Erostratus, the man who burned down the Notre-Dame of Antiquity just to make people talk about him

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Because he wanted to become famous, this Greek destroyed the Temple of Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

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Despite his name, Erostratus was not a sweetheart. He was a detestable gambler. Literally. The story of Erostratus as tradition has retained it can be summed up in one line: devoured by the thirst for distinction – everything except remaining anonymous in History –, this native of Ionia (present-day Anatolia) did not nothing better than burning down the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – in terms of notoriety, it would be a bit like setting fire to Notre-Dame de Paris. It worked as he intended: posterity remembered his name.

However, everything was not supposed to be like this. After his crime, when Erostratus belches his mobile (under torture, of course), the blood of the Ephesians only boils. The death sentence is coupled with damnation of memory : it will now be forbidden to pronounce his name. But three times unfortunately, some chroniclers, intrigued by the excess of his gesture, kept it in their memory and soon their stylus vibrated, it was too late, the cursed surname…