He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’….The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: ‘Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?….You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.
The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Ruins of Odeum theater where the riot took place When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together…. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.’ He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: ‘You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business.
A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there (in Ephesus).
56 AD) there arose a disturbance about the Way (early designation for Christianity). An entire change in pagan culture is what is at stake in this passage from Acts 19: Demetrius the Silversmith Mass conversions to Christ (Christianity) change a culture. Conversion to Christ changes the individual.
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