The Temple of Artemis

Fill your coffers early and let Ephesus's wealth open every door.

Medium

Background

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was one of the largest temples ever constructed, dedicated to the goddess of the hunt and rebuilt multiple times after fire and flood. Its sheer scale and the wealth of its treasury made it a destination for traders and pilgrims across the ancient world. Ephesus sat at the mouth of a great river, and commerce flowed through it like the tide.

In 7 Wonders, Ephesus opens with a Papyrus (manufactured good) production, reflecting its scholarly and mercantile reputation. Its Wonder board converts that commercial energy directly into coins.

How you win

The Temple of Artemis awards 3 VP (Stage 1), 9 Coins from the bank (Stage 2), and 7 VP (Stage 3). The stages total 10 direct victory points, and coins at game end are worth 1 VP per 3 coins — so a healthy treasury at the end of the game adds a few more points on top.

More importantly, the 9 Coins from Stage 2 fuel your card purchases in Ages II and III. In 7 Wonders, money is an enabler: it lets you pay trade costs to neighbours and buy cards you couldn't otherwise afford. Ephesus turns economic momentum into card volume, and card volume into a broader scoring spread.

How they play

Ephesus rewards a commercial, multi-path strategy. Your starting Papyrus is already valuable, and the sudden 9-coin windfall from Stage 2 gives you unusual financial flexibility at a point in the game when most players are stretching their budgets.

Typical arc:

Age I — draft for production and cheap Brown buildings; build Stage 1 early to bank the 3 VP.
Age II — the 9-coin burst from Stage 2 is most valuable when you've planned ambitious Age II builds that require trading with neighbours. Time Stage 2 before you need to pay those trade costs.
Age III — with an inflated treasury, you can afford to trade for the remaining resources you need to snap up expensive Blue civilian buildings or Guilds. Build Stage 3 for the 7 VP and finish strong.

Ephesus is one of the few boards where Yellow commercial cards that generate coins or reduce trade costs are genuinely worth drafting. The more efficiently you can spend your windfall, the further ahead you pull.

Strengths

✓
Nine coins dropped into your treasury in a single move is extraordinary. At a point in the game when most players are scraping together 2-coin trades, Ephesus can afford to be generous — paying neighbours for resources without wincing.
✓
Papyrus is one of the three manufactured goods (alongside Glass and Loom) that many Age II and III buildings require. Starting with it means you're a natural trade partner for players who lack it — and you never have to spend a card slot acquiring it yourself.

Weaknesses

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The 9 Coins are only worth 3 VP if you hoard them all to game end. Their real value is as fuel for trade — which means they disappear quickly. If you don't spend them on high-quality cards, that Stage 2 slot was wasted.
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The Wonder stages do nothing for military or science. You're entirely dependent on your card drafts for shields and symbols — and with money-focused Yellow cards competing for draft slots, those paths can get thin.

Tips & tricks

Tip
Build Stage 2 just before your most coin-hungry turn. The 9 coins hit immediately, so if you're planning to pay 4 coins in trade costs that same age, build Stage 2 first and you'll end the age flush rather than broke.
Tip
Yellow commercial cards — especially the ones that let you buy resources from neighbours at 1 coin instead of 2 — pair exceptionally well with Ephesus. A reduced trade rate means your coin windfall stretches further across Age II and III.
Tip
Some of the most expensive Blue civilian buildings (the Palace, the Senate) cost resources you may not have produced. Use your coins to trade for those resources rather than drafting the producing cards yourself — let money do the heavy lifting.

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