What are the…
Silver Shrines mentioned in Acts?

These are little models and medallions of the pagan temple and image of the goddess Artemis (aka Diana) of Ephesus mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 19:24)

artist’s impression of an Artemis silver statuette

The manufacture and sale of these was a very large and profitable business.

The Temple of Artemis or Artemision (Greek: Ἀρτεμίσιον), also known as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to an ancient, localised form of the false goddess Artemis (equated with the Roman goddess Diana). It was located in Ephesus (near the modern town of Selçuk in present-day Turkey). It is believed to have been ruined or destroyed by 401 AD. Only foundations and fragments of the last temple remain at the site.

The last and greatest version of this temple was funded by the Ephesians themselves. It is described in the ancient Greek poet Antipater of Sidon in his list of Seven Wonders of the ancient world:

I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, “Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand.”. —Antipater of Sidon, Greek Anthology, IX. 58.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing.