Abstract: The first known representation of Artemis from Ephesus in Dacia was recovered in the spring of 2006, the small bronze statuette being part of one of the biggest private, archaeological collections looted from various Roman sites. In this article, the authors present the iconographic features of the statuette, the religious significance of the object and through the modern story of the artefact will reflect on the biography of ancient objects once used in religious contexts. Keywords: Artemis from Ephesus, votive small finds, bronze statuette, archaeological heritage “But in the sanctuary of Ephesian Artemis, as you enter the building containing the pictures, there is a stone wall above the altar of Artemis called Goddess of the First Seat. Among the images that stand upon the wall is a statue of a woman at the end, a work of Rhoecus, called by the Ephesians Night” (Pausanias, Description of Greece. Translated by W. H. S. Jones and H. A. Omerod Loeb Classical Library Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard Uni- versity Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918). 1 Ephesus became one of the most important religious centres of the Anatolian peninsula in the end of the 10 th century B.C. 2 From a small, local shrine built in the Geometric age the sacralised space was maintained till 263 A.D, 3 surviving at least six major phases of construction, 4 numerous floods and destructions 5 and became one of the most successful and monumental example of maintaining a sacralised space, considered even as the “fifth wonder of ancient times”. 6 The success of the Artemision had multiple reasons. The advantageous geographic position be- tween the Hellenic world and the Near East and Egypt created an economic hub in Ephesus and a local elite, who consciously used the sanctuary and the cult of Artemis from Ephesus after 356 B.C. as an important element on the growing religious market of the Mediterranean, creating various festivals, initiations in mysteries and exclusive games for the divinity. 7 It was one of the eight sanctuaries in the whole Roman Empire, which legally was permitted to inherit property. 8 In the early Hellenistic time, the sanctuary became already one of the major pilgrimage centres ARTEMIS EPHESIA IN APULUM BIOGRAPHY OF A ROMAN BRONZE STATUETTE CSABA SZABÓ*–RADU OTA**–MARIUS MIHAI CIUTĂ*** *University of Pécs Rókus u. 2. M épület, H–7624 Pécs Hungary Max Weber Kolleg Nordhäuser Str. 74, 99089 Erfurt, szabo.csaba.pte@gmail.com ** National Museum of Union, Alba Iulia, Str. Mihai Viteazu, nr. 12-14 Alba Iulia, Romania eractum@yahoo.com *** Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu Bulevardul Victoriei 10, 550024 Sibiu, Romania mariusciuta@yahoo.com In honorem Robert Fleischer 75 Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 67 (2016) 231–244 0001-5210/$ 20.00 © 2016 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest DOI: 10.1556/072.2016.67.2.2 1 For a comprehensive selection of literary sources regard- ing the cult see: CAPODIFERRO–QUARANTA 2011, 44–55. A comprehen- sive bibliography on the cult and the iconography of the divinity: FLEISCHER 2009, 91, TURCSáN-TóTH 2015, 211–231. 2 On the earliest phase of the cult site see: FORSTENPOINT- NER et al. 2008, 33–34, Abb.12. 3 MUSS 2008a, 51–52. 4 BAMMER 2008, 75. 5 MUSS 2008b, 47–53. 6 Antipatros from Sidon, Greek Anthology, IX.58. (The Greek Anthology in five volumes, Loeb Classical Library, translated by W. R. Paton) 7 BERNHARD-WALCHER 2008, 15. On the Egyptian and Phoenician relationships and economic links see: HöLBL 2008, 209– 221, SEIPEL 2008, 199–209, cat. nr. 207–231. On the mysteries of Artemis Ephesia and the important economic role of the Kouretes/ bouleutai see: MCLEAN ROGERS 2013, 188–189 and 399. 8 FEAR 2005, 323–324. See also: Ulpian 22.6. (free transla- tion in FEAR 2005, 324).