One of the major businesses of Ephesus was the making of small shrines, which were sold to
visiting pilgrims to place in the temple as offerings. Periodically, the temple priests
would clear away the shrines to make room for yet more shrines to be deposited by
worshippers.Archeological excavations have uncovered great numbers of terra-cotta
shrines in the vicinity of the temple, but no silver ones. But this is not surprising,
since no silver artwork has come down to us from the first century. Anything made with
precious metals was sooner or later melted down. An inscription has been discovered in
Ephesus that refers to a wealthy Roman who presented a silver image of Diana to the city
theater, and there are other local inscriptions that refer to silver statues of Artemis.
So it is not improbable that silver shrines were also made.
Interestingly, an inscription has been found in Ephesus, from the first century, that
refers to a shrine-maker by the name of Demetrius. Was this the individual named in Acts?
Unfortunately, the name Demetrius was extremely common in the ancient world, so the
identification cannot be confirmed. However, historical records do reveal that guilds of
craftsmen played a leading role in the cities of the period, and a disruptive role when
their financial interests were at stake. From Ephesian inscriptions, we know that a guild
of silversmiths existed in Ephesus at this time.
The complaint about a loss of business because of the large number of conversions to
Christianity is echoed in another ancient document. Pliny, the Roman governor of Bithynia
at the beginning of the second century, remarks in a letter that the business of supplying
fodder for sacrificial animals was rapidly declining in his province, because of the
spread of Christianity.(11)
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