“She Who Endures: Power, Politics, and the Iconography of Artemis of Ephesus”

with Dr. Carla Ionescu

Thursday,  March 5, 2026 at 3:00 PM Eastern Time  

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In her latest book, She Who Endures: The Cult and Iconography of Artemis of Ephesus, Dr. Carla Ionescu reexamines one of the most misunderstood divine figures of the ancient Mediterranean. Far from being a regional curiosity or an anomaly within Greek religion, Artemis of Ephesus was a powerful, adaptive, and politically embedded goddess whose cult shaped civic identity, imperial diplomacy, and religious imagination for centuries.

This lecture explores how the Ephesian Artemis functioned simultaneously as city protectress, cosmic sovereign, and sacred embodiment of continuity. Drawing on archaeological evidence, temple dedications, imperial coinage, inscriptions, and sculptural programs, the talk traces how her distinctive iconography emerged and evolved across Archaic, Hellenistic, and Roman contexts. Particular attention will be given to the famous cult statue type and the symbolic language embedded in its form, including animal imagery, cosmic references, and ritual ornamentation.

Rather than treating Artemis of Ephesus as a deviation from the “Greek” Artemis, this presentation argues for theological continuity across her manifestations. The Ephesian goddess reveals how local tradition, Anatolian religious heritage, and Greek cult practice intertwined to produce a form of sacred authority that endured political change, imperial control, and shifting religious landscapes.

By examining the material record alongside literary testimony and civic history, this lecture invites us to reconsider how ancient communities constructed divine power, and how modern scholarship has often constrained it. Artemis of Ephesus did not simply survive history. She shaped it.

Dr. Carla Ionescu is an ancient historian and author specializing in Greek religion and Mediterranean cult traditions. She has taught at several Canadian universities and colleges, bringing over a decade of experience in both in-person and online instruction. Her research focuses on the material culture, sanctuaries, and evolving iconography of Artemis across the Mediterranean world. She is the author of She Who Hunts: Artemis, the Goddess Who Changed the World (2022) and She Who Endures: The Cult and Iconography of Artemis of Ephesus (2025). Her work combines archaeological evidence, inscriptions, literary sources, and site-based research to reconstruct how Artemis functioned within civic, political, and ritual life from the Archaic period through Late Antiquity.

Dr. Ionescu is also the founder of the Artemis Mapping Project, an ongoing digital initiative documenting sanctuaries and dedications to Artemis across the Mediterranean, Balkans, and Near East. Through public lectures, workshops, and field research, she works to make ancient material culture accessible to both academic and public audiences. Her current projects explore Artemis in relation to mountain traditions, animal sovereignty, and the broader religious networks of the ancient world.

 

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