Temple of Artemis image carried through the streets and surrounded by maidens. In the Roman Imperial era, the emperor Commodus lent his name to the festival games, and might have sponsored them. From the Greek point of view, the Ephesian Artemis is a distinctive form of their goddess Artemis. In Greek cult and myth, Artemis is the twin of Apollo, a virgin huntress who supplanted the Titan Selene as goddess of the Moon. At Ephesus, a goddess whom the Greeks associated with Artemis was venerated in an archaic, pre-Hellenic cult image that was carved of wood (a "xoanon") and kept decorated with jewelry.
Group of Zeus and Ganymede of paint survive in many places, particularly Zeus' red-brown tunic with dark brown lines at the edges and his black beard, hair and hat. The god stands on an architectural base in the shape of a gable. The scene depicted is well-known from Greek mythology; it is the moment when Zeus snatches the youthful Ganymede off to Olympus. The hen places the scene in a cultural context, as does the god's walking stick. The homoerotic connection between a grown man and a youth was not disapproved of by ancient Greek culture - on the contrary, if kept within certain limits,