Product Code Database
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of hunting, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. (1995). 9780877790426, Merriam-Webster. ISBN 9780877790426 She was often said to roam the forests and mountains, attended by an entourage of . The goddess Diana is her Roman equivalent.
Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and twin sister of Apollo. In most accounts, the twins were produced by an extramarital liaison, for which Zeus's wife Hera forbade Leto from giving birth anywhere on solid land. Only the island of Delos allowed her to give birth to her children. In one account, Artemis is born first and then proceeds to assist Leto in the birth of the second twin, Apollo.Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.21
Artemis was a kourotrophos (child-nurturing) deity, being the patron and protector of young children, especially young girls. Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia and Hera. She was also a patron of healing and disease, particularly among women and children, and was believed to send both good health and illness upon women and children. Artemis was one of the three major , alongside Athena and Hestia. Artemis preferred to remain an unmarried Virginity and was one of the three Greek goddesses over whom Aphrodite had no power. Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (5), p.21–32
In myth and literature, Artemis is presented as a hunting goddess, who roams the wilderness surrounded by her retinue of nymphs. The hunter Actaeon is said to see her bathing naked, upon which the goddess transforms him into a deer; he is then devoured by his own hunting dogs, who do not recognize their master. In another story, Callisto is driven away from Artemis's company after breaking her vow of virginity, having lain with Zeus. In the Epic Cycle, Artemis halted the winds blowing the Greek ships during the Trojan War, stranding the Greek fleet in Aulis, after King Agamemnon, the leader of the expedition, shot and killed her sacred deer. Artemis demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia, Agamemnon's young daughter, as compensation for her slain deer. In most versions, when Iphigenia is led to the altar to be offered as a sacrifice, Artemis pities her and takes her away, leaving a deer in her place. In the war that followed, Artemis supported the Trojans against the Greeks, and she challenged Hera in battle.
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated Greek deities. Her great temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, before it was burnt to the ground. Artemis's symbols included a bow, arrow, and quiver, and the deer was sacred to her. In later times, she was identified with Selene, the Lunar deity.Smith, s.v. Artemis
The name may be related to Greek language árktos "bear" (from PIE * h₂ŕ̥tḱos), supported by the bear cult the goddess had in Attica (Brauronia) and the Neolithic remains at the Arkoudiotissa Cave, as well as the story of Callisto, which was originally about Artemis (Arcadian epithet kallisto);Michaël Ripinsky-Naxon (1993) The Nature of Shamanism: Substance and function of a religious metaphor, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, p 32 this cult was a survival of very old totemic and shamanistic rituals and formed part of a larger bear worship found further afield in other Indo-European cultures (e.g., Gaulish Artio). It is believed that a precursor of Artemis was worshipped in Minoan Crete as the goddess of mountains and hunting, Britomartis. While connection with names has been suggested,Campanile, Ann. Scuola Pisa 28:305Restelli, Aevum 37:307, 312 — Artemis, as Apollo's inseparable twin, is discussed at the earliest attested forms of the name Artemis are the Mycenaean Greek , a-te-mi-to /Artemitos/ (Genitive case) and , a-ti-mi-te /Artimitei/ (Dative case), written in Linear B at Pylos. — s.v. , a-te-mi-to- (genitive)
According to J. T. Jablonski, the name is also and could be "compared with the royal appellation Artemas of Xenophon". Charles Anthon argued that the primitive root of the name is probably of Persian origin from * arta, * art, * arte, all meaning "great, excellent, holy", thus Artemis "becomes identical with the great mother of Nature, even as she was worshiped at Ephesus". Anton Goebel "suggests the root or , 'to shake', and makes Artemis mean the thrower of the dart or the shooter".
Ancient Greek writers, by way of folk etymology, and some modern scholars, have linked Artemis (Doric Artamis) to , artamos, i.e. "butcher" or, like Plato did in Cratylus, to , artemḗs, i.e. "safe", "unharmed", "uninjured", "pure", "the stainless maiden". A. J. van Windekens tried to explain both and Artemis from , atremḗs, meaning "unmoved, calm; stable, firm" via metathesis.
In some cults she retains the theriomorphic form of a Pre-Greek goddess who was conceived with the shape of a bear (άρκτος árktos: bear). Kallisto in Arcadia is a hypostasis of Artemis with the shape of a bear, and her cults at Brauron and at Piraeus (Munichia) are remarkable for the arkteia where virgin girls before marriage were disguised as she-bears.Suidas s,v : " Arkteusai (being bears)..... is established for the virgins before marriage at the temples of Artemis Mounychia and BrauroniaNilsson, "Geschichte", Vol. I, p. 482-487
Laphria is the Pre-Greek "mistress of the animals" at Delphi and Patras. There was a custom to throw live animals into the annual fire of the fest. The festival at Patras was introduced from Calydon and this relates Artemis to the Greek heroine Atalanta who symbolizes freedom and independence.Howell 1989", Other epithets that relate Artemis to the animals are Amarynthos and Kolainis.
Artemis is the leader of the nymphs and she hunts surrounded by them.Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.499 Artemis became goddess of marriage and childbirth. She was worshipped with the surname Eucleia in several cities. Women consecrated clothes to Artemis for a happy childbirth and she had the epithets Lochia and Lecho.
The Dorians interpreted Artemis mainly as goddess of vegetation who was worshipped in an orgiastic cult with lascivious dances, with the common epithets Orthia, Korythalia and Dereatis.Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p. 161,490 The female dancers wore masks and were famous in antiquity. The goddess of vegetation was also related to the tree-cult with temples near the holy trees and the surnames Apanchomene, Caryatis and Cedreatis.Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.315,486–487
In spite of her status as a virgin who avoided potential lovers, there are multiple references to Artemis's beauty and erotic aspect; in the Odyssey, Odysseus compares Nausicaa to Artemis in terms of appearance when trying to win her favor, Libanius, when praising the city of Antioch, wrote that Ptolemy was smitten by the beauty of (the statue of) Artemis; whereas her mother Leto often took pride in her daughter's beauty.Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods Hera and Leto Ancient poets note Artemis's height and imposing stature, as she stands taller and more impressive than all the nymphs accompanying her.Homer, Odyssey 6.102 ffOvid, Metamorphoses 3.138 ff
Artemis is rooted to the less developed personality of the Mycenaean Greece goddess of nature. The goddess of nature was concerned with birth and vegetation and had certain Chthonic deities aspects. The Mycenaean goddess was related to the Minoan mistress of the animals, who can be traced later in local cults,B. C. Dietrich (1974), The origins of the Greek religion p. 181,182 : p. 181–182 however we do not know to what extent we can differentiate between Minoan and Mycenaean religion.Burkert (1985), Greek religion, p.21 Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths.
According to the beliefs of the first Greeks in Arcadia, Artemis is the first nymph, a divinity of free nature. She was a great goddess and her temples were built near springs marshes and rivers where the nymphs live, and they are appealed by the pregnant women. Some cults of Artemis retained the pre-Greek features which were consecrated by immemorial practices and connected with daily tasks.Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I, p.498 The Dorians came later in the area, probably from Epirus and the goddess of nature was mostly interpreted as a vegetation goddess who was related to the ecstatic Minoan tree-cult. She was worshipped in orgiastic cults with lascivious and sometimes obscene dances, which have pure Greeks elements introduced by the Dorians."A not localized phallus dance of women is connected with the boisterous and nudge dances of the cult of Artemis, as a goddess of vegetation": Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I, p.491 The feminine (sometimes male) dancers wore usually masks, and they were famous in antiquity.
In the Peloponnese, temples of Artemis were built near springs, rivers, and marshes. She was closely related to water and to Poseidon, the god of the sea. Her epithets include Limnnaia, Limnatis, Potamia, and Alphaea. In some cults, she is a healer goddess of women, bearing surnames such as Lousia and Thermia.Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.492,493
Artemis, carrying torches, was identified with Hecate, and had the surnames Phosphoros and Selasphoros.Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I, p.495 In Athens and Tegea, she was worshipped as Artemis Kalliste ('the most beautiful').Pausanias 1.29.2 Pausanias 1.29.2 Some of the goddess's epithets were names of Amazons like Lyceia or Molpadia.
In the poems, Artemis is mainly the goddess of hunting. An almost formulaic epithet used in the Iliad and Odyssey to describe her is ἰοχέαιρα iocheaira, "she who shoots arrows", often translated as "she who delights in arrows" or "she who showers arrows". She is called Artemis Chrysilakatos ('of the golden shafts') or Chrysinios ('of the golden reins'), as a goddess of hunting in her chariot. Iliad 6.200 The Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis paints this picture of the goddess:
In European folklore, a wild hunter is said to chase an woman who falls in the water; in Greek myth, the hunter chases a female deer and both disappear into the water. In relation to these myths, Artemis was worshipped under the names "Saronia" and "Stymphalia".
According to Greek beliefs the image of a god or a goddess gave signs or tokens and had divine and magic powers. With these conceptions she was worshipped as Tauria (the , goddess),Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.83 Arricia (Italy) and Anaitis (Lydia). In the bucolic (pastoral) songs the image of the goddess was discovered in bundles of leaves or dry sticks and she had the surnames Lygodesma and Phakelitis.
According to Callimachus, Hera, who was angry with her husband Zeus for impregnating Leto, forbade her from giving birth on either terra firma (the mainland) or on an island, but the island of Delos disobeyed and allowed Leto to give birth there; this rooted the once freely floating island to one place. According to the Homeric Hymn to Artemis, the island where she and her twin were born was Ortygia. Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo, 14–18; Gantz, p.38; cf. Orphic Hymns 35 to Leto, 3–5 (Athanassakis & Wolkow, p.31)Hammond. Oxford Classical Dictionary. pp. 597–598. In Cretan mythology, Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis on the islands known today as Paximadia. Servius, commenting on Virgil's Aeneid, accounts for the island's archaic name OrtygiaOr as a separate island birthplace of Artemis: "Rejoice, blessed Leto, for you bear glorious children, the lord Apollon and Artemis who delights in arrows; her in Ortygia, and him in rocky Delos," says the Homeric Hymn; the etymology Ortygia, "Isle of Quail", is not supported by modern scholars by asserting that Zeus transformed Leto into a quail ( ortux) to prevent Hera from finding out about his infidelity, and Kenneth McLeish suggested further that in quail form, Leto would have given birth with as few birth-pains as a mother quail suffers when she lays an egg.McLeish, Kenneth. Children of the Gods pp 33f; Leto's birth-pangs, however, are graphically depicted by ancient sources
The myths also differ as to whether Artemis was born first, or Apollo. According to Apollodorus, she was born first, and assisted in the delivery of Apollo. Servius, a late-fourth or early-fifth-century grammarian, wrote that Artemis was born first because at first it was night, whose instrument is the Moon, which Artemis represents, and then day, whose instrument is the Sun, which Apollo represents.Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 3.73 Pindar however writes that both twins shone like the Sun when they came into the bright light.
After their troubling childbirth, Leto took the twin infants and crossed over to Lycia, in the southwest corner of Anatolia, where she tried to drink from and bathe the babies in a spring she found there. However, the local Lycian peasants tried to prevent the twins and their mother from making use of the water by stirring up the muddy bottom of the spring, so the three of them could not drink it. Leto, in her anger that the impious Lycians had refused to offer hospitality to a fatigued mother and her thirsty infants, transformed them all into frogs, forever doomed to swim and hop around the spring.
The twin sons of Poseidon and Iphimedeia, Aloadae and Ephialtes, known as the Aloadae, grew enormously at a young age. They were aggressive and skilled hunters who could not be killed except by each other. They never stopped growing and boasted that as soon as they could reach heaven, they would kidnap Artemis and Hera and take them as wives. The gods were afraid of them, except for Artemis who captured a fine deer that jumped out between them. In another version of the story, she changed herself into a doe and jumped between them. The Aloadae threw their spears, mistakenly killing one another. In another version, Apollo sent the deer into the Aloadae's midst, causing their accidental killing of each other. In another version, the Aloadae start piling up mountains to reach Mount Olympus, but the gods spot them and attack; once the twins had retreated, the gods learnt that Ares had been captured. Unsure what to do with him, the Aloedae lock him up in a pot. Artemis then turns into a deer and causes them to kill each other.
According to Diodorus Siculus, Britomartis was a nymph and a huntress known for her use of nets, for which she became a beloved companion of Artemis. Minos, king of Crete and a half-brother of Artemis, took interest in Britomartis and pursued her for nine months. Britomartis continually fled his advances, and to escape, she at last leapt into the sea (possibly from Mount Dikte) and landed in fishermen's nets. She became entangled but was rescued by Artemis, who then made her a goddess.Diodorus Siculus, 5.76.3 from Heracles. Detail of an Attic black-figure amphora c. 530–520 BCE. Louvre, Paris ]] Eurystheus commanded Heracles to catch the Ceryneian Hind in the hope that it would enrage Artemis and lead her to punish the hero for his desecration of her sacred animal. The Cerynian hind used to be the Pleiad Taygete, known as the "Mistress of Animals" and a dear companion of Artemis. One day, Zeus pursued Taygete, who invoked her protectress, who in turn saved her from her father by turning her into the hind.Biogeography speaking, in Greece the nearest species of deer in which females carry horns was and is the reindeer (Ruck and Staples p 173), a fact which has occasioned various speculations: see also Deer (mythology) As Heracles was returning with the hind to present it to Eurystheus, he encountered Artemis and her brother Apollo. He begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had snared the hind as part of his penance, but promised to return it to the wild soon thereafter. Convinced by Heracles's earnestness, she forgave him, foiling Eurystheus's plan.
The river god Alpheus was in love with Artemis, but as he realized he could do nothing to win her heart, he decided to capture her. When Artemis and her companions at Letrini go to Alpheus, she becomes suspicious of his motives and covers her face with mud so he does not recognize her. In another story, Alphaeus tries to rape Artemis's attendant Arethusa. Artemis pities the girl and saves her, transforming her into a spring in the temple Artemis Alphaea in Letrini, where the goddess and her attendants drink.
According to Antoninus Liberalis, Siproites was a Crete who was metamorphized into a woman by Artemis for having seen the goddess bathing while he was hunting.Forbes Irving, p.89, 149 n. 1, 166; Fontenrose, p. 125; Antoninus Liberalis, 17 (Celoria, p.71; Papathomopoulos, p.31) Artemis similarly changed a Calydonian man named Calydon, the son of Ares and Astynome, into a stone when he accidentally saw the goddess bathing naked.Pseudo-Plutarch, De fluviis, XXII. Achelous
Daphnis was a young boy, a son of Hermes, who was accepted by and became a follower of the goddess Artemis; Daphnis would often accompany her in hunting and entertain her with his singing of pastoral songs and playing of the panpipes.Diodorus Siculus, Historic Library 4.84.1
Artemis taught a man, Scamandrius, how to be a great archer, and he excelled in the use of a bow and arrow with her guidance.Homer, Iliad 5.50
Bouphagos, son of the Titans Iapetus, sees Artemis and thinks about raping her. Reading his sinful thoughts, Artemis strikes him down at Foloi.
Broteas was a famous hunter who refused to honour Artemis, and boasted that nothing could harm him, not even fire. Artemis then drove him mad, causing him to Self-immolation, ending his life."I think that this is an Etiology, intended to explain the rite in which a human effigy was burnt upon a pyre in the festival of the hunters' goddess," observes Martin P. Nilsson, "Fire-Festivals in Ancient Greece", The Journal of Hellenic Studies 43.2 (1923:144–148) p. 144 note 2; Pseudo-Apollodorus, Epitome 2.2
In different sources, Actaeon's transgression is viewing Artemis naked, boasting he is a better hunter than her,Lacy, "Aktaion and a Lost 'Bath of Artemis'" The Journal of Hellenic Studies 110 (1990:26–42) or trying to rival Zeus for Semele's affection. Apollodorus, who records this last version, notes that the others are more common.Apollodorus, 3.4.4
According to Lamar Ronald Lacey's The Myth of Aktaion: Literary and Iconographic Studies, the original version of the myth most likely portrayed Actaeon as the hunting companion of the goddess, who, after seeing her naked in her sacred spring, attempted to force himself on her. For this, he is turned into a stag and devoured by his own hounds. In some surviving versions, though, Actaeon is a stranger who happens upon Artemis.
A single line from Aeschylus's now lost play Toxotides ("female archers") is among the earlier attestations of Actaeon's myth, stating that "the dogs destroyed their master utterly", with no confirmation of Actaeon's metamorphosis or the god he offended (but it is heavily implied to be Artemis, due to the title).Aeschylus fr 135 (244), Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Fragments. Translated by Smyth, Herbert Weir. Loeb Classical Library Volume 146. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926, p.464 Ancient artwork depicting the myth of Actaeon predate Aeschylus.Matheson, S. B., Polygnotos and Vase Painting in Classical Athens (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995), p. 264. Euripides, coming in a bit later, wrote in the Bacchae that Actaeon was torn to shreds and perhaps devoured by his "flesh-eating" hunting dogs when he claimed to be a better hunter than Artemis.Euripides, Bacchae 330–342 Like Aeschylus, he does not mention Actaeon being deer-shaped when that happens. Callimachus writes that Actaeon chanced upon Artemis bathing in the woods, and she caused him to be devoured by his own hounds for the sacrilege, and he makes no mention of transformation into a deer either.Callimachus, Hymn 5 On the Bath of Pallas 109–115
Diodorus Siculus wrote that Actaeon dedicated his prizes in hunting to Artemis, proposed marriage to her, and even tried to forcefully consummate said "marriage" inside the very sacred temple of the goddess; for this he was given the form "of one of the animals which he was wont to hunt", and then torn to shreds by his hunting dogs. Diodorus also mentioned the alternative of Actaeon claiming to be a better hunter than the goddess of the hunt.Diodorus Siculus, Historic Library 4.81.3–5 Hyginus also mentions Actaeon attempting to rape Artemis when he finds her bathing naked, and her transforming him into the doomed deer.Hyginus, Fabulae 181
Apollodorus wrote that when Actaeon saw Artemis bathing, she turned him into a deer on the spot, and intentionally drove his dogs into a frenzy so that they would kill and devour him. Afterward, Chiron built a sculpture of Actaeon to comfort his dogs in their grief, as they could not find their master no matter how much they looked for him.
According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman Ovid, Actaeon was a hunter who after returning home from a long day's hunting in the woods, he stumbled upon Artemis and her retinue of nymphs bathing in her sacred grotto. The nymphs, panicking, rushed to cover Artemis's naked body with their own, as Artemis splashed some water on Actaeon, saying he was welcome to share with everyone the tale of seeing her without any clothes as long as he could share it at all. Immediately, he was transformed into a deer, and in panic ran away. But he did not go far, as he was hunted down and eventually caught and devoured by his own fifty hunting dogs, who could not recognize their own master.Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.138 ff.; Grimal, s.v. Actaeon, p. 10
Pausanias says that Actaeon saw Artemis naked and that she threw a deerskin on him so that his hounds would kill him, to prevent him from marrying Semele.Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.2.3
Swiftly Apollo and Artemis descended on Thebes. While the sons were hunting in the woods, Apollo crept up on them and slew all seven with his silver bow. The dead bodies were brought to the palace. Niobe wept for them, but did not relent, saying that even now she was better than Leto, for she still had seven children, her daughters.Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.146 ff
On cue, Artemis then started shooting the daughters one by one. Right as Niobe begged for her youngest one to be spared, Artemis killed that last one. Niobe cried bitter tears, and was turned into a rock. Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, killed himself. The gods themselves entombed them. In some versions, Apollo and Artemis spared a single son and daughter each, for they prayed to Leto for help; thus Niobe had as many children as Leto did, but no more.Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.21.9
In another version, Orion tries to violate Opis,Kerenyi 1951 (p.204) says that this is "another name for Artemis herself" one of Artemis's followers from Hyperborea, and Artemis kills him.Apollodorus 1.4.5 In a version by Aratus, Orion grabs Artemis's robe and she kills him in self-defense.Aratus, Phaenomena 638 Other writers have Artemis kill him for trying to rape her or one of her attendants.Callimachus, Hymn III to Artemis 265; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48.395
Istrus wrote a version in which Artemis fell in love with Orion, apparently the only time Artemis ever fell in love. She meant to marry him, and no talk from her brother Apollo would change her mind. Apollo then decided to trick Artemis, and while Orion was off swimming in the sea, he pointed at him (barely a spot in the horizon) and wagered that Artemis could not hit that small "dot". Artemis, ever eager to prove she was the better archer, unwittingly shot Orion, killing him. The waves then brought his body to the shore, and Artemis mourned his death. Afterwards, she placed him among the stars.Hyginus, De astronomia 2.34.4
In Homer's Iliad, the Dawn deities Eos seduces Orion, angering the gods who did not approve of immortal goddesses taking mortal men for lovers, causing Artemis to shoot and kill him on the island of Ortygia.Homer, Iliad 5.121–124; Gantz, p.97; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Orion; Hansen, p. 118
According to Hesiod in his lost poem Astronomia, Zeus appeared to Callisto, and seduced her, resulting in her becoming pregnant. Though she was able to hide her pregnancy for a time, she was soon found out while bathing. Enraged, Artemis transformed Callisto into a bear, and in this form she gave birth to her son Arcas. Both of them were then captured by shepherds and given to Lycaon, and Callisto thus lost her child. Sometime later, Callisto "thought fit to go into" a forbidden sanctuary of Zeus, and was hunted by the Arcadians, her son among them.Gantz (p.275) notes that "the text here seems to indicate that Arkas (and others) pursued Callisto only after she had entered the sanctuary, and only because she had done so" When she was about to be killed, Zeus saved her by placing her in the heavens as a constellation of a bear.Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 1 =; Gantz, p. 98, 725–726.
In his De astronomia, Hyginus, after recounting the version from Hesiod,Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.1 presents several other alternative versions. The first, which he attributes to Amphis, says that Zeus seduced Callisto by disguising himself as Artemis during a hunting session, and that when Artemis found out that Callisto was pregnant, she replied saying that it was the goddess's fault, causing Artemis to transform her into a bear. This version also has both Callisto and Arcas placed in the heavens, as the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.2 Hyginus then presents another version in which, after Zeus lay with Callisto, it was Hera who transformed her into a bear. Artemis later, while hunting, kills the bear, and "later, on being recognized, Callisto was placed among the stars".Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.3; Gantz, p.727. Hyginus also gives another version, in which Hera tries to catch Zeus and Callisto in the act, causing Zeus to transform her into a bear. Hera, finding the bear, points it out to Artemis, who is hunting; Zeus, in panic, places Callisto in the heavens as a constellation.Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.4; Gantz, p.727.
Ovid gives a somewhat different version: Zeus seduced Callisto once again disguised as Artemis, but she seems to realise that it is not the real Artemis,Gantz (p.726) says that "Kallisto realizes the identity (or at least the gender) of her seducer..." and she thus does not blame Artemis when, during bathing, she is found out. Callisto is, rather than being transformed, simply ousted from the company of the huntresses, and she thus gives birth to Arcas as a human. Only later is she transformed into a bear, this time by Hera. When Arcas, fully grown, is out hunting, he nearly kills his mother, who is saved only by Zeus placing her in the heavens.Ovid, Metamorphoses 401–530; Gantz, p.726
In the Bibliotheca, a version is presented in which Zeus raped Callisto, "having assumed the likeness, as some say, of Artemis, or, as others say, of Apollo". He then turned her into a bear himself so as to hide the event from Hera. Artemis then shot the bear, either upon the persuasion of Hera, or out of anger at Callisto for breaking her virginity.In the first version, Artemis was not aware the bear was Callisto. (Gantz, p. 727) Of the second version, Gantz (p. 727) says that it "quite probably … implies a variant in which Kallisto does not become a bear at all, as Artemis is not likely to transform her and shoot her, or to slay her for her own reasons after Hera has accomplished the transformation" Once Callisto was dead, Zeus made her into a constellation, took the child, named him Arcas, and gave him to Maia, who raised him.Apollodorus, 3.8.2; Gantz, p.727; Tripp, s.v. Callisto, p. 145–146; cf. Eumelos, fr. 32 (West 2003, p.248–249). Gantz (p.727) suggests that this version may have come from Pherecydes, while West 2003 says that Eumelos "must have told the story of how Zeus made love to Callisto and changed her into a bear. Artemis killed her, but Zeus saved her child, who was Arcas." (West 2003, p.249, note 26 to fr. 32)
Pausanias, in his Description of Greece, presents another version, in which, after Zeus seduced Callisto, Hera turned her into a bear, which Artemis killed to please Hera.Pausanias, 8.2.6; Gantz, p.727; cf. Pausanias, 1.25.1. Hermes was then sent by Zeus to take Arcas, and Zeus himself placed Callisto in the heavens.Pausanias, 8.2.6–7; Gantz, p.727.
Artemis saved the infant Atalanta from dying of Hypothermia after her father abandoned her. She sent a female bear to nurse the baby, who was then raised by hunters and grew to model herself after the goddess. In some stories, Artemis later sent a bear to attack Atalanta because others claimed Atalanta was a superior hunter. Among other adventures, Atalanta participated in the Calydonian boar hunt, which Artemis had sent to destroy Calydon because King Oeneus had forgotten her at the harvest sacrifices. In the hunt, Atalanta drew the first blood and was awarded the prize of the boar's hide. She hung it in a sacred grove at Tegea as a dedication to Artemis. After the death of Meleager, Oeneus's son who awarded Atalanta with the hide, Artemis turned his grieving sisters, the Meleagrids, into guineafowl she favours.
Cyrene was a fierce Thessaly huntress and companion of Artemis, who had given her two hunting dogs. With the help of these dogs, Cyrene had been able to win the prize in the funeral games of Pelias.Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 208 When King Eurypylus was still ruling Libya, a monstrous lion had terrorized the citizens greatly, so Apollo brought Cyrene to get rid of it. After she killed the lion, he made her the new ruler of the lands, renamed Cyrene in her honor.Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo 85Susan A. Stephens, Callimachus: The Hymns In some versions, she was transformed into a nymph so that she could have a long life and keep hunting with Artemis as much as she desired.
In a story from Valerius Flaccus, Artemis and her mother Leto stood before Zeus with tearful eyes while Apollo pleaded with him to release Prometheus (the god who had stolen fire from the gods, given it to humans, and been chained in the Caucasus with an eagle feasting on his liver each day as punishment). Moved, Zeus agreed and commanded Heracles to free Prometheus.Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 4.60
In some versions of the story of Adonis, Artemis sent a wild boar to kill him as punishment for boasting that he was a better hunter than her.Apollodorus, 3.14.4; cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.652; Hyginus, Fabulae 248; Plutarch, Quaestiones Convivales 4.5.3; Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists 2.80 In other versions, Artemis killed Adonis for revenge. In later myths, Adonis is a favorite of Aphrodite, who was responsible for the death of Hippolytus, who had been a hunter of Artemis. Therefore, Artemis killed Adonis to avenge Hippolytus's death. In yet another version, Adonis was not killed by Artemis, but by Ares as punishment for being with Aphrodite.Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42.204–211; Grimal, s.v. Adonis, p. 12–13
When two of her hunting companions who had sworn to remain chaste and be devoted to her, Rhodopis and Euthynicus, fell in love with each other and broke their vows in a cavern, Artemis turned Rhodopis into a fountain inside that very cavern as punishment. The two had fallen in love not on their own but only after Eros had struck them with his love arrows, commanded by his mother Aphrodite, who had taken offence in that Rhodopis and Euthynicus rejected love and marriage in favour of a chaste life.
In Nonnus's Dionysiaca, Aura, the daughter of Lelantos and Periboia, was a companion of Artemis.Grimal, s.v. Aura, p.71 When out hunting one day with Artemis, she asserts that the goddess's voluptuous body and breasts are too womanly and sensual, and doubts her virginity, arguing that her own lithe body and man-like breasts are better than Artemis's and a true symbol of her own chastity. In anger, Artemis asks Nemesis for help to avenge her dignity. Nemesis agrees, telling Artemis that Aura's punishment will be to lose her virginity, since she dared question that of Artemis. Nemesis then arranges for Eros to make Dionysus fall in love with Aura. Dionysus intoxicates Aura and rapes her as she lies unconscious, after which she becomes a deranged killer. While pregnant, she tries to kill herself or cut open her belly, as Artemis mocks her over it. When she bore twin sons, she ate one, while the other, Iacchus, was saved by Artemis.
Chione was a beautiful princess of Phocis. She was beloved by two gods, Hermes and Apollo, and boasted that she was more beautiful than Artemis because she had made two gods fall in love with her at once. Artemis was furious and pierced Chione's blasphemous tongue with an arrow, leaving the girl to choke in her own blood.Hyginus, Fabulae 200; Hard 2004, p. 192
Polyphonte was a young woman who fled home in pursuit of a free, virginal life with Artemis, as opposed to the conventional life of marriage and children favoured by Aphrodite. As a punishment, Aphrodite cursed her, causing her to mate and have children with a bear. Artemis, seeing that, was disgusted and sent a horde of wild animals against her, causing Polyphonte to flee to her father's house. Her resulting offspring, Agrius and Oreius, were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus. Ultimately the entire family was transformed into birds who became ill Omen for mankind.Antoninus Liberalis, p.21
Coronis was a princess from Thessaly who became the lover of Apollo and fell pregnant. While Apollo was away, Coronis began an affair with a mortal man named Ischys. When Apollo learnt of this, he sent Artemis to kill the pregnant Coronis, or Artemis had the initiative to kill Coronis on her own accord for the insult done against her brother. The unborn child, Asclepius, was later removed from his dead mother's womb.Pindar, Pythian Ode 3 str1-ant3; Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.26.6
When the Greek fleet was preparing at Aulis to depart for Troy to commence the Trojan War, Artemis becalmed the winds. The seer Calchas erroneously advised Agamemnon that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. In some version of the myth, Artemis then snatched Iphigenia from the altar and substituted a deer; in others, Artemis allowed Iphigenia to be sacrificed. In versions where Iphigenia survived, a number of different myths have been told about what happened after Artemis took her; either she was brought to and led the priests there, or she became Artemis's immortal companion.Aeneas was also helped by Artemis, Leto, and Apollo. Apollo found him wounded by Diomedes and lifted him to heaven. There, the three deities secretly healed him in a great chamber.
During the theomachy, Artemis found herself standing opposite of Hera, on which a scholium to the Iliad wrote that they represent the Moon versus the air around the Earth. Artemis chided her brother Apollo for not fighting Poseidon and told him never to brag again; Apollo did not answer her. An angry Hera berated Artemis for daring to fight her:
Hera then grabbed Artemis's hands by the wrists, and holding her in place, beat her with her own bow.Homer, Iliad 21.468–497 Crying, Artemis left her bow and arrows where they lay and ran to Olympus to cry at her father Zeus's knees, while her mother Leto picked up her bow and arrows and followed her weeping daughter.Homer, Iliad 502–510
The most frequent name of a month in the Greek calendars was Artemision in Ionia territories or Artemisios or Artamitios in the Dorians and Aeolic Greek territories and in Macedonia. Elaphios is also a month name, in Ancient Elis, Elaphebolia in Athens, Iasos, Apollonia of Chalkidice, and Munichion in Attica.Nilsson,"Geschichte", Vol I, p.481 In the calendars of Aetolia, Phocis and Gytheion there was a month named Laphrios and in Thebes, Corfu, and Byzantion the month Eucleia.Nilsson,"Geschichte", Vol I, p.483-484 and 493–494
Pre-pubescent and adolescent Athenian girls were sent to the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron to serve the Goddess for one year. During this time, the girls were known as arktoi, or little she-bears. A myth explaining this servitude states that a bear had formed the habit of regularly visiting the town of Brauron, and the people there fed it, so that, over time, the bear became tame. A girl teased the bear, and, in some versions of the myth, it killed her, while, in other versions, it clawed out her eyes. Either way, the girl's brothers killed the bear, and Artemis was enraged. She demanded that young girls "act the bear" at her sanctuary in atonement for the bear's death.Mark Golden, Children and Childhood in Classical Athens (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), p.84
Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia. Dedications of clothing to her sanctuaries after a successful birth was common in the Classical era. Artemis could be a deity to be feared by pregnant women, as deaths during this time were attributed to her. As childbirth and pregnancy was a very common and important event, there were numerous other deities associated with it, many localized to a particular geographic area, including but not limited to Aphrodite, Hera and Hekate.
It was considered a good sign when Artemis appeared in the dreams of hunters and pregnant women, but a naked Artemis was seen as an ill omen.van der Toorn et al, s.v. Artemis, p. 93
Despite being primarily known as a goddess of hunting and the wilderness, she was also connected to dancing, music, and song like her brother Apollo; she is often seen singing and dancing with her nymphs, or leading the chorus of the Muses and the Charites at Delphi. In Sparta, girls of marriageable age performed the partheneia (choral maiden songs) in her honor. An ancient Greek proverb, written down by Aesop, went "For where did Artemis not dance?", signifying the goddess's connection to dancing and festivity.The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, p.81Budin, p. 110 "One site especially famous for its choruses dedicated to Artemis was Ephesos. According to the Hellenistic poet Kallimakhos, this custom was established by the Amazons who founded the cult by dancing around a wooden image of the goddess."
There was a women's cult at Cyzicus worshiping Artemis, which was called Dolon (Δόλων).
In Athens, the Elaphebolia festival was celebrated on the sixth day of the ninth Attic month, Attic calendar. Cakes made from flour, honey, and sesame, including in the shape of stags, were offered to the goddess during the festival.Nilsson, "Geschichte, Vol I p.483-486 Artemis had a filial cult of Brauronia, near the Acropolis. In the Attic city of Brauron, the Arkteia festival involved girls aged between five and ten dressing in saffron robes and acting as bears, to appease the goddess after she sent the plague when her bear was killed. One commentator says that girls had to placate the goddess for their virginity ( parthenia), so that they would not suffer her revenge.Blundell, Sue and Margaret Williamson, eds. The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge, 1998, 33.
The festival of Artemis Munichia was celebrated in the Attic harbour town of Piraeus on the 6th or 16th day of the tenth month, Attic calendar. Young girls were dressed up as bears, as in the Brauronia. In the temple have been found sherds from the Geometric period. The festival commemorated the victory of the Greek fleet over the at Salamis.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities edited by William Smith (1870) In Agrae, a deme of Attica, there was a temple dedicated to Artemis Agrotera. Pausanias 1.19.6 On the 6th day of the month Boedromion, an armed procession would take a large number of goats to this temple, where they would sacrifice in honor of the victory at the Battle of Marathon. The festival was called "Charisteria," also known as the Athenian "Thanksgiving."
In Myrrhinus, a deme near Merenda (Markopoulo), there was a cult of Kolainis, Pausanias 1.31.4 who is identified with Artemis Amarynthus in Euboia. Some rites and animal sacrifices were probably similar to the rites of Laphria. A deme near Marousi, Athmonia hosted the Amarynthus festival, which was no less splendid than the festival of Amarysia in Euboea. Pausanias 1.31.5 Halae Araphenides, a deme near Brauron celebrated the Tauropolia in honour of Artemis Tauropolos, during which a human sacrifice was represented in a ritual. In the deme of Erchia, a festival was celebrated on the 16th day of the month Metageitnion. Sacrifices were offered to Artemis and Hecate.
At the city of Hyampolis, in the region of Phocis in Central Greece, the Elaphebolia-Laphria festival was held in honour of Artemis. During an attack from the Thessalians, the Phocians gathered their women, children, movable property, clothes, and gold, making a vast pyre. The order was that if they would be defeated, all should be killed and would be thrown into the flames together with their property.Forlorn hopes: Phocian despair (Φωκική απόνοια) Pausanias 10,1.6 The Phocians achieved a great victory and each year they celebrated their victory in the festival. Offerings were burned in an annual fire, recalling the great pyre of the battle.Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I, p. 27,484 In Delphi in Phocis, the Laphria festival was celebrated in the month of Laphrios. The cult of Artemis Laphria was introduced by the priests of Delphi Lab(r)yaden, who were probably Crete in origin. Laphria is certainly the Pre-Greek "Mistress of the animals". At this festival, the priestess followed the parade on a chariot which was covered with the skin of a deer.Nilsson, "Geschichte" Vol I, p.482-484 The Eucleia festival was also celebrated in honour of Artemis at Delphi. According to the Labyaden inscriptions, the offerings darata are determined by the specified gamela and pedēia.Nilsson, "Geschichte, Vol I p.492-495
At Erineos in Doris, a festival of Artemis Laphria was held, indicated by the month Laphrios in the local calendar. At the Phocian town of Antikyra, there was a cult of Artemis Britomartis, a popular goddess worshipped with great respect. Pausanias 10.36.5 In Thebes in Boeotia a preliminary sacrifice to Artemis Eucleia was made before made a marriage, by the bride and the groom. At Amarynthos in Euboia, the festival of Artemis Amarysia was held. Animals were sacrificed with rites which were probably similar to those in the Laphria festival. In the Boeotian town of Aulis, a festival was held in which various sacrificial animals were offered to the goddess. It seems that the festival was a reverberation of the rites of Laphria. Pausanias 9.19.7 Calydon, in Aetolia, is considered the origin of the cult of Artemis Laphria at Patras. The calendar included the month of Laphrios. In Nafpaktos in Aetolia, there was a cult of Artemis Laphria. Pausanias 4.31.7 Acarnania included a cult to Artemis Agrotera in a society of hunters. In Aetolia, Artemis Aetole was depicted with a hunting spear or javelin. Pausanias 10.38.12
At Patras in Achaea, the Laphria festival was celebrated in honour of Artemis. Its characteristic attribute was an annual fire, into which birds, deers, sacrificial animals, young wolves and young bears were thrown alive. Laphria (Pre-Greek name) is the "Mistress of Animals". Traditionally her cult was introduced from Calydon of Aetolia.Eftychia Stavrianopoulou (2013), "Ritual and Communication in Graeco-Roman world", p. 102, Open editions books. p. 102 The Ionic Greek who lived in Ancient Achaea celebrated the annual festival of Artemis Triclaria. Pausanias mentions the legend of human sacrifices to the outraged goddess. The new deity Dionysus, put an end to the sacrifices. Pausanias 7.19.1–7.19.4 In Corinth, the Eucleia festival was celebrated in honor of Artemis.Xenophon Hellenica 4.4.2 The Achaean town of Aigeira held a festival to Artemis Agrotera (huntress). When the Sicyonians attacked the city, the Aigeirians tied torches on all of the goats in the area and set them alight during the night. The Sicyonians, believing Aigeira had a great army, retreated. Pausanias 7.26.2–7.26.3
In Sparta, there was a festival in honour of Artemis Orthia, who was associated with the female initiatory rite Partheneion,Eyprosyne Boutsikas (2020), "The Cosmos in Ancient Greek religious experience" p. 135, Cambridge University Press p. 135 in which women performed round dances. According to legend, Theseus stole Helene from the dancing floor of Orthia during the round-dancing. The prize of the competitions was an iron sickle ( drepanē), indicating that Orthia was a goddess of vegetation.Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I, p.487-491 Near Sparta, on the road to Amyklai, where Artemis Korythalia was a goddess of vegetation, women performed lascivious dances in her honour. This festival was celebrated in round huts covered with leaves; the nurses brought the infants to the temple of Korythalia during the Tithenedia festival. At Messene, a festival of Artemis Limnatis ('of the lake') was celebrated with cymbals and dances. Pausanias 4.4.2 The goddess was worshipped by young women during the festivals of transition from childhood to adulthood.Maria Spathi (2018) "Findings of cultic traditions for goddess Artemis", p. Center for Hellenic studies in Greece. Harvard University. Cultic traditions of Artemis At the town of Dereion, there was a cult of Artemis Dereatis. A festival there was celebrated with hymns known as calavoutoi and with an obscene dance, callabis. Pausanias 3.20.7Nilsson, "Geschichte" Vol I, p. 161 There was also a cult of Artemis Limnatis at the town of Epidauros Limera. Pausanias 3.23.10 Caryae, along the border between Laconia and Arcadia, celebrated a festival of Artemis Caryatis, a goddess of vegetation related to tree cult; each year, women performed an ecstatic dance called the caryatis. Pausanias 3.10.7 At Boeae, there was a cult of Artemis Soteira (savior), which was related to the myrtle tree. When the inhabitants of the cities near the gulf were expelled, Artemis took the shape of a hare and guided them to a myrtle tree where they built the new city. Pausanias 3.22.11–3.22.12 At the Laconian town of Gytheion, there was a cult of Artemis Laphria.
In Ancient Elis, a festival of Artemis Elaphia (a goddess of hunting) was held in the month Elaphios. Pausanias 6.22.8–6.22.10) In Elis, the hero Pelops was thought to win the sovereignty of Pisa, and his followers celebrated their victory near the temple of Artemis Kordaka, performing a dance called kordax. Pausanias 6.21.11–6.22.1 In the town Letrinoi in Elis, there was a festival which celebrated Artemis Alpheaia, which girls, wearing masks, performed dances. At Olympia, an annual festival was held in honour of Artemis Alpheaia,Strabo VIII p.343 as was one to Artemis Daphnaia ('of the laurel-branch'), a goddess of vegetation.
At Hypsus in Arcadia, there was an annual festival to Artemis Britomartis, who had a temple near the sea. Pausanias 3.24.9 It was also the site of an annual festival in honour of Artemis Daphnaia. Pausanias 3.24.8 In Stymphalus, there was a festival of Artemis Stymphalia, which begun near the Katavothres where the water overflowed, creating a big marsh. Pausanias 8.22.8 At Orchomenus, a sanctuary was built for Artemis Hymnia in which her festival was celebrated every year. Pausanias 8.13.1 There was a cult to Artemis Limnatis in Tegea. Pausanias 8.53.11 After expelling their conquerors and recovering their city, the built a sanctuary and statue of Artemis Soteira (Savior) on the summit of the city's Acropolis. At the beginning of festivals, all of their processions started from this sanctuary. Pausanias 8.39.5 At Troizen in Argolis, there was a festival to Artemis Saronia.
At Aegae in Macedonia, Eucleia had a shrine in the city's agora; this goddess is associated with Artemis Eucleia, the goddess of marriage who was widely worshipped in Boeotia.Eugene Borza (2020), "In the shadow of Olympus. Emergence of Macedonia", p. 192, Princeton University Press. p. 192 In Apollonia in Chalcidice, the Elaphebolia festival was celebrated in honour of Artemis in the month of Attic calendar.
On the island of Icaria, the Tauropolion,Strabo (xiv.1.19) a temple to Artemis Tauropolos, was built at Oinoe. Another, smaller temenos sacred to Artemis Tauropolos was located on the island's coast.J. H. Croon, "Hot Springs and Healing: A Preliminary Answer" Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, 14.2 (1961:140–141). On the island of Cephalonia, there was a cult of Artemis Laphria.Antonin. Lib 40 : Nilsson, Vol I, p.484 On Corfu, there was a cult in honour of Artemis Laphria.
At the city of Ephesus in the region of Ionia in Anatolia, the Artemisia festival was celebrated in honour of Artemis. The wealth and splendor of temple and city were taken as evidence of Artemis Ephesia's power. Under Hellenic and Roman rule, the Artemisia festival was increasingly promoted as a key element in the Panhellenic festival circuit. Artemis Ephesia was associated with bees, which appeared on her statue, with her priestesses receiving the name 'Melissa' ('Bee' 'Μέλισσα'), possibly a late Hellenistic addition. At Perga in Ionia, there was a famous festival of Artemis Pergaia; under Roman rule, Diana-Pergaia was identified with Selene.Margret Karola, Johannes Nollé: Götter, Städte, Feste. Kleinasiatische Münzen der römischen Kaiserzeit. Staatliche Münzsammlung, München 2014, S. 61 At Iasos in Caria, the Elaphebolia festival was celebrated in honor of Artemis in the month of Attic calendar At Byzantium, there was a festival of Artemis Eucleia in the month of Eucleios.
At Syracuse, located on the island of Sicily, the festival of Artemis Chitonia was celebrated, and included a dance and flute music. Chitonia (wearing a loose tunic) was a goddess of hunting. Chitonia The city also held a festival to Artemis Lyaia, in which men came from the countryside to the city in a rustic dress. They carried a deer's antlers on their head and held a shepherd's stab, and sang satirical songs while drinking wine; the festival linked comic performance and the countryside."Theater and Autocracy in Ancient world" (2022), p.65 eds. Walter de Gruyter. p.65 At Taormina in Sicily, there was a festival held in honour of Artemis Eucleia in the month of Eucleios. The festival of Artemis Korythalia included male dancers who wore wooden masks.
In this light, Artemis's virginity is also related to her power and independence. Rather than a form of asexuality, it is an attribute that signals Artemis as her own master, with power equal to that of male gods. Her virginity also possibly represents a concentration of fertility that can be spread among her followers, in the manner of earlier mother-goddess figures. However, some later Greek writers did come to treat Artemis as inherently asexual and as an opposite to Aphrodite.Hjerrild, B. (2009). Near Eastern equivalents to Artemis. Tobias Fischer-Hansen & Birte Poulsen, eds. From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast. Museum Tusculanum Press. , 9788763507882
The archetype of the mother goddess, though, was not highly compatible with the Greek pantheon, and though the Greeks had adopted the worship of Cybele and other Anatolian mother goddesses as early as the seventh century BCE, she was not directly conflated with any Greek goddesses. Instead, bits and pieces of her worship and aspects were absorbed variously by Artemis, Aphrodite, and others as Eastern influence spread.
In Acts of the Apostles, Ephesian metalsmiths who felt threatened by Saint Paul's preaching of Christianity, jealously rioted in her defense, shouting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"Acts 19:28 Of the 121 columns of her temple, only one composite, made up of fragments, still stands as a marker of the temple's location.
Evidence of the syncretism of Artemis and Selene is found early on; a scholia on the Iliad, claiming to be reporting sixth century BCE author Theagenes's interpretation of the theomachy in Book 21, says that in the fight between Artemis and Hera, Artemis represents the Moon, while Hera represents the earthly air.Scholia on the Iliad 20.67; Hansen, p. 10; Anecdota græca e codd. manuscriptis Bibliothecæ regiæ parisiensis, p. 120Hard, p. 187
Active references to Artemis as an illuminating goddess start much later. Notably, Roman-era author Plutarch writes how during the Battle of Salamis, Artemis led the Athenians to victory by shining with the full moon, but all lunar-related narratives of this event come from Roman times, and none of the contemporary writers (such as Herodotus) makes any mention of the night or the Moon.Budin, p.62
Artemis's connection to childbed and women's labour naturally led to her becoming associated with the menstrual cycle in course of time, thus the Moon.van der Toorn et al, s.v. Artemis, p.92 Selene, just like Artemis, was linked to childbirth, as it was believed that women had the easiest labours during the full moon, paving thus the way for the two goddesses to be seen as the same.Chrysippus fr. 748 On that, Cicero writes:
An association with health was another reason for Artemis and Selene's syncretization; Strabo wrote that Apollo and Artemis were connected to the Sun and the Moon, respectively, owing to the changes the two celestial bodies caused to the temperature of the air, as the two gods presided over pestilential diseases and sudden deaths.Strabo, Geographica 14.1.6
Roman authors applied Artemis/Diana's byname, "Phoebe", to Luna/Selene, the same way as "Phoebus" was given to Helios due to his identification with Apollo.Morford, p. 64 Another epithet of Artemis that Selene appropriated is "Cynthia", meaning "born in Mount Cynthus."Pannen, p.96 The goddesses Artemis, Selene, and Hecate formed a triad, identified as the same goddess with three avatars: Selene in the sky (moon), Artemis on earth (hunting), and Hecate beneath the earth (Underworld).Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid 6.118; Green, C. M. C. (2007). Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia. New York: Cambridge University Press
In Italy, those three goddesses became a ubiquitous feature in depictions of sacred groves, where Hecate/Trivia marked intersections and crossroads along with other liminal deities.Bergmann, Bettina, Joseph Farrell, Denis Feeney, James Ker, Damien Nelis, and Celia Schultz. "An Exciting Provocation: John F. Miller's 'Apollo, Augustus, and the Poets.'" Vergilius (1959–) 58 (2012): 10–11 The Romans enthusiastically celebrated the multiple identities of Diana as Hecate, Luna, and Trivia.
Roman poet Horace in his odes enjoins Apollo to listen to the prayers of the boys, as he asks Luna, the "two-horned queen of the stars", to listen to those of the girls in place of Diana, due to their role as protectors of the young.Horace, Carmen Saeculare 33–36 In Virgil's Aeneid, when Nisus addresses Luna/the Moon, he calls her "daughter of Latona."Virgil, Aeneid 9.404
In works of art, the two goddesses were mostly distinguished; Selene is usually depicted as being shorter than Artemis, with a rounder face, and wearing a long robe instead of a short hunting chiton, with a billowing cloak forming an arc above her head.Smith, s.v. Selene Artemis was sometimes depicted with a lunate crown.Collins-Clinton, p.88
Both goddesses carried torches, and were accompanied by a dog. It seems that the character of Artemis in Arcadia was original.Nilsson, "Geschichte Vol I p. 497 At Acacaesium Artemis Hegemone is depicted
holding two torches, and at Lycosura Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch. A bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her side.
Sophocles calles Artemis Amphipyros, carrying a torch in each hand, however the adjective refers also to the twin fire on the two peaks of the mountain Parnassus behind Delphi. In the fest of Laphria at Delphi Artemis is related to the Pre-Greek mistress of the animals, with barbaric sacrifices and possible connections with magic and ghosts since Potnia Theron was close to the daimons. The annual fire was the characteristique custom of the fest. Pausanias 7.18.11–7.18.12
At Kerameikos in Athens Artemis is clearly identified with Hecate. Pausanias believes that Kalliste (the most beautiful ) is a surname of Artemis carrying a torch. In Thessaly the distinctly local goddess Enodia with the surname is identified with Hecate.C.D.Graninger "Apollo, Enodia and fourth century Thessaly" Kernos22/2009 p. 109-124 Artemis was worshipped in Argos, Athens and Sicyon. Pausanias2.23.5
An etiology myth tries to explain the origin of the Arkteia. Every year, a girl between five and ten years of age was sent to Artemis's temple at Brauron. A bear was tamed by Artemis and introduced to the people of Athens. They touched it and played with it until one day a group of girls poked the bear until it attacked them. A brother of one of the girls killed the bear, so Artemis sent a plague in revenge. The Athenians consulted an oracle to understand how to end the plague. The oracle suggested that, in payment for the bear's blood, no Athenian virgin should be allowed to marry until she had served Artemis in her temple (played the bear for the goddess). Suda, Ἄρκτος ἢ Βραυρωνίοις
In a legend of the cult of Munichia if someone killed a bear, then they were to be punished by sacrificing their daughter in the sanctuary. Embaros disguised his daughter dressing her like a bear (arktos), and hid her in the adyton. He placed a goat on the altar and he sacrificed the goat instead of his daughter.Nilsson, "Geschicte", p.485 A6
In one legend, the Calydonian boar had terrorized the territory of Calydon because Artemis (the mistress of the animals) was offended. The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. The most famous Greek including Meleager and Atalanta took part in the expedition. The fierce-hunter virgin Atalanta allied to the goddess Artemis was the first who wounded the Calydonian boar.Hard, p.415, calls it "the greatest adventure in Aetolian legend"
In Greek classical art she is usually portrayed as a maiden huntress, young, tall, and slim, clothed in a girl's short skirt,Homer portrayed Artemis as girlish in the Iliad with hunting boots, a quiver, a golden or silver bowGreek poets variously described Artemis's bow as silver or gold: "Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow." (Homeric Hymn to Artemis), and it is a golden bow as well in Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.693, where her nymph's is of horn. "And how often goddess, didst thou make trial of thy silver bow?", asks Callimachus for whom it is a Cydonian bow that the Cyclopes make for her (Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis) and arrows.
Often, she is shown in the shooting pose, and is accompanied by a hunting dog or stag. When portrayed as a lunar deity, Artemis wore a long robe and sometimes a veil covered her head. Her darker side is revealed in some vase paintings, where she is shown as the death-bringing goddess whose arrows fell young maidens and women, such as the daughters of Niobe.
As a goddess of maiden dances and songs, Artemis is often portrayed with a lyre in ancient art.Kimberley Christine Patton, Religion of the Gods: Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity p.333 She is sometimes depicted with a fishing spear, in connection with her cult as a patron goddess of fishing.Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I, p.311-312 Artemis was sometimes represented in Classical art with the crown of the crescent moon, such as also found on Luna and others.
On June 7, 2007, a Roman-era bronze sculpture of Artemis and the Stag was sold at Sotheby's auction house in New York state by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery for $25.5 million.
Description
Homer calls Artemis Potnia Theron (πότνια θηρῶν), lit. 'the mistress of animals', a title associated with representations in art going back as far as the Bronze Age, showing a woman between a pair of animals. Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths.Dietrich, "The origins of Greek religion", p. 185 On a Greek vase from circa 570 BCE, a winged Artemis stands between a spotted panther and a deer. "Potnia theron" is very close to the and this differentiates her from the other Greek divinities. This is the reason that Artemis was later identified with Hecate, since the daimons were tutelary deities. Hecate was the goddess of crossroads and she was the queen of the witches.Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.227
Epithets and functions
Artemis had a number of epithets (surnames or titles) applied to her name, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to her.Martin Nilsson (1967), "Die Geschichte der Griechischen religion", C.H. Beck Verlag, Munchen, p.481-500The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome Vol I, 7, Oxford Encyclop, p.268
Mythology
Birth
All accounts agree that Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. In some sources, the two are born at the same time, and in others one is born before the other. Although traditionally stated to be twins, the author of The Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo (the oldest extant account of Leto's wandering and the birth of her children) is only concerned with the birth of Apollo, and sidelines Artemis with a later poet, Pindar, speaking of a single pregnancy. The two earliest Greek poets, Homer and Hesiod, confirm Artemis and Apollo's status as full siblings, but neither explicitly makes them twins.Homer, Iliad 1.9 and 21.502–510; Hesiod, Theogony 918–920
Relations with men
When the giant Tityos tried to rape Leto, she called out to her children, who were still young, for help. The twins were quick to respond by raining down their arrows on Tityos, killing him.Homer, Odyssey 11.580 ff; Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.161–165; Apollodorus 1.4.1; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 3.390 ff; Hard, p. 147–148 For his actions against Leto, Tityos was banished to Tartarus, where he was pegged to the rock floor and stretched on an area of , while a pair of vultures feasted daily on his liverHomer, Odyssey 11. 576 or his heart.Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.22
Divine retribution
Actaeon
Multiple versions of the Actaeon myth survive, though many are fragmentary. The hunter Actaeon is turned into a stag by Artemis, as punishment for a transgression, and is then killed by hunting dogs.Heath, "The Failure of Orpheus", Transactions of the American Philological Association 124 (1994:163–196) p. 196Walter Burkert, Homo Necans (1972), translated by Peter Bing (University of California Press) 1983, p. 111 Usually, these dogs are his own, and no longer recognize their master, though they are sometimes said to be the hounds of Artemis.
Niobe
Niobe, queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion, blasphemously boasted of being superior to Leto. This myth is very old; Homer knew of it and wrote that Niobe had given birth to twelve children, equally divided in six sons and six daughters (the Niobids). Other sources speak of fourteen children, seven sons, and seven daughters. Niobe claimed to be a better mother than Leto, for having more children than Leto's own two, "but the two, though they were only two, destroyed all those others."Homer, Iliad 24.602 ff, trans. Lattimore She also mocked Apollo's effeminate appearance and Artemis's manly appearance. Leto was not slow to catch up on that and grew angry at the queen's hubris. She summoned her children and commanded them to avenge the slight.
Orion
Orion was Artemis's hunting companion; after giving up on trying to find Oenopion, Orion met Artemis and her mother Leto, and joined the goddesses in hunting. A great hunter himself, he bragged that he would kill every beast on earth. Gaia, the earth, was not too pleased to hear that, and sent a giant scorpion to sting him. Artemis then transferred him into the stars as the constellation Orion.Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 32 Hesiod, Astronomia fr. 4 Evelyn-White, p.70–73 = fr. 7 Freeman, p. 12–13; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.26.2; Hard, p.564; cf. Hyginus, Fabulae 195 In one version Orion died after pushing Leto out of the scorpion's way.Ovid, Fasti 5.539
Callisto
Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon, King of Arcadia,Gantz, p.725; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Callisto; Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 1 =]; Pausanias, 1.25.1, 8.2.6; Hyginus, Fabulae 176, 177.
was one of Artemis's hunting attendants, and, as a companion of Artemis, took a vow of chastity.Gantz, p.98; Tripp, s.v. Callisto, p. 145–146; Apollodorus, 3.8.2.
Minor myths
When the monstrous Typhon attacked Olympus, all the terrified gods except for Zeus transformed into various animals and fled to Egypt. Artemis became a cat,Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.319; Antoninus Liberalis, Collection of Transformations 28 as she was identified by the Greeks with the Egyptian feline goddess Bastet.
Trojan War
Artemis may have been represented as a supporter of Troy because her brother Apollo was the Tutelary deity of the city, and she herself was widely worshipped in western Anatolia in historical times. Artemis plays a significant role in the war; like Leto and Apollo, Artemis took the side of the Trojans. In the Iliad, Artemis on her chariot with the golden reins, kills the daughter of Bellerophon. Bellorophon was a divine Greek hero who killed the monster Chimera. At the beginning of the Greek's journey to Troy, Artemis punished Agamemnon after he killed a sacred stag in a sacred grove and boasted that he was a better hunter than the goddess.
How now art thou fain, thou bold and shameless thing, to stand forth against me? No easy foe I tell thee, am I, that thou shouldst vie with me in might, albeit thou bearest the bow, since it was against women that Zeus made thee a lion, and granted thee to slay whomsoever of them thou wilt. In good sooth it is better on the mountains to be slaying beasts and wild deer than to fight amain with those mightier than thou. Howbeit if thou wilt, learn thou of war, that thou mayest know full well how much mightier am I, seeing thou matchest thy strength with mine.
Worship
Artemis was worshipped throughout ancient Greece."... a goddess universally worshipped in historical Greece, but in all likelihood pre-Hellenic." Hammond, Oxford Classical Dictionary, p. 126 Her best known cults were on the island of Delos (her birthplace), in Attica at Brauron and Mounikhia (near Piraeus), and in Sparta. The ancient Spartans used to sacrifice to her as one of their patron goddesses before starting a new military campaign. Athenian festivals in honor of Artemis included Elaphebolia, Mounikhia, Kharisteria, and Brauronia. The festival of Artemis Orthia was observed in Sparta.
Festivals
Artemis was born on the sixth day of the month Attic calendar (around May), which made it sacred to her.Mikalson, p. 18 Artemis had many festivals throughout the Greek world, most of which were celebrated during spring.
Attributes
Virginity
An important aspect of Artemis's persona and worship was her virginity, which may seem contradictory, given her role as a goddess associated with childbirth. The idea of Artemis as a virgin goddess likely is related to her primary role as a huntress. Hunters traditionally abstained from sex prior to the hunt as a form of ritual purity and out of a belief that the scent would scare off potential prey. The ancient cultural context in which Artemis's worship emerged also held that virginity was a prerequisite to marriage, and that a married woman became subservient to her husband.
As a mother goddess
Despite her virginity, both modern scholars and ancient commentaries have linked Artemis to the archetype of the mother goddess. Artemis was traditionally linked to fertility and was petitioned to assist women with childbirth. According to Herodotus, Greek playwright Aeschylus identified Artemis with Persephone as a daughter of Demeter. Her worshipers in Arcadia also traditionally associated her with Demeter and Persephone. In Asia Minor, she was often conflated with local mother-goddess figures, such as Cybele, and Anahita in Iran.
As the Lady of Ephesus
At Ephesus in Ionia, Turkey, her temple became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was probably the best-known center of her worship except for Delos. There, the Lady whom the Ionians associated with Artemis through interpretatio graeca was worshipped primarily as a mother goddess, akin to the Phrygian goddess Cybele, in an ancient sanctuary where her cult image depicted the "Lady of Ephesus" adorned with multiple large beads. Excavation at the site of the Artemision in 1987–88 identified a multitude of tear-shaped amber beads that had been hung on the original wooden statue ( xoanon), and these were probably carried over into later sculpted copies.
As a lunar deity
No records have been found of the Greeks referring to Artemis as a lunar deity, as their lunar deity was Selene,Sacks (1995), p.35Hard, p.46; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Selene; Morford, p.64, 219–220; Smith, s.v. Selene but the Romans identified Artemis with Selene, leading them to perceive her as a lunar deity.Shen (2018), p.60Gury, Françoise, "Selene, Luna" in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) VII.1 Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1994. As the Romans began to associate Apollo more with Helios, the Solar deity, it was only natural that the Romans would then begin to identify Apollo's twin sister, Artemis, with Helios's own sister, Selene, the personification of the Moon.
Apollo, a Greek name, is called Sol, the sun; and Diana, Luna, the moon. ... Luna, the moon, is so called a lucendo (from shining); she bears the name also of Lucina: and as in Greece the women in labor invoke Diana Lucifera,Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.68
As Hecate
Some scholars believe that Hecate was an aspect of Artemis prior to the latter's adoption into the Olympian pantheon.
Artemis would have, at that point, become more strongly associated with purity and maidenhood on the one hand, while her originally darker attributes like her association with magic, the souls of the dead, and the night would have continued to be worshipped separately under her title Hecate.Fairbanks, Arthur. A Handbook of Greek Religion. American Book Company, 1910. p.229
Symbols
Deer
Deer were the only animals held sacred to Artemis herself. On seeing a deer larger than a bull with horns shining, she fell in love with these creatures and held them sacred. Deer were also the first animals she captured. She caught five golden-horned deer and harnessed them to her chariot.Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 98 At Lycosura in isolated Arcadia Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch and dressed with a deer skin, besides Demeter and Persephone. Pausanias 8.37.4 It seems that the depictions of Artemis and Demeter (black) in Arcadia correspond to the earliest conceptions of the first Greeks in Greece.L.H.Jeffery (1976), "The city states" p.23 Ernest Benn Ltd. At the fest of Laphria at Delphi the priestess followed the parade on a chariot which was covered with the skin of a deer.
The third labour of Heracles, commanded by Eurystheus, consisted of chasing and catching the terrible Ceryneian Hind. The hind was a female deer with golden antlers and hooves of bronze and was sacred to Artemis. Heracles begged Artemis for forgiveness and promised to return it alive. Artemis forgave him, but targeted Eurystheus for her wrath.Pindar, Olympian Odes 3
Hunting dog
In a legend Artemis got her hunting dogs from Pan in the forest of Arcadia. Pan gave Artemis two black-and-white dogs, three reddish ones, and one spotted one – these dogs were able to hunt even lions. Pan also gave Artemis seven bitches of the finest Arcadian race, but Artemis only ever brought seven dogs hunting with her at any one time.Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 86 In the earliest conceptions of Artemis at Lycosura, a bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her side.
Bear
In a Pre-Greek cult Artemis was conceived as a bear. Kallisto was transformed into a bear, and she is a hypostasis of Artemis with a theriomorph form. In the cults of Artemis at Brauron and at Piraeus Munichia (arkteia) young virgin girls were disguised to she-bears (arktoi) in a ritual and they served the goddess before marriage.Nilsson Vol I, p.285-486
Boar
The boar is one of the favorite animals of the hunters, and also hard to tame. In honor of Artemis's skill, they sacrificed it to her. OeneusHomer, the Iliad 9.530 and AdonisPseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.14.4 were both killed by Artemis's boar. In The Odyssey, she descends from a peak and she travels along the ridges of Mount Erymanthos, that was sacred to the "Mistress of the animals". Odyssey 6.102 When the goddess became wrathful she would send the terrible Erymanthian boar to laid waste the farmer's fields. Heracles managed to kill the terrible creature during his Twelve Labors.Kerenyi, C. (1959), "The Heroes of the Greeks", .
Bull
Artemis is sometimes identified with the mythical bull-goddess in a cult foreign in Greece. The cult can be identified in Halae Araphenides in Attica. At the end of the peculiar fest the sacrifice of a man was represented in a ritual. Euripides, Iphigeneia in Tauris 1450–1460
Torch
Artemis is often depicted holding one or two torches. At Acacaesium, Artemis Hegemone ('the leader') is portrayed holding two torches. At Lycosura, she is shown holding a snake and a torch, with a bitch suitable for hunting lying by her side. Pausanias 8.37.1, 8.37.6 Sophocles calls Artemis "Elaphebolia, (deer slayer) Amphipyros (with a fire in each end)", recalling the annual fire of the Delphic Laphria festival;Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.495 A4 :Sophocles, Trach.214 Sophocles Trach.214 the adjective refers also to the twin fires of the two peaks of the Mount Parnassus above Delphi (Phaedriades). αμφίπυρος On a relief from Sicily, the goddess is depicted holding a torch in one hand and an offering on the other; the torch was used for the ignition of the altar's fire.Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol. I, p.80, 81
Archaic and classical art
During the Bronze Age, the "mistress of the animals" is usually depicted between two lions with a peculiar crown on her head.
The oldest representations of Artemis in Greek Archaic art, circa 550 BCE, portray her as Potnia Theron ("Queen of the Beasts"): a winged goddess holding a stag and lioness in her hands, or sometimes a lioness and a lion. Potnia theron is the only Greek goddess close to the daimons and sometimes is depicted with a Gorgon head, and the Gorgon is her distant ancestor. This winged Artemis lingered in ex-votos as Artemis Orthia, with a sanctuary close by Sparta.
Gallery
Legacy
In astronomy
In taxonomy
The taxonomic genus Artemia, which entirely comprises the family Artemiidae, derives from Artemis. Artemia species are aquatic crustaceans known as brine shrimp, the best-known species of which, Artemia salina, or sea monkeys, was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758. Artemia species live in salt lakes, and although they are almost never found in an open sea, they do appear along the Aegean Sea near Ephesus, where the Temple of Artemis once stood.
In modern spaceflight
The Artemis program is an ongoing robotic and crewed spaceflight program which has the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the lunar south pole region no earlier than 2025. The program is being carried out by NASA, U.S. commercial spaceflight companies, and international partners such as the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.[154]. NASA. Accessed on 19 May 2019
Genealogy
See also
Bibliography
(2026). 9783161552649, Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 9783161552649
(2026). 9780199927265, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199927265
(2026). 9780205176076, Pearson. ISBN 9780205176076
(2026). 9780198143819, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198143819
(1995). 9781585104772, Focus Publishing. ISBN 9781585104772
External links
Categories: Animal Goddesses, Childhood Goddesses, Hunting Goddesses, Lunar Goddesses, Nature Goddesses, Night Goddesses, Greek Virgin Goddesses, Mythological Greek Archers, Daughters Of Zeus, Divine Twins, Deities In The Iliad, Metamorphoses Characters, Dog Goddesses, Deities In The Aeneid, Light Goddesses, Bear Deities, Mountain Goddesses, Dance Goddesses, Tree Goddesses, Health Goddesses, Women Of The Trojan War, Fertility Goddesses, Twelve Olympians, Plague Goddesses, Music And Singing Goddesses, Kourotrophoi, Shapeshifters In Greek Mythology, Wolf Deities, Cat Goddesses, Delian Mythology, Dance In Greek Mythology, Music In Greek Mythology
|
|
