What curious illustrations of early heathenism, of Devil worship, of
Serpent worship, of Sun worship, and other archaic forms of religion;
of early astrological and chemical lore, derived from the Egyptians,
the Persians, the Greeks; what abundance of superstitious observances
and what is now termed "Folklore"; what riches, too, for the philological
student, did those many books contain, and how famous would the library
now be that could boast of possessing but a few of them.
[1] The received opinion is that the "pieces of silver" here mentioned
were Roman denarii, which were the silver pieces then commonly used in
Ephesus. If now we weigh a denarius against modern silver, it is
exactly equal to ninepence, and fifty thousand times ninepence gives
L1,875. It is always a difficult matter to arrive at a just estimate of
the relative value of the same coin in different ages; but reckoning
that money then had at least ten times the purchasing value of money
now, we arrive at what was probably about the value of the magical books
burnt, viz.: L18,750.
The ruins of Ephesus bear unimpeachable evidence that the City was very
extensive and had magnificent buildings. It was one of the free cities,
governing itself. Its trade in shrines and idols was very extensive,
being spread through all known lands.
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