Goddess Artemis – One Of The Most Respected Olympians

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - A young maiden with a hunting bow and quiver of arrows is widely known from ancient Greek art. Her name is Artemis.

Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo, and their parents were Zeus and Leto, the beautiful daughter of the original Titans Coeus and Phoebe. She was the goddess of the hunt, forests, hills, the Moon, archery, wild animals, fertility, childbirth, and the patron of young women.

However, both she and her brother Apollo were also able to bring disease and even death if necessary; Artemis targeted the women and girls, while Apollo targeted the men and boys, but like her twin brother Apollo, she was also capable of healing and curing diseases amongst humans. They were both worshiped in several places.

There were, however, some dissimilarities between the siblings. First of all, Artemis had nothing to do with poetry or music. Moreover, she was not regarded as an oracular divinity like her brother, Apollo.

Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals," and she was often depicted with them. She also profoundly venerated the cypress and deer.

Apollo plays his Kithara between Artemis and Leto. Attic Black-Figure Amphora, ca. 550 BC. British Museum, London

This popular goddess (also called Diana in Roman mythology) was worshiped in many places and was among the most respected Olympians. Many scholars believe that Artemis's name and the goddess herself are ancient, originally pre-Greek, from prehistoric ancient Greece before the first Proto-Greek settlers appeared in the area.

Mythological sources say that as a child, Artemis was thrown away by Hera. In grief, she asked her father Zeus for six wishes that Zeus agreed to. One of these wishes was that she always wanted to remain a virgin. She gathered her pack of virgin hunters.

Beautiful gold hairnet with a relief of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, dated as from 200 B.C. from the Karpenisi Treasure. Credit: National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Her favorite hunting partner was Orion, but one day, Orion was killed by Artemis or Gaia. Or did it, perhaps, her brother who sent the scorpion that killed Orion?

Like her brother, the island of Delos was also her birthplace. In this place, Leto had found refuge after being persistently chased by Hera, the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion.

There are many conflicting accounts regarding the birthplace of Artemis and Apollo.

 According to Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus, a compendium of Greek myths and heroic legends, 'Leto had relations with Zeus, for which she was harassed by Hera all over the earth. Leto finally reached Delos and gave birth to Artemis, who immediately helped her mother to deliver Apollo…'

Statue of Artemis, from Mytilene, Lesbos, Roman copy of a 4th century BC type, Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Uploader: Marcus Cyron - CC BY-SA 2.

"Artemis convinced her father to grant her six wishes: to remain eternally unmarried and chaste; to possess a bow and an arrow and a tunic for her hunting; to have various names that would distinguish her from her brother; to have sixty "daughters of Okeanos," all at the age of nine, to be her choir; to have twenty Amnisides Nymphs [of the river Amnisus, Crete] and handmaiden to look after her most prized possessions: her dogs and bow during her resting period; and to be the Light Bringer. She desired to assist women in pain during childbirth.

Artemis believed that the Fates had chosen her to be a midwife, but she carefully secured her chastity and remained a pure virgin. Those devoted to Artemis were bound to live pure and chaste. Any transgression of their vows of chastity didn't go unpunished..." 1

Written by – A. Sutherland AncientPages.com Staff Writer

Updated on December 6, 2023

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