Herostratus
E535785
Herostratus was an ancient Greek arsonist infamous for burning down the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in a bid for everlasting notoriety.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Herostratus canonical | 2 |
| Herostratos | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5672788 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Herostratus Context triple: [Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, destroyedBy, Herostratus]
-
A.
Dionysodorus
Dionysodorus is a sophist who appears as a debating character in Plato’s dialogue "Euthydemus," known for his eristic and paradoxical argumentation.
-
B.
Marcellus the Younger
Marcellus the Younger was a promising Roman nobleman and nephew of Emperor Augustus, whose early death led to his commemoration in Virgil’s Aeneid and the naming of the Theatre of Marcellus in his honor.
-
C.
Quintus of Smyrna
Quintus of Smyrna was a late antique Greek epic poet best known for his poem "Posthomerica," which continues the narrative of the Trojan War from where Homer's Iliad ends.
-
D.
Antiphemos of Rhodes
Antiphemos of Rhodes was an ancient Greek colonist and leader traditionally credited with establishing the city of Gela in Sicily.
-
E.
Andronicus of Rhodes
Andronicus of Rhodes was a 1st-century BCE Peripatetic philosopher best known for editing and organizing Aristotle’s works, which greatly influenced their transmission and interpretation in later antiquity.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Herostratus Target entity description: Herostratus was an ancient Greek arsonist infamous for burning down the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in a bid for everlasting notoriety.
-
A.
Dionysodorus
Dionysodorus is a sophist who appears as a debating character in Plato’s dialogue "Euthydemus," known for his eristic and paradoxical argumentation.
-
B.
Marcellus the Younger
Marcellus the Younger was a promising Roman nobleman and nephew of Emperor Augustus, whose early death led to his commemoration in Virgil’s Aeneid and the naming of the Theatre of Marcellus in his honor.
-
C.
Quintus of Smyrna
Quintus of Smyrna was a late antique Greek epic poet best known for his poem "Posthomerica," which continues the narrative of the Trojan War from where Homer's Iliad ends.
-
D.
Antiphemos of Rhodes
Antiphemos of Rhodes was an ancient Greek colonist and leader traditionally credited with establishing the city of Gela in Sicily.
-
E.
Andronicus of Rhodes
Andronicus of Rhodes was a 1st-century BCE Peripatetic philosopher best known for editing and organizing Aristotle’s works, which greatly influenced their transmission and interpretation in later antiquity.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
ancient Greek person
ⓘ
arsonist ⓘ criminal ⓘ |
| approximateDateOfCrime | 356 BCE ⓘ |
| associatedWithConcept | herostratic fame ⓘ |
| consequenceOfActions |
legal prohibition on mentioning his name
ⓘ
rebuilding of the Temple of Artemis ⓘ |
| countryOfCitizenship |
Ancient Greece
ⓘ
linked to:
Greek Antiquity
|
| crime |
arson
ⓘ
destruction of a temple ⓘ |
| culturalDepiction | example in moral and philosophical discussions about fame ⓘ |
| ethnicGroup | Greek ⓘ |
| eventParticipatedIn |
destruction of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
ⓘ
linked to:
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
|
| gender | male ⓘ |
| historicalReputation |
archetype of infamy-seeking individuals
ⓘ
notorious criminal ⓘ |
| historicity | generally accepted as historical figure ⓘ |
| influencedConcept | idea that some seek fame at any cost ⓘ |
| knownFor | burning the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus ⓘ |
| languageOfName | Ancient Greek ⓘ |
| legacy | eponym for fame-seeking through infamy ⓘ |
| mentionedIn |
Strabo's writings
ⓘ
Theopompus' accounts ⓘ Valerius Maximus' writings ⓘ |
| moralEvaluation | condemned in ancient sources ⓘ |
| motive | desire for everlasting notoriety ⓘ |
| nameTransliteration |
Herostratos
ⓘ
linked to:
Herostratus
|
| nameUsedAs | symbol of destructive pursuit of fame ⓘ |
| notableFor | seeking fame through a notorious crime ⓘ |
| opposedBy | authorities of Ephesus ⓘ |
| placeOfBirth | Ephesus ⓘ |
| placeOfCrime |
Ephesus
ⓘ
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus ⓘ |
| punishment |
damnatio memoriae
ⓘ
execution ⓘ |
| recordedBy | ancient historians ⓘ |
| relatedTerm | herostratic fame ⓘ |
| religiousContext | Greek polytheism ⓘ |
| sameDayAs | traditional birth date of Alexander the Great ⓘ |
| targetedDeity | Artemis ⓘ |
| timePeriod | 4th century BCE ⓘ |
| typeOfNotoriety | negative fame ⓘ |
| victim |
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
ⓘ
citizens of Ephesus ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Herostratus Description of subject: Herostratus was an ancient Greek arsonist infamous for burning down the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in a bid for everlasting notoriety.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Herostratus