Statue of Artemis called "Beautiful Artemis"

Statue of Artemis called "Great Artemis"

The Beautiful Artemis, which is displayed in the Selçuk Museum, is one of the finest artifacts, and was made out of thin and fine grained first class white marble. On the statue, on the sides of the head, we see gryphons and deers (deer was the symbol of the goddess representing "tenderness"); on her neck, she wears a necklace of constellation or zodiac; on her arms, there are lions; intead of the breasts, she has rows of eggs or testicles (both represent fertility; on the sides of the lower body, she has some honey-bees which were the symbols of the City of Ephesus representing industriousness; at the bottom of the statue, her feet are covered with water; on each side of the statue stand the deers and bee-hives. The arms are extended forward. All in all, the statue talks as she was the most dominant goddess in the universe and in the City of Ephesus, she gave out fertility, virility, protection and production to her people.
Especially on the "Great Artemis" (It is called Great Artemis because this statue is the largest one found so far around here), you will see three-storey-high crown representing the City of Ephesus, and a line of pomegranates which, also, indicate fertility.
During the ancient times there were traditions as to how to visit the temples: One of these was to sacrifice numerous male animals for the goddess. After the animals were sacrificed, the testicles were cut and tied together to wrap them around the statue of the goddess. This is why those egg-looking shaped decorations are thought to have been the testicles representing "fertility".
Also, after this sacrificing process, the team visiting the temple had to donate large amount of treasure. In time, as a result of the accumulated amount, the attendants thought of loaning money out to the public by getting interest off the money they lent. Thus, this temple became the first bank of the world.