When the town clerk had quieted the multitude, he said, “You men of Ephesus, what man is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great goddess Artemis, and of the image which fell down from Zeus?
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 35. The town-clerk, and so forth Lit. the scribe, or the recorder of the city.—Jupiter’s offspring. [2] His daughter, according to the poets. The Greek text seems to signify a statue, or figure of Diana, which was pretended to have fallen from heaven, and from Jupiter. Witham.—Is a worshipper. Νεωκορον ουσαν; the word Νεωκορος is found in this sense in the Arundelian marbles, and more frequently on ancient coins and inscriptions. Its derivation is from νεως, a temple, and κορη, a virgin, or rather κορειν, to cleanse and decorate; as if this city were especially destined to ornament the Diana of Ephesus, which the people supposed came to them not by the work of man, but a present from heaven.