Acts 19:35

‘And when the city clerk had quietened the crowd, he says, “You men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of Artemis (Diana) the Great, and of the image which fell down from heaven (or ‘from Zeus')?” '

Then the city clerk hushed the crowd and spoke to them. With the Asiarchs there, and the city clerk, the meeting had become quasi-official, exactly the kind of unofficial meeting not approved of by the Romans who kept an eye out for such things. He pointed out that he was on their side, but that they were making a fuss about nothing, for everyone knew that the city of Ephesus was the temple-keeper of ‘Artemis the Great (a title found on inscriptions) and that its image ‘fell down from heaven'. This was probably a meteorite which happened to have protuberances on it which suggested breasts, the whole possibly even having been manually shaped to suit her reputation. Meteorites are know to have been worshipped in other great cities. They were naturally seen by the ignorant as from the world of the gods.

His argument was subtle. These people were declaiming because Paul had taught that idols made with hands could not be true gods. Well, in this case that was irrelevant. Was it not known to all that the image of Artemis had fallen from heaven? It was thus not made with hands! Therefore Paul's words had not been spoken against Artemis.

He was not, of course, aware of what had been the original grievance, the trading losses of the silversmiths. For by being transformed into a religious quarrel the initial complaint had been lost sight of. Demetrius had probably not expected such a swift intervention by the authorities. He had possibly hoped that he and his colleagues would find Paul and ensure that he was ‘accidentally' severely beaten up, or died in the riot, before any hearing actually took place.

‘Temple-keeper (literally ‘temple-sweeper').' This was an official title indicative of connection with the Imperial cult. Thus by the use of this phrase the Temple of Artemis is seen as directly connected with the Imperial cult. A later Ephesian coin shows that at some later stage there were four official temple-keepers in Ephesus, the temple-keeper of Artemis, and the temple-keepers of the three Imperial cult temples. But at this stage there were probably only the Temple of Artemis and two Imperial cult temples, the Temples of Dea Roma and Divus Julius, established with the permission of the Emperor Augustus. These latter were Imperial Cult temples erected with the permission of Augustus in honour of his adoptive father Julius Caesar and of the goddess Roma who signified Rome. The cult of Artemis and the cult of Roma and the Emperor are thus seen to go hand in hand, as related to the Imperial cult. Rome and the goddess ruled together. Depicted by Luke in terms of the Temple of Artemis (as it had to be. The Imperial cult Temples were best not mentioned in a negative way) they were the very antithesis of the Kingly Rule of God.