, followed her beloved into the temple garden. The colossal temple at the center of the well-tended garden was extraordinarily beautiful, with its marble steps, its columns of matchless craftsmanship, and its carved façade. Accompanied by the wild sound of the drums, young Alexandros advanced to the ritual area pointed out by the high priest of Artemis, known as the Megabyzos. Cassandra, meanwhile, hid in a secluded corner and waited for the ceremony that would separate her from her beloved forever to begin.

When the sound of lyres, flutes, and pipes joined the drum rhythms announcing the start of the ceremony, the high priest came to the center of the ritual area and signaled Alexandros to approach. Moving along the path the other priests opened for him, his garment rippling in the wind, Alexandros looked like a sublime messenger come down from the heavens. When the high priest and the candidate stood side by side, time stood still; the wind stopped blowing and sank into silence. Only the drums, the beating of Alexandros’s heart, and the deep voices of the priests could be heard. Under the spell of his surroundings, Alexandros was cut loose from time and space. His will was entirely at the command of Artemis and the Megabyzos.

The old man who bore the title of Megabyzos, given to the high priests of Artemis, and whose real name no one remembered, ordered Alexandros to undress and then severed his manhood with a silver-colored dagger. Young Alexandros’s male organ now lay like a worm writhing in the soil of the Mother Goddess. As the earth drank its fill of the blood pouring from Alexandros’s groin, Cassandra fainted and collapsed to the ground.

The pain jolted Alexandros out of his trance, and he looked down at his manhood writhing on the ground. To escape the horror, he tried to call to mind Cassandra’s smiling face. He knew that his life force, like his blood, was being drawn into the earth. His head was spinning, and he felt sick. When he had no strength left to stand, his naked body met the goddess. As he left this world, the last sound Alexandros heard was the voice of the Megabyzos:

“I think his heart has stopped. The goddess will take him into her womb too. Sometimes our goddess takes in not only the manhood of those she calls to be her priests, but their whole body. Why, I do not know. It is not for us to question the wisdom of Artemis, the great goddess of Ephesus.”

Written for the Ephesus Foundation by author and archaeologist Özlem Ertan.