Artemis

Artemis, the Huntress By Zoe

Imagine being the greatest hunter on Earth, and in the heavens, with control over all the wild animals that roam the world, and the power to give sudden death to whomever you please. These were just some of the powers held by the great goddess Artemis, who held control over many areas of Greek life, was widely worshiped, and was the subject of many myths. Artemis was the feared and admired ancient Greek goddess of hunting, one of the twelve great Olympians.

Most well-known as the goddess of wild animals and hunting, Artemis also controlled four other areas of life. She was the goddess of childbirth and nursing infants, girls, maiden song and dance, and disease, plague, and sudden death. This goddess was also the patron of many different elements for each area she controlled, especially in her most well-known field of hunting. Patron of all types of wild animals, the wilderness and different lands from which wild animals could live, all types of hunting, different hunting weapons, and animal pelts, if one was in her favor, they could receive success in hunting, fishing, and fowling. However, if one was out of her favor, she could send wild animals to plague them (such as bears or boars), or could cause you to have a hunting accident. A new mother would thank Artemis for the successful delivery of her child and her baby surviving infancy, but the one she would blame for stillborn children, death in childbirth, and the premature death of young children. Young girls were very important to Artemis; she would help them grow and bestow good health upon them, but she could also stunt their growth, give them any variety of illness, or kill them suddenly. In addition, Artemis could bestow good health upon anyone, and help them recover from illness, but if one fell out of favor with her, she could cause sudden death, plague, and any type of illness. Though these were much smaller and were not considered her chief domain, Artemis also had a hand in many other aspects of life. These include forest fires, lakes and springs, roads and harbors, dawn and frost, healing, and ritual purification. While Artemis is mostly considered the goddess of the hunt, she was a deity of many powers, and ruled over a plethora of the aspects of ancient Greek life (Atsma, Artemis, 2008).

The goddess Artemis was depicted in many ways in Greek mythology. Often portrayed as a young woman, tall and very beautiful, she was usually described as wearing a knee-length hunting dress along with hunting-boots, or different pelts (Atsma, Artemis, 2008). Although she was not the main goddess of the moon (that was Selene), she was often associated with this symbol and depictions of this goddess often included a crescent moon above her forehead (Leadbetter, 2005). Usually, she was with her attendants, groups of nymphs and young mortal women, and rides a chariot drawn by four golden-horned deer. Many times throughout Greek myths, Artemis is symbolized by a deer, a bear, or a boar. This goddess was known as the virgin goddess: as the legend goes, she asked her father, Zeus, at a very young age for eternal virginity (Atsma, Artemis, 2008). It was said that she hated the idea of marriage (Graves, 1960). Only keeping virginal companions, she was extremely protective of her purity and theirs. If any man attempted to dishonor her in any way, he was sure to pay a steep price. Like many other Olympians, she was known to be very possessive, especially over her sacred animals. Anyone who attempted to kill one against her wishes was to be punished severely. As you can tell, Artemis was a very wrathful goddess, much like the rest of the Greek deities. There a great many myths about her taking revenge on mortals, often ones who did not pay the respects to her as they ought to, or ones who bragged too highly of their hunting abilities. However, Artemis was not a cruel goddess. She bestowed great honors upon those who served her well, and protected her companions fiercely (Atsma, Artemis, 2008). A beautiful, virginal goddess, often represented by wild animals, Artemis cursed mortals in her wrath, but also gave great gifts to those who served her well.

Artemis was surrounded by the other gods and goddesses at Mount Olympus, and so she frequently interacted with them and was related to some of them as well. Her father, Zeus, was the king of all gods and the god of the sky and thunder. However, her mother was not @Hera, Zeus’ wife, but instead Leto, a female Titane, who was a goddess of motherhood and a protector of the young (Atsma, Leto, 2008). Since Artemis’ mother was not Zeus’ wife, Leto fled Olympus while she was pregnant, and gave birth on the island of Ortygia to the goddess Artemis. Almost immediately after this, she helped Leto over the straight of Delos, where the Titane gave birth to Artemis’ twin brother, @Apollo, with the help of her newly born daughter. After this, @Apollo and Artemis went back into the heavens, where they joined the ranks of the Olympians. At an early age, in some legends she is as young as three, Artemis asked her father Zeus for her eternal maidenhood, which he granted, as well as giving her arrows and a bow, a hunting tunic, and her attendants, which she also requested (Leadbetter, 2005). Throughout her life, Artemis has several conflicts with her step-mother @Hera, as @Hera did have an inclination to dislike her husband’s illegitimate children. In the Trojan War, Artemis did not seem to take a strong side, but supported her twin brother @Apollo’s choices, and so sided with the city of Troy. This brought about much conflict between Artemis and @Hera, but after their feud, @Hera was victorious and the Greeks sacked Troy. During another war, the Indian Wars of @Dionysus, @Hera and Artemis once again took opposing sides, once again battled, and once again, Artemis was defeated. When @Persephone, another goddess, was abducted by Hades, Artemis, as well as @Athena, was with @Persephone, and Artemis aided Demeter, @Persephone’s mother, in her search for the young goddess. After the War of the Titanes, Artemis helped cast those defeated into the pits of Tartarus, along with @Apollo, Zeus, and @Athena (Atsma, Artemis, 2008). As a goddess born to the deities Zeus and Leto, along with her twin brother @Apollo, Artemis participated in many of the histrionics of the gods.

Artemis was a wrathful goddess, like most of the Olympians, and so most of her myths involving mortals consist of them offending her in some manner and her taking her revenge. One of the most well-known of these tales is the story of the hunter Actaeon. This hunter, along with his hunting dogs, accidentally stumbled upon Artemis and her youthful companions bathing, nude, in a secluded pool. The maiden goddess noticed the man looking at her and her companions and, appalled by him, instantly transformed him into a stag. Not knowing the difference between this animal and their former master, the dogs, instructed by the enraged Artemis, turned on Actaeon and killed him. There are also several versions of the tale of the death of the giant and great hunter Orion, all of which involve Artemis. In one form of the myth, Orion tries to rape the goddess, and so she fatally shoots him with her bow and arrow. Some variants say that Artemis conjures up a great scorpion, which kills both Orion and his dog. Not only was Artemis extremely protective of her own chasteness, she was also very concerned with keeping all her companions virginal as well. When the nymph Callisto was tricked into a seduction by Zeus, Artemis’ own father, and became pregnant with his child, Artemis was furious. Callisto gave birth to her son, Arcas, but then Artemis transformed her former companion into a bear, and shot and killed her (Leadbetter, 2005). All due sacrifices were demanded by the goddess, when Oineus, king of Kalydon, neglected to sacrifice his finest fruits of the harvest to Artemis, she created the Kalydonian Boar, a gargantuan monster that ravaged the city. Lastly, Artemis was extremely prideful, and did not take kindly to boastful mortals. For example, Agamemnon, a hero in the Trojan War, shot a stag in a sacred grove of Artemis, and boasted that his hunting skills surpassed that of the goddess herself. As Agamemnon set out for Troy by ship, Artemis halted the winds the prevented his ships from travelling. Agamemnon prepared to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia but at the last moment, according to some versions of the story, Artemis snatched Iphigenia up and replaced her with a deer, and took to girl to the land of the Tauri where she became a priestess of Artemis (Atsma, Artemis, 2008). Another myth involves Niobe, a mortal woman with 14 children, who boasted that she was a finer mother than Leto, who was the mother of Artemis and her twin brother @Apollo, since Niobe had born seven times as many children as the Titane. @Apollo and Artemis set out to defend their mother’s honor. @Apollo killed all of Niobe’s male children, and Artemis killed all of her female children (Bryant, 2010, para. 29). By reading these myths, one can tell that Artemis was a proud goddess who took offense by many mortals, and punished them however she saw fit.

Artemis was regarded as one of the Twelve Olympians, and so she was widely worshiped by the ancient Greek people. However, in many of the Greek cities, she was only a secondary goddess, but in the Greek cities in what is now Asia Minor, she was a primary goddess. In the city of Ephesian, a great temple was built to worship her, which was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (Leadbetter, 2005). Another one of her holiest shrines was on the island of Delos, which was where she was believed to be born by some (Atsma, Artemis, 2008). There were also many more temples in her honor spread throughout Greece. Brauronia in the city of Brauron is one example of a festival dedicated to Artemis; there were many more, including the festival of Artemis Orthia, held in @Sparta. In many Greek cities, young girls were initiated into her cult as they reached puberty, but then left it when they married. When this happened, they left their childish toys and dolls at the altar, along with a lock of their hair (Leadbetter, 2005). Many non-Greek goddesses were identified with this goddess, and controlled many of the same aspects of life and were worshiped in much the same ways. These include the Roman goddess Diana, the Thracian goddess Bendis, the Egyptian goddess Bastet, the Cappadocian goddess Perasia, and the Taurian goddess Tauria (Atsma, Artemis, 2010). While often not considered one of the primary deities, Artemis was widely worshiped throughout Greece, and versions of this goddess appear in other cultures as well.

Artemis was a powerful goddess, who controlled many aspects of life, but was primarily a goddess of the hunt, child delivery, girls, and sudden death. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and twin sister of @Apollo. In many myths, she took revenge upon mortals who offended her, and was worshiped widely. Like many of the Greek deities, she embodies human qualities to the extreme, and by knowing this, we can learn a lot from this goddess. This goddess defended her family, to the extreme of slaughtering the children of a woman who insulted her mother and she was the pinnacle of keeping her values, by killing men who dishonored her. While, obviously, we cannot follow her example exactly, or even closely at all, we still can learn from the morals she embodied, and also learn to keep away from the extremities she manifests that caused suffering.

Works Cited Atsma, Aaron J. "Artemis." Theoi Greek Mythology. Theoi Project, 2008. Web. 09 Dec. 2010. . Atsma, Aaron J. "Leto." Theoi Greek Mythology. Theoi Project, 2008. Web. 09 Dec. 2010.  Bryant, Megan E. She's All That!: a Look-it-up Guide to the Goddesses of Mythology. New York: Franklin Watts/Scholastic, 2010. Print. Graves, Robert. Greek Gods and Heroes. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960. Print. Leadbetter, Ron. "Artemis." Encyclopedia Mythica. 10 Aug. 2005. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. .