Artemis A

ARTEMIS, one of the great divinities of the Greeks.
Her name is usually derived from

artems, uninjured, healthy, vigorous; according to which she would be the goddess
who is herself inviolate and vigorous, and also grants strength and health to others.
(Plat. Cratyl. p. 406, b. ; Strab. xiv. p. 635; Eustath. ad Hom. pp. 32, 577, 1732.)
According to the Homeric account and Hesiod (Theog. 918) she was the daughter of
Zeus and Leto, whence Aeschylus (Sept. 148) calls her ltgeneia. She was the sister
of Apollo, and born with him at the same time in the island of Delos. According to a
tradition which Pausanias (viii. 37. 3) found in Aeschylus, Artemis was a daughter
of Demeter, and not of Leto, while according to an Egyptian story (Herod. ii. 156) she
was the daughter of Dionysus and Isis, and Leto was only her nurse. But these and
some other legends are only the results of the identification of the Greek Artemis with
other local or foreign divinities. The place of her birth is for the same reason not the
same in all traditions : some say that it was the grove of Ortygia near Ephesus (Tacit.
Annal. iii. 61; Schol. ad Pind. Nem. i. 1), others that it was Crete (Diod. v. 72), and
others again, that she was the sister of Apollo, but born somewhat earlier, so that she
was able to assist Leto in giving birth to Apollo. (Orph Hymn. 34. 5; Spanheim, ad
Callim. p. 476, &c.)
In the description of the nature and character of this goddess, it is necessary to
distinguish between the different points of view from which the Greeks regarded her,
and also between the really Greek Artemis and certain foreign divinities, who for
some resemblance or another were identified by the Greeks with their own Artemis.
1. Artemis as the sister of Apollo, is a kind of female Apollo, that is, she as a female
divinity represented the same idea that Apollo did as a male divinity. This relation
between the two is in many other cases described as the relation of husband and
wife, and there seems to have been a tradition which actually described Artemis as
the wife of Apollo. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1197.) In the character of sister of Apollo,
Artemis is like her brother armed with a bow, quiver, and arrows, and sends plague
and death among men and animals : she is a thea apollousa. Sudden deaths, but
more especially those of women, are described as the effect of her arrows.
(Hom.Il. vi. 205, 427, &c., xix. 59, xxi. 483, &c.; Od. xi. 172, &c., 324, xv. 478, xviii.
202, xx. 61, &c., v. 124, &c.) She also acts sometimes in conjunction with her
brother. (Od.xv. 410; Il. xxiv. 606.)
As Apollo was not only a destructive god, but also averted the evils which it was in his
power to inflict, so Artemis was at the same time a thea steira; that is, she cured
and alleviated the sufferings of mortals. Thus, for instance, she healed Aeneas, when
he was wounded and carried into the temple of Apollo. (Il. v. 447.) In the Trojan war
she sided, like Apollo, with the Trojans. The man whom she looked graciously upon
was prosperous in his fields and flocks, his household was thriving, and he died in old
age. (Callim.Hymn. in Dian. 129, &c.)
She was more especially the protectress of the young, whence the epithets
paidotrophos, kourotrophos, and philomeirax (comp. Diod. v. 73); and Aeschylus
(Agam.142) calls her the protectress of young sucking-animals, and of the game
ranging through the forests of the mountains. Artemis thus also came to be regarded
as the goddess of the flocks and the chase: she is the huntress among the
immortals ; she is called the stag-killer (elaphbolos), the lover of the tumult
connected with the chase (keladein), and agrotera. (Il. xxi. 511, 485, &c.;
Hom. Hymn. in Dian. 10.)

Artemis is moreover, like Apollo, unmarried; she is a maiden divinity never conquered
by love. (Soph. Elect.1220.) The priests and priestesses devoted to her service were
bound to live pure and chaste, and trangressions of their vows of chastity were
severely punished. (Paus. vii. 19. 1. viii. 13. 1.) She was worshipped in several
places together with her brother; and the worship of both divinities was believed to
have come from the Hyperboreans, and Hyperborean maidens brought sacrifices to
Delos. (Herod. ii. 32, 35.) The laurel was sacred to both divinities, and both were
regarded as the founders and protectors of towns and streets. (Paus. i. 38. 6, iii.
24. 6, viii. 36, in fin. ; Aeschyl. Sept. 450; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 34.)
There are, however, some points also, in which there is no resemblance between
Artemis and Apollo : she has nothing to do with music or poetry, nor is there any
trace of her having been regarded as an oracular divinity like Apollo. Respecting the
real and original character of Artemis as the sister of Apollo, we encounter the same
difficulties as those mentioned in the article Apollo, viz. as to whether she was a
purely spiritual and ethical divinity, as Mller thinks, or whether she was the
representative of some power in physical nature; and the question must be decided
here in the same manner as in the case of Apollo.
When Apollo was regarded as identical with the sun or Helios, nothing was more
natural than that his sister should be regarded as Selene or the moon, and
accordingly the Greek Artemis is, at least in later times, the goddess of the moon.
Buttmann and Hermann consider this idea of Artemis being the moon as the
fundamental one from which all the others are derived. But, at any rate, the idea of
Artemis being the goddess of the moon, must be confined to Artemis the sister of
Apollo, and is not applicable to the Arcadian, Taurian, or Ephesian Artemis.
2. The Arcadian Artemis is a goddess of the nymphs, and was worshipped as such in
Arcadia in very early times. Her sanctuaries and temples were more numerous in this
country than in any other part of Greece. There was no connexion between the
Arcadian Artemis and Apollo, nor are there any traces here of the ethical character
which is so prominent in Artemis, the sister of Apollo. These circumstances, together
with the fact, that her surnames and epithets in Arcadia are nearly all derived from
the mountains, rivers, and lakes, shew that here she was the representative of some
part or power of nature. In Arcadia she hunted with her nymphs on Taygetus,
Erymanthus, and Maenalus; twenty nymphs accompanied her during the chase, and
with sixty others, daughters of Oceanus, she held her dances in the forests of the
mountains. Her bow, quiver, and arrows, were made by Hephaestus, and Pan
provided her with dogs. Her chariot was drawn by four stags with golden antlers.
(Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 13, 81, 90, &c.; Apollod. ii. 5. 3; Pind. Ol. iii. 51.) Her
temples and sanctuaries in Arcadia were usually near lakes or rivers, whence she was
called limntis or limnaia. (Paus. ii. 7. 6, iii. 23. 6, iv. 4. 2, 31. 3, viii. 53.
5.) In the precincts of her sanctuaries there were often sacred wells, as at Corinth.
(Paus. ii. 3. 5, iii. 20. 7.) As a nymph, Artemis also appears in connexion with
river gods, as with Alpheius, and thus it is intelligible why fish were sacred to her.
(Diod. v. 3.)
3. The Taurian Artemis. The legends of this goddess are mystical, and her worship
was orgiastic and connected, at least in early times, with human sacrifices. According
to the Greek legend there was in Tauris a goddess, whom the Greeks for some reason
identified with their own Artemis. and to whom all strangers that were thrown on the
coast of Tauris, were sacrificed. (Eurip. Iph. Taur. 36.) Iphigeneia and Orestes
brought her image from thence, and landed at Brauron in Attica, whence the goddess
derived the name of Brauronia. (Paus. i. 23. 9, 33. 1, iii. 16, in fin.) The
Brauronian Artemis was worshipped at Athens and Sparta, and in the latter place the
boys were scourged at her altar in such a manner that it became sprinkled with their
blood. This cruel ceremony was believed to have been introduced by Lycurgus,
instead of the human sacrifices which had until then been offered to her. (Dict. of
Ant. s. v. Braurnia and Diamastigsis.)
Her name at Sparta was Orthia, with reference to the phallus, or because her statue
stood erect. According to another tradition, Orestes and Iphigeneia concealed the
image of the Taurian goddess in a bundle of brushwood, and carried it to Aricia in
Latium. Iphigeneia, who was at first to have been sacrificed to Artemis, and then
became her priestess, was afterwards identified with the goddess (Herod. iv. 103;
Paus. i. 43. 1), who was worshipped in some parts of Greece, as at Hermione,
under the name of Iphigeneia. (Paus. ii. 35. 1.) Some traditions stated, that
Artemis made Iphigeneia immortal, in the character of Hecate, the goddess of the
moon.
A kindred divinity, if not the same as the Taurian Artemis, is Artemis tauropolos,
whose worship was connected with bloody sacrifices, and who produced madness in
the minds of men, at least the chorus in the Ajax of Sophocles, describes the
madness of Ajax as the work of this divinity. In the legends about the Taurian
Artemis, it seems that separate local traditions of Greece are mixed up with the
legends of some Asiatic divinity, whose symbol in the heaven was the moon, and on
the earth the cow.
4. The Ephesian Artemis was a divinity totally distinct from the Greek goddess of the
same name. She seems to have been the personification of the fructifying and allnourishing powers of nature. It is an opinion almost universally adopted, that she was
an ancient Asiatic divinity whose worship the Greeks found established in Ionia, when
they settled there, and that, for some resemblance they discovered, they applied to
her the name of Artemis. As soon as this identity of the Asiatic goddess with the
Greek Artemis was recognised, other features, also originally peculiar to the Greek
Artemis, were transferred to her; and thus she is called a daughter of Leto, who gave
birth to her in the neighbourhood of Ephesus. Her original character is sufficiently
clear from the fact, that her priests were eunuchs, and that her image in the
magnificent temple of Ephesus represented her with many breasts (polumastos). The
whole figure of the goddess resembled a mummy : her head was surmounted with a
mural crown (corona muralis), and the lower part of her body, which ended in a
point, like a pyramid upside down, was covered with figures of mystical animals.
(Strab. xiv. p. 641; Paus. iv. 31. 6, vii. 5. 2., The symbol of this divinity was a
bee, and her highpriest bore the name of king (essn). Her worship was said to have
been established at Ephesus by the Amazons. (Paus. ii. 7. 4, viii. 12. 1; Hesych.
and Suid. s. v. essn.)

Respecting some other divinities, or attributes of divinities, which were likewise
regarded as identical with Artemis in Greece, see Britomartis, Dictynna, and
EileithyiaI. The Romans identified their goddess Diana with the Greek Artemis, and at
a comparatively early time they transferred to their own goddess all the peculiar
features of the Greek Artemis. The worship of Artemis was universal in all Greece, in
Delos, Crete, Sicily, and southern Italy, but more especially in Arcadia and the whole
of the Peloponnesus. The sacrifices offered to the Brauronian Artemis consisted of
stags and goats; in Thrace dogs were offered to Artemis. Among the animals sacred
to the Greek Artemis we may mention the stag, boar, dog, and others; the fir-tree
was likewise sacred to her.
It is impossible to trace the various relations in which Artemis appears to us to one
common source, or to one fundamental idea : the very manner in which such a
complicated mythus was formed renders the attempt futile, or, to say the least,
forced. In the case of Artemis, it is evident, that new elements and features were
added in various places to the ancient local mythus; the worship of one divinity is
identified with that of another, and the legends of the two are mixed up into one, or
those of the one are transferred to the other, whose legends then sink into oblivion.
The representations of the Greek Artemis in works of art are different accordingly as
she is represented either as a huntress, or as the goddess of the moon; yet in either
case she appears as a youthful and vigorous divinity, as becomes the sister of Apollo.
As the huntress, she is tall, nimble, and has small hips; her forehead is high, her
eyes glancing freely about, and her hair tied up behind in such a manner, that some
locks float down her neck; her breast is covered, and the legs up to the knees are
naked, the rest being covered by the chlamys. Her attributes are the bow, quiver, and
arrows, or a spear, stags, and dogs. As the goddess of the moon, she wears a long
robe which reaches down to her feet, a veil covers her head, and above her forehead
rises the crescent of the moon. In her hand she often appears holding a torch.
Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
HYMNS TO ARTEMIS
I) THE HOMERIC HYMNS
Homeric Hymn 9 to Artemis (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.) :
"Mousa, sing of Artemis, sister of the far-shooter (hekatos), Parthenosthe virgin who
delights in arrows (iokheaira), who was fostered with Apollon. She waters her horses
from Meles deep in reeds [a river in Lydia], and swifty drives her all-golden chariot
through Smyrna to vine-clad Klaros (Claros) where Apollon god of the silver bow
(argyrotoxos), sits waiting for far-shooting delighter in arrows (hekatebolon iokheaira).
And so hail to you, Artemis, in my song and to all goddesses as well. Of you first I sing
and with you I begin; now that I have begun with you, I will turn to another song."
Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis :

"I sing of Artemis with shafts are of gold (khryselakatos), strong-voiced (keladeine),
the revered virgin (parthenon aidoine), dear-shooting (elaphebolos), delighter in
arrows (iokheaira), own sister to Apollon of the golden sword (khrysaor). Over the
shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and
sends out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains tremble and the tangled
wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts: earth quakes and the sea also
where fishes shoal. But the goddess with a bold heart turns every way destroying the
race of wild beasts: and when she is satisfied and has cheered her heart, then the
huntress who delights in arrows (theroskopos iokheaira) slackens her supple bow and
goes to the great house of her dear brother Phoibos Apollon, to the rich land of
Delphoi, there to order the lovely dance of the Mousai (Muses) and Kharites (Charites,
Graces). There she hangs up her curved bow and her arrows, and heads and leads the
dances, gracefully arrayed, while all they utter their heavenly voice, singing how neatankled Leto bare children supreme among the immortals both in thought and deed.
Hail to you, children of Zeus and rich-haired Leto! And now I will remember you and
another song also."
Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 18 ff :
"Artemis with shafts of gold (khryselakatos) loves archery and the slaying of wild
beasts in the mountains, the lyre also and dancing and strong-voiced song and shady
woods and the cities of upright men."
II) HELLENISTIC HYMNS
Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"Of Artemis we hymn--no light thing is it for singers to forget her - whose study is the
bow and the shooting of hares and the spacious dance and sport upon the mountains.
[The story of her birth and childhood follow, see The Childhood of Artemis for this part
of the hymn.] . . .
The fourth time [Artemis shot her bow]--not long was it ere thou didst shoot at the city
of unjust me, those who to one another and those who towards strangers wrought
many deeds of sin, forward men, on whom thou wilt impress thy grievous wrath. On
their cattle plague feeds, on their tilth feeds frost, and the old men cut their hair in
mourning over their sons, and their wives either are smitten or die in childbirth, or, if
they escape, bear birds whereof none stands on upright ankle.
But on whomsoever thou lookest smiling and gracious, for them the tilth bears the
corn-ear abundantly, and abundantly prospers the four-footed breed, and abundant
waxes their prosperity: neither do they go to the tomb, save when they carry thither
the aged. Nor does faction wound their race--faction which ravages even the wellestablished houses: but brother's wife and husband's sister set their chairs around one
board . . .
Lady, of that number be whosoever is a true friend of mine, and of that number may I
be myself, O Queen. And may song be my study forever. In that song shall be the
Marriage of Leto; therein thy name shall often-times be sung; therein shall Apollon be
and therein all thy labours, and therein thy hounds and thy bow and thy chariot, which
lightly carry thee in thy splendour, when thou drivest to the house of Zeus . . .
But when the Nymphai encircle thee in the dance, near the springs of Aigyptian
(Egyptian) Inopos [on the island of Delos] or Pitane [in Aiolia or Lakonia]--for Pitane
too is thine--or in Limnai [in Lakonia] or where, goddess, thou camest from Skythia to
dwell, in Alai Araphenides [i.e. Brauron in Attika], renouncing the rites of the Tauroi [of
Skythia], then may not my kine cleave a four-acred fallow field for a wage at the hand
of an alien ploughman; else surely lame and weary of neck would they come to the
byre, yea even were they of Stymphaian breed, nine years of age, drawing by the
horns; which kine are far the best for cleaving a deep furrow; for the god Helios never
passes by that beauteous dance, but stays his car to gaze upon the sight, and the
lights of day are lengthened.
Which now of islands, what hill finds most favour with thee? What haven? What city?
Which of the Nymphai (NYmphs) dost thou love above the rest, and what heroines hast
thou taken for thy companions? Say, goddess, thou to me, and I will sing thy saying to
others. Of islands, Dolikhe [Ikaria] hath found favour with thee, of cities Perge [in
Pamphylia], of hills Taygetos [in Lakedaimonia], the havens of Euripos [Euboia].
And beyond others thou lovest the Nymphe of Gortyn, Britomartis, slayer of stags, the
goodly archer . . . Yea and Kyrene thou madest thy comrade, to whom on a time
thyself didst give two hunting dogs, with whom the maiden daughter of Hypseus
beside the Iolkian tomb won the prize.And the fair-haired [Prokris] wife of Kephalos,
son of Deioneus, O Lady, thou madest thy fellow in the chase and fair Antikleia
[mother of Odysseus], they say, thou dist love even as thine own eyes. These were the
first who wore the gallant bow and arrow-holding quivers on their shoulders; their right
shoulders bore the quiver strap, and always the right breast showed bare. Further thou
dist greatly commend swift-footed Atalanta, the slayer of boards, daughter of Arkadian
Iasios, and taught her hunting with dogs and good archery . . .
Lady of many shrines, of many cities, hail! Khitone (Goddess of the Tunic), sojourner in
Miletos; for thee did Neleus [i.e. the founder of Miletos] make his Guide, when he put
off with his ships from the land of Kekrops [i.e. Attika].
Khesias (Lady of Khesion) and Imbrasia (Lady of Imbrasos), throned in the highest, to
thee in thy shrine did Agamemnon dedicate the rudder of his ship, a charm against ill
weather, when thou didst bind the winds for him, what time the Akhaian ships sailed to
vex the cities of the Teukroi [i.e. the Trojans], wroth for Rhamnusian Helene.
For thee surely Proitos established two shrines, one of Artemis Kore (Maidenhood) for
that thou dist gather for him his maiden daughters, when they were wandering over
the Azanian hills; the other he founded in Lousa to Artemis Hemere (the Gentle),
because thou tookest from his daughters the spirit of wildness.
For thee, too, the Amazones, whose mind is set on war, in Ephesos beside the sea
established an image beneath an oak trunk, and Hippo [an Amazon queen] performed
a holy rite for thee, and they themselves, O Oupis Queen, around the image danced a
war-dance--first in shields and armour, and again in a circle arraying a spacious choir.
And the loud pipes thereto piped shrill accompaniment, that they might foot the dance
together (for not yet did they pierce the bones of the fawn [to create flutes], Athene's
handiwork, a bane to the deer). And the echo reached unto Sardis and to the
Berekynthian range [in Phrygia]. And they with their feet geat loudly and therewith
their quivers rattled. And afterwards around that image was raised a shrine of broad
foundations. That it shall dawn behold nothing more divine, naught richer. Easily would
it outdo Pytho [Delphoi].
Wherefore in this madness insolent Lygdamis threatened that he would lay it waste,
and brought against it a host of Kimmerians which milk mares, in number as the sand;
who have their homes hard by the Straights of the cow, daughter of Inakhos. Ah!
Foolish among kings, how greatly he sinned! For not destined to return again to
Skythia was either he or any other of those whose wagons stood in the Kaytrian plain
[of Lydia]; for thy shafts are ever more set as a defense before Ephesos. O Mounikhia
(Lady of Mounykhia), Limenoskope (Watcher of Harbours), hail, Pheraia (Lady of
Pherai)!
Let none disparage Artemis. For Oineus dishonoured her altar and no pleasant
struggles came upon his city.
Nor let any contend with her in shooting of stags or in archery. For the son of Atreus
[Agamemnon] vaunted him not that he suffered small requital. Neither let any woo the
Maiden; for not Otos, nor Orion wooed her to their own good. Nor let any shun the
yearly dance; for not tearless to Hippo [an Amazon queen] was her refusal to dance
around the altar. Hail, great queen, and graciously greet my song."
III) THE ORPHIC HYMNS
Orphic Hymn 2 to Prothhyraea (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"To Prothyraia [Artemis], Fumigation from Storax. O venerable Goddess, hear my
prayer, for labour pains are thy peculiar care. In thee, when stretched upon the bed of
grief, the sex, as in a mirror, view relief. Guard of the race, endued with gentle mind,
to helpless youth benevolent and kind; benignant nourisher; great nature's key
belongs to no divinity but thee. Thou dwellest with all immanifest to sight, and solemn
festivals are thy delight. Thine is the task to loose the virgin's zone and thou in every
work art seen and known. With births you sympathise, though pleased to see the
numerous offspring of fertility. When racked with labour pangs, and sore distressed the
sex invoke thee, as the soul's sure rest; for thou Eileithyia alone canst give relief to
pain, which art attempts to ease, but tries in vain. Artemis Eileithyia, venerable power,
who bringest relief in labour's dreadful hour; hear, Prothyraia and make the infant race
thy constant care."
Orphic Hymn 36 to Artemis :
"To Artemis, Fumigation from Manna. Hear me, Zeus' daughter, celebrated queen,
Bromia and Titanis, of a noble mien: in darts rejoicing, and on all to shine, torchbearing Goddess, Diktynna divine. Over births presiding, and thyself a maid, to labour
pangs imparting ready aid: dissolver of the zone, and wrinkled care, fierce huntress,
glorying in the sylvan war: swift in the course, in dreadful arrows skilled, wandering by
night, rejoicing in the field: of manly form, erect, of bounteous mind, illustrious
Daimon, nurse of humankind: immortal, earthly, bane of monsters fell, 'tis thine, blest
maid, on woody mounts to dwell: foe of the stag, whom woods and dogs delight, in
endless youth you flourish fair and bright. O universal queen, august, divine, a various
form, Kydonian power, is thine. Dread guardian Goddess, with benignant mind,
auspicious come, to mystic rites inclined; give earth a store of beauteous fruits to bear,
send gentle peace, and health with lovely hair, and to the mountains drive disease and
care."
K6.1 ARTEMIS
WITH BOW
K6.1B ARTEMIS,
DEATH AKTAION
K6.5 ARTEMIS
WITH BOW
K6.3 ARTEMIS
QUEEN OF BEASTS
K6.2 ARTEMIS
WITH HERON
K6.10 ARTEMIS
DEER CHARIOT
K6.6B ARTEMIS
DEER CHARIOT
K6.6 ARTEMIS,
DEATH AKTAION
K5.4 ARTEMIS,
APOLLON, NIOBIDES
K5.6 ARTEMIS,
APOLLON, HERAKLES
K5.5 ARTEMIS,
APOLLON, HERAKLES
M22.3 ARTEMIS,
HERAKLES, DEER
K10.9 ARTEMIS,
APHRODITE, PARIS
T14.4 ARTEMIS,
LETO, TITYOS
T14.6 ARTEMIS,
LETO, APOLLON
K6.9 ARTEMIS,
DEATH AKTAION
L10.1 ARTEMIS,
ALOADAI GIANTS
T40.6 ARTEMIS,
APOLLON, ORESTES
K6.7 ARTEMIS,
DEATH AKTAION
K6.8 DEATH
AKTAION
T61.1 ARTEMIS,
MARSYAS
Z6.1 ARTEMIS
HUNTING DEER
T14.2 ARTEMIS,
LETO, APOLLON
T14.7 ARTEMIS,
LETO, APOLLON
F6.1 ARTEMIS,
SACRIFICE
IPHIGENEIA
F6.2 ARTEMIS,
DEATH AKTAION
SCULPTURE see Artemis Cult 1, Artemis Cult 2, Artemis Cult 3, Artemis Cult 4
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF ARTEMIS

Classical literature offers only a few, brief descriptions of the physical characteristics of
the gods.
Homer, Odyssey 6. 102 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"With head and forehead Artemis overtops the rest [of her companion Nymphai], and
though all are lovely, there is no mistaking which is she."
Homer, Odyssey 6. 151 ff :
"[Odysseus addresses Nausikaa:] You are most like Artemis, daughter of sovereign
Zeus; you are tall as she is, lovely as she is, you have her air."
Homer, Odyssey 17. 37 & 19. 54 :
"Penelope came from her room, looking like Artemis [i.e. in chastity] or like golden
Aphrodite [i.e. in beauty]."
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3. 879 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"Artemis, standing in her golden chariot after she has bathed in the gently water of
Parthenios or the streams of Amnisos, and driving off with her fast-trotting deer over
the hills and far away to some rich-scented sacrifice. Attendant Nymphai have
gathered at the source of Amnisos or flocked in from the glens and upland springs to
follow her; and fawning beasts whimper in homage and tremble as she passes by."
Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 10 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"Give me [Artemis] arrows and a bow . . . and give me to gird me in a tunic with
embroidered border reaching to the knee, that I may slay wild beasts."
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 19. 5 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd

A.D.) :
"[Amongst the figures depicted on the chest of Kypselos dedicated at Olympia:]
Artemis has wings on her shoulders . . . in her right hand she grips a leopard, in her
left a lion."
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 37. 1 :
"[From a description of a cult statue:] Artemis wrapped in the skin of a deer, and
carrying a quiver on her shoulders, while in one hand she holds a torch, in the other
two serpents; by her side a bitch, of a breed suitable for hunting, is lying down."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 3. 138 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"She [Artemis] stood taller, a head taller than them all [her attendant Nymphai]."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 302 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"[Artemis] and maiden Aura mounted the car [Artemis' chariot], took reins and whip
and drove the horned team [of deer] like a tempest. The unveiled daughters of
everflowing Okeanos her servants made haste to accompany the Archeress: one
moved her swift knees as her queen's forerunner, another tucked up her tunic and ran
level not far off, a third laid a hand on the basket of the swiftmoving car and ran
alongside. Archeress diffusing radiance from her face stood shining above her
attendants . . . The goddess [Artemis] leapt out of her car [of her chariot]; Oupis took
the bow from her shoulders, and Hekaerge the quiver; the daughters of Okeanos took
off the well-strung hunting nets, and another took charge of the dogs; Loxo loosed the
boots from her feet."
Sources:
o
Homer, The Odyssey
The Homeric Hymns
Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica
Callimachus, Hymns
Pausanias, Description of Greece
The Orphic Hymns
Ovid, Metamorphoses
Nonnos, Dionysiaca
- Greek Epic C8th B.C.

- Greek Epic C8th-4th B.C.
- Greek Epic C3rd B.C.
- Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.

- Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.
- Greek Hymns C3rd B.C. - C2nd A.D.

- Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
- Greek Epic C5th A.D.
SOURCE STATUS (of Artemis pages)
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FULLY QUOTED: Homer (Iliad & Odyssey); Hesiod; Homeric Hymns; Homerica; Apollodorus;
Pausanias; Strabo; Herodotus; Orphic Hymns, Quintus Smyrnaeus; Callimachus; Aelian (On
Animals); Ovid (Metamorphoses); Hyginus (Fabulae & Astronomica); Apuleius; Aesop (n/a)
PARTIALLY OR NOT QUOTED (GREEK): Pindar; Greek Lyric (Fragments); Greek Elegaic
(Fragments); Apollonius Rhodius; Diodorus Siculus; Antoninus Liberalis; Euripides; Aeschylus;
Sophocles; Aristophanes; Plato; Theocritus; Lycophron; Plutarch; Philostratus & Callistratus;
Nonnus; Oppian; Tryphiodorus; et. al.
PARTIALLY OR NOT QUOTED (LATIN): Ovid (Fasti); Cicero; Statius; Colluthus; Propertius;
Valerius Flaccus; et. al.
GODDESS OF WILDERNESS, ANIMALS & HUNTING

I) GODDESS OF THE WILDS
Homer, Iliad 21. 470 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"Artemis of the wilderness (agrotera), lady of wild beasts (potnia theron)."
"Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she [Artemis] draws her golden bow . . . The
tops of the high mountains tremble and the tangled wood echoes awesomely with the
outcry of beasts."
Aeschylus, Fragment 188 (from Orion, Etymologicum 26. 5) (trans. Weir Smyth)
(Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"Mistress maiden (despoina nymph) [i.e. Artemis], ruler of the stormy mountains."
"[Artemis as a child asks for privileges from her father Zeus:] And give to me all
mountains . . . on the mountains will I dwell."
Ovid, Fasti 4. 751 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"I entered a forbidden wood . . . forgive my offence . . . Keep from our sight the
Dryades and Diana's [Artemis'] bath and Faunus [Pan] lying in the fields at noon."
Seneca, Hercules Furens 406 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
"O [Artemis] queen of the groves (regina nemorum), thou who in solitude lovest thy
mountain-haunts, and who upon the solitary mountains art alone held holy."
II) GODDESS OF WILD BEASTS & HUNTING
Artemis was the goddess of wild beasts and the hunt. Also, besides being the goddess
protector of human young, she was also regarded as the protector of young animals.
Homer, Iliad 21. 470 & 483 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"Artemis of the wilderness (agrotera), lady of wild beasts (potnia theron) . . . Zeus has
made you [Artemis] a lion among women, and given you leave to kill any at your
pleasure . . . you hunt down the ravening beasts in the mountains and deer of the
wilds."
Homer, Iliad 5. 51 ff :
"Skamandrios, the fine huntsman of beasts [was killed by Menelaus]. Artemis herself
11
had taught him to strike down every wild thing that grows in the mountain forest. Yet
Artemis of the showering arrows (iokheaira) could not now help him, no, nor the long
spearcasts in which he had been pre-eminent [for hunting-skill was of no use on the
battlefield]."
"Far-shooting (iokheaira) Artemis ranges the mountainside - on lofty Taygetos, it may
be, or it may be on Erymanthos - taking her pleasure among the boars and the
running deer; Nymphai of the countryside (agronomoi), daughters of Zeus who holds
the aigis, are all around her and share her pastime."
"Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she [Artemis] draws her golden bow,
rejoicing in the chase, and sends out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains
tremble and the tangled wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts: earth
quakes and the sea also where fishes shoal. But the goddess with a bold heart turns
every way destroying the race of wild beasts: and when she is satisfied and has
cheered her heart, then the huntress (theroskopos) who delights in arrows (iokheaira)
slackens her supple bow."
"Artemis with shafts of gold (khryselakatos) loves archery and the slaying of wild
beasts in the mountains."
Pindar, Dithyrambs Heracles the Bold (trans. Sandys) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"The lone huntress Artemis, who . . . hath yoked the brood of savage lions for Bromios
[Dionysos], who is enchanted even by the dancing herds of wild beasts."
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 140 ff (trans. Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"O Lovely One [Artemis], you are so gracious to the tender whelps of fierce lions, and
take delight in the suckling young of every wild creature that roams the field."
Aristophanes, Frogs 1358 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"O Artemis, thou maid divine, Diktynna (of the Nets), huntress, fair to see, O bring
that keen-nosed pack of thine, and hunt through all the house with me."
Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 114 ff :
"Praise Artemis too, the maiden huntress, who wanders on the mountains and through
the woods."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 21 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd
A.D.) :
"Artemis became a practised huntress and remained a virgin."
"Driving off with her fast-trotting deer over the hills . . . fawning beasts whimper in
homage and tremble as she [Artemis] passes by."
"[Artemis] whose study is the bow and the shooting of hares and the spacious dance
and sport upon the mountains . . .
[Artemis as a child asks for privileges from her father Zeus:] Give me arrows and a
12
bow . . . that I may slay wild beasts . . . and give me for handmaidens twenty nymphai
. . . who shall tend well my buskins, and, when I shoot no more at lynx or stag, shall
tend my swift hounds."
Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 116 ff :
"And how often goddess [Artemis], didst thou [first] make trial of thy silver bow? First
at an elm, and next at an oak didst thou shoot, and third again at a wild beast."
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 1. 905 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :
"The Child of Zeus, the tireless Huntress Artemis sleeping, what time her feet
forwearied are with following lions with her flying shafts over the hills far-stretching."
Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 21 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd
A.D.) :
"Polyphonte . . . went on heat and coupled with a bear. Artemis seeing her was utterly
disgusted and turned all beasts against her."
Orphic Hymn 36 to Artemis (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"[Artemis] fierce huntress, glorying in the sylvan war: swift in the course, in dreadful
arrows skilled, wandering by night, rejoicing in the field: of manly form, erect, of
bounteous mind . . . immortal, earthly, bane of monsters fell, 'tis thine, blest maid, on
woody mounts to dwell: foe of the stag, whom woods and dogs delight, in endless
youth you flourish fair and bright . . . give earth a store of beauteous fruits to bear."
Strabo, Geography 5. 1. 9 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Among the Henetoi [of northern Italia] . . . in the sacred precincts [of Artemis] the
wild animals become tame, and deer herd with wolves, and they allow the people to
approach and caress them, and any that are pursued by dogs are no longer pursued
when they have taken refuge here."
Strabo, Geography 14. 1. 29 :
"After Kolophon [in Asia Minor] one comes to the mountain Korakios and to an isle
sacred to Artemis, whither deer, it has been believed, swim across and give birth to
their young."
A.D.) :
"The Eleans, I think, called Artemis Elaphiaia from the hunting of the deer (elaphos)."
"Saron [of Troizenos, Argolis] was very fond of hunting. As he was chasing a doe, it so
chanced that it dashed into the sea and he dashed in alter it. The doe swam further
and further from the shore, and Saron kept close to his prey, until his ardor brought
him to the open ocean. Here his strength failed, and he was drowned in the waves. The
body was cast ashore at the grove of Artemis by the Phoibaian lagoon."
"Near the theater [at Troizenos, Argolis] a temple of Artemis Lykeie (Wolfish ) was
made by Hippolytos . . . [after he] destroyed wolves that were ravaging the land of
Troizenos."
13

"Alkathoos made it [a temple of Artemis the Huntress] after killing the Lion called
Kithaironian."
"[Depicted on the chest of Kypelos at Olympia:] Artemis has wings on her shoulders ...
in her right hand she grips a leopard, in her left a lion." [N.B. This was a depiction of
Artemis as the Potnia Theron or Queen of the Beasts. A similar image is found on the
black-figure Francois Vase from the C6th B.C.]
"The festival [of Artemis at Patrai] begins with a most splendid procession in honor of
Artemis, and the maiden officiating as priestess rides last in the procession upon a car
yoked to deer . . . the people throw alive upon the altar edible birds and every kind of
victim as well; there are wild boars, deer and gazelles; some bring wolf-cubs or bearcubs, others the full-grown beasts. They also place upon the altar fruit of cultivated
trees. Next they set fire to the wood. At this point I have seen some of the beasts,
including a bear, forcing their way outside at the first rush of the flames, some of them
actually escaping by their strength. But those who threw them in drag them back again
to the pyre. It is not remembered that anybody has ever been wounded by the
beasts."
Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 1. 28 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd
A.D.) :
"[From a description of a painting depicting hunters:] Do not rush past us, ye hunters,
nor urge on your steeds till we can track down what your purpose is and what the
game is you are hunting. For you claim to be pursuing a fierce wild boar . . . Mules and
a muleteer bring their luggage, snares and nets and boar-spears and javelins and
lances with toothed blades; masters of hounds accompany the expedition and trackers
and all breeds of dogs . . . And the hunters as they advance will hymn Artemis
Agrotera (Goddess of the Hunt); for yonder is a temple to her, and a statue worn
smooth with age, and heads of boars and bears; and wild animals sacred to her graze
there, fawns and wolves and hares, all tame and without fear of man. After a prayer
the hunters continue the hunt."
Philostratus the Younger, Imagines 3 (trans. Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd
A.D.) :
"[From a description of an ancient Greek painting describing the feast of a group of
hunters:] As to the other wing of the company, the man next to the central figure, a
cup half full in one hand and swinging his right hand above his head, seems to me to
be singing the praises of Artemis Agrotera (of the Hunt)."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 10. 535 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"She roamed across the hills, through woods and brambly boulders, with her dress
knee-high like Diana's [Artemis'], urging on the hounds, chasing the quarry when the
quarry's safe - does and low-leaping hares and antlered deer."
Ovid, Heroides 4. 38 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"I am stirred to go among wild beasts. The goddess first for me now is Delia [Artemis],
known above all for her curved bow; it is your choice that I myself now follow. My
pleasure leads me to the wood, to drive the deer into the net, and to urge on the fleet
hound over the highest ridge, or with arm shot forth to let fly the quivering spear, or to
14
lay my body upon the grassy ground. Oft do I delight to whirl the light car in the dust
of the course, twisting with the rein the mouth of the flying steed."
Ovid, Heroides 4. 87 ff :
"You practise the ways of girded Diana [Artemis] . . . and you should imitate the
weapons of your Diana--if you never cease to bend it, will grow slack."
Seneca, Phaedra 54 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
"[The hunter Hippolytos prays to Artemis:] And do thou be with thy follower, O
manlike goddess [Artemis], for whose sovereignty earth's secret places are reserved,
whose darts with unerring aim seek out the prey which drinks the cool Araxes or sports
on Isters frozen streams. Thy hand aims at Gaetulian lions, thine at Cretan deer; and
now with lighter stroke dost thou pierce swift-fleeing does. The striped tigers face thee,
but the shaggy-backed bisons flee, and the wild ox with wide-spreading horns. All
things that feed in the lonely fields, whether the Arabian knows them in his rich
forests, or the needy Garamantian and the wandering Sarmatian on his desert plains,
whatever the heights of the rough Pyrenees or the Hyrcanian glades conceal, all fear
thy bow, Diana [Artemis]. If, his offerings paid, thy worshipper takes thy favour with
him to the glades, his nets hold the tangled prey, no feet break through his snares; his
game is brought in on groaning wains, his hounds have their muzzles red with blood,
and all the rustic throng come home in long triumphant line. Lo, goddess, thou dost
hear me: the shrill-tongued hounds have given the sign. I am summoned to the woods
[to hunt]."
Colluthus, Rape of Helen 14 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poetry C5th to 6th A.D.) :
"Leto's daughter Artemis . . . goddess of the wilds."
"Staghunter Artemis, on the hills thou dost eagerly hunt with fawnkilling Dionysos."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 11. 344 ff :
"Artemis sovran of all creatures."
For
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
MYTHS of Artemis as the goddess of wild beasts and of the hunt see:
Artemis Wrath: Aktaion (hunter slain for offending the goddess)
Artemis Wrath: Agamemnon (boasts he is a better hunter than Artemis)
Artemis Wrath: Orion (boasts he is a better hunter)
Artemis Favour: Prokris (gift of hunting spear and dog)
Artemis Wrath: Oineus (sends a wild boar to ravage the fields)
Artemis Favour: Britomartis (introduction of hunting nets)
Artemis Attendants (Various huntress maidens and nymphai)
III) GODDESS OF FOREST FIRES

"And where didst thou cut the pine and from what flame didst thou kindle it? It was on
Mysian Olympos, and thou didst put in tit the breath of flame unquenchable, which thy
Fathers bolts distil."
IV) GODDESS OF LAKES & SPRINGS
15
Artemis was commonly associated with lakes and springs, particularly in cult where she
was frequently titled Limnaia the Lady of the Lake.
A.D.) :
"The festival of Artemis Stymphalia at Stymphalos was carelessly celebrated, and its
established ritual in great part transgressed. Now a log fell into the mouth of the
chasm into which the river descends, and so prevented the water from draining away,
and (so it is said) the plain became a lake for a distance of four hundred stades.They
also say that a hunter chased a deer, which fled and plunged into the marsh, followed
by the hunter, who, in the excitement of the hunt, swam after the deer. So the chasm
swallowed up both the deer and her pursuer. They are said to have been followed by
the water of the river, so that by the next day the whole of the water was dried up that
flooded the Stymphalian plain. Hereafter they put greater zeal into the festival in honor
of Artemis."
For
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
MYTHS of Artemis as the goddess of lakes and springs see:

Artemis Favour: Arethousa (transformed into a spring)
Artemis Favour: Peirene (transformed into a spring)
Artemis Favour: Pholoe (transformed into a spring)
and the common stories describing the wilderness bath of Artemis
V) GODDESS OF FISHING
"[Artemis] draws her golden bow . . . The tops of the high mountains tremble . . . and
the sea also where fishes shoal."
N.B. Artemis was also sometimes identified with Diktynna, the Lady of the Nets.
VI) GODDESS OF ROADS & HARBOURS
Artemis was also the goddess of wilderness roads and harbours. This was an extension
of her role as the goddess of wilderness and fishing.
"[Zeus bestows upon Artemis her divine privileges:] And thou shalt be Watcher over
roads and harbours."
K6.1 ARTEMIS
K6.5 ARTEMIS
K6.2 ARTEMIS
16
K6.3 ARTEMIS
HUNTRESS
HUNTRESS
QUEEN OF BEASTS
QUEEN OF BEASTS
GODDESS OF DAWN & FROST

Artemis was a dawn-goddess, the bringer of light, and crop-destroying frost. This role
was later devolved to Eos (the dawn personified, a goddess developed in Homeric
epic).
"[The child Artemis asks Zeus for divine privileges:] But give me to be Phaesphoria
(Bringer of Light)."
"And where first did thy horned team begin to carry thee [Artemis in childhood]? To
Thrakian Haimos, whence comes the hurricane of Boreas bringing evil breath of frost to
cloakless men . . . Thou didst shoot [your arrows] at the city of unjust me . . . on
whom thou wilt impress thy grievous wrath. On their cattle plague feeds, on their tilth
feeds frost."
"[Artemis], O queen, fairfaced Bringer of Light."
Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 3. 84b (trans. Gullick) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to 3rd
A.D.) :
"By Phosphoros (Goddess of light) . . . by Artemis."
GODDESS OF BIRTH, INFANTS & CHILDREN

Artemis and Apollon were the protectors of children. According to Hesiod, they were
assisted in this role, by the Okeanides (Clouds) and the Potamoi (Rivers). Girls being
dedicated to the former, and boys to the latter.
Artemis alone was the protector of the infant child from its birth to its wheening, and
similarly was the protector of infant animals.
I) GODDESS OF CHILDBIRTH
Artemis was the goddess of childbirth. She was invoked during labour along with HeraEileithyia, the goddess protector of women and labour. Whereas Hera-Eileithyia was the
patron of mothers in childbirth, Artemis was the patron-protector of the infant. Indeed,
as a baby herself, Artemis was said to have helped her mother in the delivery of her
twin brother Apollon.
Scholiast on Homer's Iliad (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric I Alcaeus Fragment 390)
(Greek scholia B.C.) :
"Chrysippus in his Old Physics, shows that Artemis is Selene and credits it with an
influence on childbirth, says that at the full moon not only do women have the easiest
labour but all animals have an easy birth."
Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 674 ff (trans. Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"We pray that other guardians be always renewed, and that Artemis-Hecate watch over
the childbirth of their women."
17
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 21 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd

A.D.) :
"[Leto] finally reached Delos and gave birth to Artemis, who thereupon [as a baby]
helped her deliver Apollon. Artemis became a practised huntress and remained a
virgin."
"Seldom is it that Artemis goes down to the town . . . The cities of men I [Artemis] will
visit only when women vexed by the sharp pang of childbirth call me to their aid - even
in the hour when I was born the Moirai (Fates) ordained that I should be their helper,
forasmuch as my mother suffered no pain either when she gave me birth or when she
carried me win her womb, but without travail put me from her body."
Orphic Hymn 2 to Prothyraia (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"[Artemis Prothyraia] abour pains are thy peculiar care. In thee, when stretched upon
the bed of grief, the sex, as in a mirror, view relief. Guard of the race, endued with
gentle mind, to helpless youth benevolent and kind; benignant nourisher; great
natures key belongs to no divinity but thee. Thou dwellest with all immanifest to sight,
and solemn festivals are thy delight. Thine is the task to loose the virgin's zone and
thou in every work art seen and known. With births you sympathise, though pleased to
see the numerous offspring of fertility. When racked with labour pangs, and sore
distressed the sex invoke thee, as the souls sure rest; for thou Eileithyia alone canst
give relief to pain, which art attempts to ease, but tries in vain. Artemis Eileithyia (of
Childbirth), venerable power, who bringest relief in labours dreadful hour; hear,
Prothyraia and make the infant race thy constant care."
"[Artemis] over births presiding, and thyself a maid, to labour pangs imparting ready
aid: dissolver of the zone, and wrinkled care [midwifes]."
A.D.) :
"In the Iliad he [Homer] represented Athena and Enyo as supreme in war, and Artemis
feared in childbirth, and Aphrodite heeding the affairs of marriage."
Plato, Theaetetus 149b-d (trans. Fowler) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
"Sokrates: Take into consideration the whole business of the midwives . . . For you
know, I suppose, that no one of them attends other women while she is still capable of
conceiving and bearing but only those do so who have become too old to bear . . .
They say the cause of this is Artemis, because she, a childless goddess, has had
childbirth allotted to her as her special province. Now it would seem she did not allow
barren women to be midwives, because human nature is too weak to acquire an art
which deals with matters of which it has no experience, but she gave the office to
those who on account of age were not bearing children, honoring them for their
likeness to herself . . . Is it not, then, also likely and even necessary, that midwives
should know better than anyone else who are pregnant and who are not? . . . And
furthermore, the midwives, by means of drugs and incantations, are able to arouse the
pangs of labor and, if they wish, to make them milder, and to cause those to bear who
have difficulty in bearing; and they cause miscarriages if they think them desirable."
Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2. 27 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
"Diana Omnivaga (wide-wandering) [the Roman Artemis] . . . [is so-titled] because she
18
is counted as one of the seven planets or wanderers (vagary). She was called Diana
because she made a sort of Day (Dia) in the night-time. She is invoked to assist at the
birth of children, because the period of gestation is either occasionally seven, or more
usually nine, lunar revolutions, and these are called menses (months), because they
cover measured (mensa) spaces."
Apuleius, The Golden Ass 11. 218 ff (trans. Walsh) (Roman novel C2nd A.D.) :
"At another time you [Egyptian Isis] are Phoebus' sister [Artemis]; by applying
soothing remedies you relieve the pain of childbirth, and have brought teeming
numbers to birth; and now you are worshipped in the famed shrines of Ephesus."
"A babe came quickly into the light; for even as Artemis yet spoke the word that shot
out the delivery, the womb of Aura was loosened, and twin children came forth of
themselves."
Suidas s.v. Genetyllides (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"Genetyllis: A Daimon (spirit) . . . [they are] associated with Artemis as guardians of
childbirth, and again [this is connected] with genesis."
II) GODDESS-PROTECTOR OF THE NURSING INFANT
Artemis was the goddess of protector of the nursing infant (both baby boys and girls).
Whereas Hera presided over the mother's milk, Artemis was the protector of the infant
itself.
Orphic Hymn 2 to Prothryaia (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"Prothyraia make the infant race thy constant care."
"[Artemis] nurse of humankind."
III) GODDESS-PROTECTOR OF THE GIRL-CHILD
After a girl-child was wheened from its mother milk, up until her consecration into
womanhood, she remained under the protection of Artemis. The boy-child, by contrast,
came under the protection of Artemis' twin brother Apollon.
As the protectors of the children, Artemis was assisted by the Okeanides (Clouds), and
Apollon by the Potamoi (Rivers). Girls dedicated a lock of hair to the Okeanides and
boys to the local River-God, at the coming of age ceremonies celebrated in honour of
Apollon and Artemis.
"[Odysseus to the girl Nausikaa] You are most like Artemis, daughter of sovereign
Zeus; you are tall as she is, lovely as she is, you have her air."
"The winds bore off the daughters of Pandareus. The gods long before had slain their
parents, and the girls were left orphans in their house. But Lady Aphrodite nurtured
them with cheese and sweet honey and pleasant wine; Hera had given them beauty
19
and wisdom beyond all other women; Artemis Hagne (virgin) made them tall, and
Athene taught them the making of lovely things."
A.D.) :
"The daughters of Pandareos . . . were reared as orphans by Aphrodite and received
gifts from other goddesses: from Hera wisdom and beauty of form, from Artemis high
stature."
GODDESS OF MAIDENHOOD & MARRIAGE

Upon reaching maturity a girl eventually entered into marriage, passing from the
protection of Artemis to the goddesses of womanhood, Aphrodite and Hera. Prior to the
marriage ceremony, Artemis was propitiated by the maiden in thanks for the protection
the goddess offered her during childhood.
"May pure Artemis look upon this band [of unwed maidens] in compassion, and may
marriage never come through Kythereia's [Aphrodite] compulsion."
Plato, Cratylus 400d & 406a (trans. Fowler) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
"[Plato invents philosophical etymologies for the names of the gods:]
Sokrates: Let us inquire what thought men had in giving them [the gods] their names .
. . The first men who gave names [to the gods] were no ordinary persons, but high
thinkers and great talkers . . . Artemis appears to get her name from her healthy
(artemes) and well-ordered nature, and her love of virginity; or perhaps he who
named her meant that she is learned in virtue (aret), or possibly, too, that she hates
sexual intercourse (aroton misei) of man and woman; or he who gave the goddess her
name may have given it for any or all of these reasons."
Suidas s.v. Arktos e Brauroniois (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th
A.D.) :
"Girls playing the bear used to celebrate a festival for Artemis dressed in saffron robes;
not older than 10 years nor less than 5 . . . the Athenians decreed that no virgin might
be given in marriage to a man if she hadn't previously played the bear for the
goddess."
Suidas s.v. Lysizonos gune :
"Virgins about to have sex dedicated their virginal lingerie to Artemis."
For MYTHS of Artemis as the goddess of childbirth and maidens see:
(1) Artemis Wrath: Admetos (maiden propititiations at marriage)
(2) Artemis Wrath: Koronis (slain in childbirth)
See also Artemis Goddess of Maiden Dances & Song (this page)
GODDESS OF MAIDEN DANCE & SONG

"He watched her with his eyes among the girls dancing in the choir for clamorous
(keladeine) Artemis of the golden distaff (khryselakatos) ."
20
Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 20 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th to 4th B.C.)
:
"Artemis with shafts of gold (khryselakatos) loves . . . the lyre and dancing and
thrilling cries and shady woods and the cities of upright men."
"[I, the maiden daughter of Otreus] was caught up from the dance of huntress Artemis
of the golden arrows (khryselakatos) strong-voiced (keladeinos). There were many of
us, Nymphai (girls) and marriageable (cattle-earning) maidens, playing together; and
an innumerable company encircled us."
Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis :
"[Artemis] goes to the great house of her dear brother Phoibos Apollon, to the rich
land of Delphoi, there to order the lovely dance of the Mousai (Muses) and Kharites
(Graces). There she hangs up her curved bow and her arrows, and heads and leads the
dances, gracefully arrayed, while all they utter their heavenly voice, singing how neatankled Leto bare children supreme among the immortals both in thought and deed."
Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo 190 ff :
"[On Olympos] the Mousai together, voice sweetly answering voice, hymn . . . And
among them sings one, not mean nor puny, but tall to look upon and enviable in mien,
Artemis who delights in arrows (iokheira), sister of Apollon."
"The Nymphai (nymphs or maiden-girls) were about to hold their dances - it was the
custom of all those who haunt the beautiful headland to sing the praise of Artemis by
night."
"[Artemis] whose study is . . . the spacious dance."
"The Nymphai encircle thee [Artemis] in the dance, near the springs of Aigyptian
Inopos or Pitane - for Pitane too is thine - or in Limnai or where, goddess, thou camest
from Skythia to dwell, in Alai . . . for the god Helios (the Sun) never passes by that
beauteous dance, but stays his car to gaze upon the sight, and lights of day are
lengthened [mid-summer]."
Aelian, On Animals 12. 9 (trans. Schofield) (Greek natural history C2nd to 3rd A.D.) :
"Autokrates [comedy C5th B.C.] in his Tympanistai: As sweet maidens, daughters of
Lydia, sport and lightly leap and clap their hands in the temple of Artemis the Fair at
Ephesos, now sinking down upon their haunches and again springing up, like the
hopping wagtail."
Virgil, Aeneid 1. 500 ff (trans. Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) :
"By the banks of Eurotas or over the Cynthian slopes Diana [Artemis] foots the dance,
and a thousand Oreades following weave a constellation around that arrowy one, who
in grace of movement excels all goddesses."
GODDESS OF DISEASE & SUDDEN DEATH
21
Artemis was the goddess who brought sudden death to infants, girls and women, for
she was not only the protector of girls, but also by contrast their destroyer.
Apollon, possessed the complimentary role, bringing sudden death, illness and disease
to boys and men.
I) GODDESS OF DISEASE & SUDDEN DEATH
"Zeus has made you [Artemis] a lion among women, and given you leave to kill any at
your pleasure."
"Artemis of the golden reigns (khrysenios) killed [Ladomeia] the daughter [of
Bellerophontes] in anger."
"Akhilleus released her [the mother of Andromakhe] again, accepting ransom beyond
count, but Artemis of the showering arrows (iokheaira) struck her down in the halls of
her father."
"[Akhilleus to Agamemnon:] I wish Artemis had killed her [Briseis] beside the ships
with an arrow on that day when I destroyed Lyrnessos and took her."
"[Odysseus to the ghost of his mother Antikleia:] What doom of distressful death (ker)
subdued you? Was it some long-continued sickness, or did the Artemis archeress
(iokheaira) visit you with her gentle shafts and slay you?"
"I [Odysseus] saw . . . lovely Ariadne [in the underworld], that daughter of subtle
Minos whom Theseus bore off from Krete towards the hill of sacred Athens; yet he had
no joy of her, since, before that could be, she was slain by Artemis in the isle of Dia
because of the witness of Dionysos."
"There is an island calld Syros, above Ortygia . . . Famine never enters this land, nor
again does any dread disease come upon poor mortal there. No; when these islanders
grow old, Apollon of the silver bow visits them with his gentle shafts and brings death
upon them, or Artemis visits them instead."
"We sailed for six days, day and night; but when Zeus brought the seventh day also,
Artemis with a shaft of hers struck the woman, and sent her - like a sea-swallow diving
- to tumble below into the hold."
"[Penelope laments her troubles:] Would that now, at this very moment, Artemis the
chaste (hagne) would grant me a death as gentle! Then I need no longer fret life away
with an aching heart."
22

"[Penelope] when she had her fill of weeping, the queen made especial prayer to
Artemis: Artemis, goddess queen (potna thea), daughter of Zeus, how glad should I
be if here and now you would plant an arrow in my breast and take my life away all at
once - or else if a whirlwind might snatch me up, carry me on through dusky pathways
and cast me down at the issuing-place of backward-flowing Okeanos . . . In self-same
fashion may the Olympians cause me to vanish from the world, or lese let Artemis slay
me with her arrows, that so I may pass beneath cheerless earth with Odysseus himself
in my heart's vision. May I never gladden the heart of a man less noble!"
"Dhaste (hagne) Artemis of the golden throne (khrysothronos) visited him [Orion] with
her gentle shafts and slew him in Ortygia."
Pindar, Pythian Ode 3 str1-ant3 (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"[Artemis] smote her [Koronis] down [with her arrows of plague]: and many a
neighbour, too, suffered alike and was destroyed beside her; as when on the mountain
from one small spark a raging fire leaps up, and lays in ruin all the widespread forest."
Theognis, Fragment 1. 11 (trans. Gerber, Vol. Greek Elegiac) (Greek elegy C6th
B.C.) :
"Artemis . . . give ear to my prayers and ward off the evil Keres (Death-Spirits). For
you, goddess, this is no small thing, but for me it is critical."
"Where first did thy horned team begin to carry thee [Artemis]? To Thrakian Haimos ,
whence comes the hurricane of Boreas bringing evil breath of frost to cloakless men
[to obtain frost for her bow - for fever chills]. And how often goddess, didst thou make
trial of thy silver bow? . . . But the fourth time - not long was it ere thou didst shoot at
the city of unjust me, those who to one another and those who towards strangers
wrought many deeds of sin, forward men, on whom thou wilt impress thy grievous
wrath. On their cattle plague feeds, on their tilth feeds frost, and the old men cut their
hair in mourning over their sons, and their wives either are smitten or die in childbirth,
or, if they escape, bear birds whereof none stands on upright ankle."
"And Artemis has her name from the fact that she makes people Artemeas (Safe and
Sound) . . . And both pestilential diseases and sudden deaths are imputed to these
gods [Artemis and her brother Apollon]."
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 7. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"The people of Aigialea [Korinthos, Corinth] were smitten by a plague. The seers bade
them propitiate Apollon and Artemis, they sent seven boys and seven maidens as
suppliants to the river Sythas."
"The wrath of Artemis began to destroy the inhabitants [of Patrai in Akhaia]; the earth
yielded no harvest, and strange diseases occurred of an unusually fatal
character. When they appealed to the oracle at Delphoi the Pythian priestess . . .
[ordered] that every year a sacrifice should be made to the goddess of the fairest
youth and the fairest maiden."
23

"[Spartans] Astrabakos and Alopekos . . . when they found the image [of Artemis
Orthia] straightway became insane. Secondly, the Spartan Limnatians, the
Kynosourians, and the people of Mesoa and Pitane, while sacrificing to Artemis, fell to
quarreling, which led also to bloodshed; many were killed at the altar and the rest died
of disease. Whereat an oracle was delivered to them, that they should stain the altar
with human blood."
"They say [the people of Phokis] that whatever cattle they consecrate to Artemis grow
up immune to disease."
"[After the murder of Skephros, an Arkadian friend of Artemis and Apollon:] Tegeates
and Maira sacrificed to Apollon and Artemis, but afterwards a severe famine fell on the
land, and an oracle of Delphoi ordered a mourning for Skephros."
Suidas s.v. Embaros eimi (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon C10th A.D.) :
"After a female bear appeared in it [the shrine of Artemis at Mounykhia in Attika] and
was done away with by the Athenians a famine ensued, and the god prophesied the
means of relieving the famine: someone had to sacrifice his daughter to the goddess
[to compensate her for the death of her sacred bear]."
Suidas s.v. Arktos e Brauroniois :
"A wild she-bear [sacred to Artemis] used to come to the deme of Phlauidoi [Brauron]
and spend time there . . . [until some men] speared the she-bear, and because of this
a pestilential sickness fell upon the Athenians. When the Athenians consulted the
oracle [the god] said that there would be a release from the evils if, as blood price for
the she-bear that died, they compelled their virgins to play the bear."
For
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
MYTHS of Artemis as the bringer of death to women and children see:

Artemis Wrath: Niobe (slays her children)
Artemis Favour: Peirene (slays her child)
Artemis Wrath: Khione (slays girl)
Artemis Favour: Phylonoe (immortality may be an allusion to sudden death)
Artemis Favour: Polyboia (immortality may be an allusion to sudden death)
Artemis Favour: Iphigeneia (immortality may be an allusion to death)
For MYTHS of Artemis as the bringer of plague see:

(1) Artemis Wrath: the Korinthians (sends plague)
(2) Artemis Wrath: Melanippos & Komaitho (sends plague)
II) GODDESS OF RABIES IN DOGS

"In Krete there is a temple to Artemis Rhokkaia . . . The dogs there go raving mad. So
when they are afflicted with this disease they hurl themselves head foremost from the
promontory into the sea."
Aelian, On Animals 14. 20 :
"[Some Kretan] boys were bitten by a mad [rabies infested] dog . . . spectators urged
24
that they should be taken to the temple of Artemis Rhokkaia and that the goddess
should be implored to heal them."
For MYTHS of Artemis as the goddess of rabies see:
(1) Artemis Wrath: Aktaion (dogs driven mad)
GODDESS OF HEALING & GOOD HEALTH

Artemis, like her brother Apollon, was regarded as a goddess of healing. It was a role
that countered her position as the goddess of sudden death, illness and disease.
"Apollon caught [the wounded] Aineias now away from the onslaught, and set him in
the sacred keep of Pergamos [in Troy] where was built his own temple. There Artemis
of the showering arrows (iokheaira) and Leto within the great and secret chamber
healed his wound and cared for him."
"But on whomsoever thou [Artemis] lookest smiling and gracious . . . neither do they
go to the tomb, save when they carry thither the aged."
"[Artemis] send gentle peace, and health with lovely hair, and to the mountains drive
disease and care."
"Both Milesians [at Didyma] and Delians invoke an Apollo Oulios, that is, as god of
health and healing, for the verb oulein means to be healthy . . . And Artemis has her
name from the fact that she makes people Artemeas (Safe and Sound). And both
Helios (Sun) and Selene (Moon) are closely associated with these, since they are the
causes of the temperature of the air. And both pestilential diseases and sudden deaths
are imputed to these gods."
A.D.) :
"They say [the people of Phokis] that whatever cattle they consecrate to Artemis grow
up immune to disease and fatter than other cattle."
"[Some Kretan] boys were bitten by a mad [rabies infested] dog . . . spectators urged
that they should be taken to the temple of Artemis Rhokkaia and that the goddess
should be implored to heal them."
GODDESS OF RITUAL PURIFICATION

Artemis and her brother Apollon were the gods of ritual purification - the cleansing of
the impure stain of manslaughter.
Arctinus of Miletus, The Aethiopis Fragment 1 (from Proclus, Chrestomathia 2) (trans.
Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
25
"Akhilleus [after slaying Thersites for his insults] sails to Lesbos and after sacrificing to
Apollon, Artemis and Leto, is purified by Odysseus from bloodshed."
"When Apollon and Artemis had killed Python they came to Aigialea to obtain
purification . . . they were turned away and came to Karmanor in Krete [instead, for
the purification]."
ANCESTRAL GODDESS, PROTECTOR OF THE FATHERLAND

The ancestral gods of a state were those which were traditionally honoured before all
others. Artemis was worshipped in this capacity by a number of ancient city states. In
times of war these ancestral gods were called upon to come to the defence of the
nation. Artemis performs this role in the Iliad as one of the defenders of Troy.
In the following passage from Aishkylos, the Theban women invoke Artemis, along with
Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, Ares, Aphrodite, Apollon and Hera, as their ancestral gods.
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 87 ff (trans. Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"[The Theban women invoke all of their ancestral gods, including Artemis, when the
hostile army of the Seven Against Thebes approaches their gates:] Ah, ah, you gods
(theoi) and goddesses (theai), raise your war cry over our walls to drive away the
onrushing evil! . . . You too [Artemis], maiden child of Leto (koura Latogenes), ready
your bow! Ah! Ah! I hear the rattle of chariots encircling the town. O lady (potnia)
Hera! The hubs are creaking beneath the axles' load. Beloved Artemis! The air rages at
the shaking of spears! . . . All-powerful divinities, you gods and goddesses who wield
the power to guard the towers of our land, do not betray our city that now toils under
the spear to an alien-tongued army. Hear us, hear, as is right, the prayers we maidens
offer with outstretched hands."
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 448 ff :
"Mighty Polyphontes, is stationed [by the Elektran gates of Thebes, in the War of the
Seven], a dependable sentinel with the good will of guardian (prostatria) Artemis and
the other gods."
GODDESS OF THE AMAZONES

Artemis was one of the patron gods of the mythical, warlike, bow-wielding Amazones.
The Amazones were reputed to have founded several famous shrines of the goddess,
included her cult-centre of Ephesos.
"The cult of Artemis Ephesia (of Ephesos) is far more ancient still than their coming
[the settlement of Ionians in Ephesos]. Pindaros, however, it seems to me, did not
learn everything about the goddess, for he says that this sanctuary was founded by the
Amazones during their campaign against Athens and Theseus. It is a fact that the
women from the Thermodon, as they knew the sanctuary from of old, sacrificed to the
Ephesian goddess both on this occasion and when they had fled from Herakles; some
of them earlier still, when they had fled from Dionysos, having come to the sanctuary
as suppliants."
"At Pyrrhikhos [in Lakedaimonia] the sanctuaries of the gods, that they have in the
26
country, are of Artemis, called Astrateia, because the Amazones stayed their advance
(strateia) here, and an Apollo Amazonios. Both gods are represented by wooden
images, said to have been dedicated by the women from Thermodon."
"Near the theater [at Troizenos [in Argos] a temple of Artemis Lykeie (Wolfish ) was
made by Hippolytos . . . Lykeia is a surname of Artemis among the Amazones, from
whom he was descended through his mother."
"All cities worship Artemis Ephesia (of Ephesos), and individuals hold her in honor
above all the gods. The reason, in my view, is the renown of the Amazones, who
traditionally dedicated the image, also the extreme antiquity of this sanctuary."
Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 223 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Seven Wonders of the World. The temple of Diana [Artemis] at Ephesus which the
Amazon Otrera, wife of Mars [Ares], made."
Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 225 :
"Those who first built temples to the gods . . . Otrera, an Amazon, wife of Mars [Ares],
first founded the temple of Diana [Artemis] at Ephesus."
For MYTHS on Artemis as the goddess of the Amazones see:
(1) Artemis Wrath: Hippo
GODDESS OF THE HYPERBOREOI

Artemis and Apollon were the patron gods of the mythical Hyperboreoi - a race of longlived men who dwelt in a far-northerly realm of eternal spring. The Hyperboreoi were
reputed to send offerings to the holiest of the shrines of Apollon and Artemis which lay
on the island of Delos.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 50. 6 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st
B.C.) :
"She [Medea posing as a priestess of Artemis] declared [to King Pelias of Iolkos in
Thessalia] that Artemis, riding through the air upon a chariot drawn by Drakones, had
flown in the air over many parts of the inhabited earth and had chosen the realm of
the most pious king in all the world for the establishment of her own worship and for
honours which should be for ever and ever . . . By means of certain drugs, Medea
caused shapes of Drakones to appear, which she declared had brought the goddess
through the air from the Hyperboreoi to make her stay with Pelias."
For MYTHS of Artemis as the goddess of the Hyperboreoi see:
(1) Artemis Favour: Oupis, Hekaerge & Loxo
IDENTIFIED WITH SELENE THE MOON

The identification of Selene with Artemis was a late invention, perhaps coinciding with
the introduction of the Thracian goddess Bendis into Greece. Bendis was a foreign
goddess presiding over the moon, magic and wild animals (for the Greeks an apparent
merging of their three goddesses Selene-Hekate-Artemis).
27
Aeschylus, Fragment 87 Xantriae (from Galen, Commentary on Hippocrates'

Epidemics) (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"[Women] upon whom looketh neither the sun's flashing ray nor the starry eye [i.e.
the moon] of Leto's child." [N.B. Leto's child is Artemis, here identified with the moongoddess Selene.]
Scholiast on Homer's Iliad (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric I Alcaeus Fragment 390)
(Greek scholia B.C.) :
"Chrysippus in his Old Physics [C3rd B.C.], shows that Artemis is Selene (the Moon)
and credits it with an influence on childbirth, says that at the full moon not only do
women have the easiest labour but all animals have an easy birth."
"Both Helios (the Sun) and Selene (the Moon) are closely associated with these
[Apollon and Artemis], since they are the causes of the temperature of the air. And
both pestilential diseases and sudden deaths are imputed to these gods [Apollon and
Artemis]."
Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2. 27 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
"The name Apollo is Greek; they say that he is the Sun, and Diana [Artemis] they
identify with the Moon . . . the name Luna is derived from lucere to shine; for it is the
same word as Lucina, and therefore in our country Juno Lucina is invoked in childbirth,
as is Diana in her manifestation as Lucifera (the light-bringer) among the Greeks. She
is also called Diana Omnivaga (wide-wandering), not from her hunting, but because
she is counted as one of the seven planets or wanderers (vagary). She was called
Diana because she made a sort of Day (Dia) in the night-time. She is invoked to assist
at the birth of children, because the period of gestation is either occasionally seven, or
more usually nine, lunar revolutions, and these are called menses (months), because
they cover measured (mensa) spaces."
Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 19 :
"Sol the Sun and Luna the Moon are deities, and the Greeks identify the former with
Apollo and the latter with Diana [Artemis]."
Statius, Thebaid 10. 365 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"[Statius, in the passage that follows describes Artemis as a goddess with a triple
aspect Artemis-Hekate-Selene:] Cynthia, queen of the mysteries of the night, if as
they say thou dost vary in threefold wise the aspect of thy godhead, and in different
shape comest down into the woodland . . . The goddess stooped her horns and made
bright her kindly star, and illumined the battle-field with near-approaching chariot."
"[Nonnus in the passage that follows describes the moon as a goddess of triple aspect
Artemis-Hekate-Selene:] O daughter of Helios (the Sun), Mene (Moon) of many
turnings, nurse of all! O Selene (Moon), driver of the silver car! If thou art Hekate of
many names, if in the night thou doest shake thy mystic torch in brandcarrying hand,
come nightwanderer . . . If thou art staghunter Artemis, if on the hills thou dost
eagerly hunt with fawnkilling Dionysos, be thy brothers helper now!"
See also Triad of Artemis-Hekate-Selene (below)
See also SELENE (the moon is commonly named "Phoebe" by the Latin poets,
28
although Diana, i.e. Artemis, is not always meant)
IDENTIFIED WITH HEKATE

Artemis was frequently identified with the goddess Hekate. In the Homeric Hymn to
Demeter, Artemis the playmate of Persephone perhaps becomes Hekate, the
companion of Demeter in the search for her stolen daughter. Hekatos (the far-shooter)
was also a common Homeric epithet applied to Artemis' brother Apollon. Depictions of
the two goddesses were near identical. The attributes they had in common included a
short-skirt and hunting boots, torches and a hunting dog.
"We pray that other guardians be always renewed, and that Artemis-Hecate watch over
the childbirth of their women."
Aristophanes, Frogs 1358 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"O Artemis, thou maid divine, Diktynna (of the Nets), huntress, fair to see, O bring
that keen-nosed pack of thine, and hunt through all the house with me. O Hecate (FarShooter), with flameful brands."
B.C.) :
"Aeetes succeeded to the throne, and then, founding a temple of Artemis [usually
described as a temple of Hekate, but the author equates the two] and commanding
that strangers who landed there should be sacrificed to the goddess."
"To the trilingual Sicilians I [Artemis] am Ortygian Proserpina [Hekate]."
See also Triad of Artemis-Hekate-Selene (below)
For MORE information on this goddess see HEKATE
TRIAD OF HEKATE, ARTEMIS & SELENE

The triad Hekate-Artemis-Selene appears in Roman-era poetry.
Statius, Thebaid 10. 365 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"[Statius, in the passage that follows describes Artemis as a goddess with a triple
aspect Artemis-Hekate-Selene:] Cynthia, queen of the mysteries of the night, if as
they say thou dost vary in threefold wise the aspect of thy godhead, and in different
shape comest down into the woodland . . . The goddess stooped her horns and made
bright her kindly star, and illumined the battle-field with near-approaching chariot."
Statius, Thebaid 4. 410 ff :
"[The seer Teiresias performs necromancy in the grove of Artemis-Hekate:] There
stands a wood, enduring of time, and strong and erect in age, with foliage aye unshorn
nor pierced by any suns . . . Beneath is sheltered quiet, and a vague shuddering awe
guards the silence, and the phantom of the banished light gleams pale and ominous.
Nor do the shadows lack a divine power: Latonia's [Artemis-Hekate's] haunting
presence is added to the grove; her effigies wrought in pine or cedar and wood or very
tree are hidden in the hallowed gloom of the forest. Her arrows whistle unseen through
29
the wood, her hounds bay nightly [as Hekate], when she flies from her uncle's
[Haides'] threshold and resumes afresh Diana's [Artemis'] kindlier shape. Or when she
is weary from her ranging on the hills, and the sun high in heaven invites sweet
slumber, here doth she rest with head flung back carelessly on her quiver, while all her
spears stand fixed in the earth around . . .
[Teiresias cries out summoning the ghosts forth:] Haste ye all together, nor let there
be fore the Shades but one fashion of return to the light; do thou, daughter of Perses
[Artemis-Hekate], and the cloud-wrapt Arcadian [Hermes] with rod of power lead in
separate throng the pious denizens of Elysium."
Seneca, Phaedra 406 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
"[Phaedra prays to Artemis-Hekate-Selene:] O [Artemis] queen of the groves (regina
nemorum), thou who in solitude lovest thy mountain-haunts, and who upon the
solitary mountains art alone held holy, change for the better these dark, ill-omened
threats. O great goddess of the woods and groves, bright orb of heaven [the moon],
glory of the night, by whose changing beams the universe shines clear, O three-formed
Hecate, lo, thou art at hand, favouring our undertaking. Conquer the unbending soul of
stern Hippolytus; may he, compliant, give ear unto our prayer. Soften his fierce heart;
may he learn to love, may he feel answering flames. Ensnare his mind; grim, hostile,
fierce, may he turn him back unto the fealty of love. To this end direct thy powers; so
mayst thou wear a shining face [Selene the moon] and, the clouds all scattered, fare
on with undimmed horns; so, when thou drivest thy car through the nightly skies, may
no witcheries of Thessaly prevail to drag thee down and may no shepherd [i.e.
Endymion] make boast oer thee. Be near, goddess, in answer to our call; hear now our
prayers."
"[Nonnus in the passage that follows describes the moon as a goddess of triple aspect
Artemis-Hekate-Selene:] O daughter of Helios (Sun), Mene (Moon) of many turnings,
nurse of all! O Selene (Moon), driver of the silver car! If thou art Hekate of many
names, if in the night thou doest shake thy mystic torch in brandcarrying hand, come
nightwanderer . . . If thou art staghunter Artemis, if on the hills thou dost eagerly hunt
with fawnkilling Dionysos, be thy brothers helper now!."
IDENTIFIED WITH DESPOINE

Artemis was identified with the goddess Despoine (Mistress) who was probably an
Arkadian form of Hekate, the Khthonian Artemis of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Aeschylus, Fragment 188 (from Orion, Etymologicum 26. 5) (trans. Weir Smyth)
(Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"Mistress maiden (despoina nymph), ruler of the stormy mountains." [N.B. Here
Despoina (Mistress) is used as an epithet for the goddess Artemis.]
A.D.) :
"The Kaphyatans [Kaphye, Arkadia] . . . have also a mountain called Knakalos, where
every year they celebrate mysteries in honor of their Artemis."
"From Akakesion [in Arkadia] it is four stades to the sanctuary of the Mistress
[Despoine]. First in this place is a temple of Artemis Hegemone (Leader), with a bronze
30
image, holding torches . . . From this place there is an entrance into the sacred
enclosure of Despoine (the Mistress) . . . [inside the enclosure] by the side of [the
statue of] Demeter stands [a statue of] Artemis wrapped in the skin of a deer, and
carrying a quiver on her shoulders, while in one hand she holds a torch, in the other
two serpents; by her side a bitch, of a breed suitable for hunting, is lying down."
"That Artemis [Despoine, identified with Artemis,] was the daughter, not of Leto but of
Demeter, which is the Egyptian account, the Greeks learned from Aiskhylos the son of
Euphorion."
For MORE information on this goddess see DESPOINE
IDENTIFIED WITH BRITOMARTIS-DIKTYNNA

Artemis was also identified with the goddesses Britomartis or Diktynna (of Krete) and
Aphaia (of Aigina).
Aristophanes, Birds 1358 ff (trans. O'Neill) (Greek comedy C5th to 4th B.C.) :
"O Artemis, thou maid divine, Diktynna (of the Nets), huntress, fair to see."
"[Artemis] lovest the Nymphe of Gortyn [in Krete], Britomartis, slayer of stags . . . the
Kydonians call the Nymphe Diktyna (Lady of the Nets) . . . [Artemis] thee too the
Kretans name after that Nymphe."
"[Artemis] torch-bearing Goddess, Diktynna divine."
A.D.) :
"They [the Spartans] surname her [Artemis] also Limnaie (Lady of the Lake), though
she is not really Artemis but Britomartis of Krete."
B.C.) :
"Britomartis, who is also called Diktynna, the myths relate, was born at Kaino in Krete
of Zeus and Karme . . . she invented the nets (diktya) which are used in hunting,
whence she has been called Diktynna, and she passed her time in the company of
Artemis, this being the reason why some men think Diktynna and Artemis are one and
the same goddess; and the Kretans have instituted sacrifices and built temples in
honour of this goddess."
"To the arrow-bearing Cretans I [Artemis] am Dictynna Diana [Britomartis]."
For MORE information on this goddess see BRITOMARTIS
IDENTIFIED WITH NON-GREEK GODDESSES
31
Artemis was identified with the Roman goddess Diana, the Thrakian goddess Bendis
and the Egyptian goddess Bastet.
I) THE THRACIAN GODDESS BENDIS
Herodotus, Histories 5. 7 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
"They [the Threikoi or Thracians] worship no gods but Ares, Dionysos, and Artemis
[the Thrakian gods Ares, Sabazios and Bendis]. Their princes . . . worship Hermes
[Zalmoxis]."
Herodotus, Histories 4. 33 :
"When the Thrakian and Paionian women sacrifice to the Artemis Basileis (Royal) [i.e.
Bendis], they have straw with them while they sacrifice."
For MORE information on this goddess see BENDIS
II) THE EGYPTIAN GODESS BASTET

Herodotus, Histories 2. 59 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
"The Egyptians hold solemn assemblies not once a year, but often. The principal one of
these and the most enthusiastically celebrated is that in honor of Artemis at the town
of Boubastis [i.e. the Egyptian goddess Pasht or Bastet]."
"Boubastis [in Egypt] where there is also a temple of Boubastis [the Egyptian goddess
Bastet] . . . Boubastis is, in the Greek language, Artemis." - Herodotus, Histories 2.137
"Bouto is the name of the city where this [great Egyptian] oracle is; I have already
mentioned it. In Bouto there is a temple of Apollon and Artemis [the Egyptian gods
Horus and Bastet]. The shrine of Leto [Egyptian goddess Uto] where the oracle is."
"Apollon and Artemis [the Egyptian gods Horus and Bastet] were, they [the Egyptians]
say, children of Dionysos [Osiris] and Isis, and Leto [the Egyptian goddess Uto] was
made their nurse and preserver; in Egyptian, Apollon is Horus, Demeter Isis, Artemis
Boubastis [Bastet]. It was from this legend and no other that Aiskhylos son of
Euphorion took a notion which is in no poet before him: that Artemis was the daughter
of Demeter."
A.D.) :
"Artemis [the Egyptian goddess Bastet] was the daughter, not of Leto but of Demeter
[Egyptian Isis] which is the Egyptian account."
Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 28 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd
A.D.) :
"Typhon felt an urge to usurp the rule of Zeus and not one of the gods could withstand
him as he attacked. In panic they fled to Aigyptos (Egypt) . . . When they fled they had
changed themselves in anticipation into animal forms . . . Artemis [became] a cat [i.e.
the Egyptian goddess Bastet]."
32
Sources:
o
Homer, The Iliad
Homer, The Odyssey
The Homeric Hymns
Homerica, The Aethiopis
Pindar, Odes
Greek Lyric I Alcaeus, Fragments
Greek Elegaic Theognis, Fragments
Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes
Aeschylus, Suppliant Women
Aeschylus, Fragments
Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae- Greek Comedy C5th-4th BC
Aristophanes, Frogs
Plato, Cratylus
Plato, Theaetetus
Apollodorus, The Library
Callimachus, Hymns
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy
The Orphic Hymns
Strabo, Geography
Herodotus, Histories
- Greek Epic C9th-8th BC
- Greek Epic BC
- Greek Lyric C5th BC
- Greek Lyric C6th BC
Greek Elegaic C6th BC
- Greek Tragedy C5th BC
- Greek Comedy C5th-4th BC
- Greek Philosophy C4th B.C.
- Greek Philosophy C4th B.C.
- Greek Mythography C2nd BC
- Greek C3rd BC
- Greek Epic C4th AD
- Greek Hymns BC
- Greek Geography C1st BC - C1st AD
- Greek History C5th BC
33
Pausanias, Guide to Greece
Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History
Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses
Philostratus the Elder, Imagines
Philostratus the Younger, Imagines
Ovid, Metamorphoses
Ovid, Heroides
Virgil, Aeneid
Cicero, De Natura Deorum
Seneca, Phaedra
Statius, Thebaid
Apuleius, The Golden Ass
Colluthus, The Rape of Helen
Nonnos, Dionysiaca
Suidas
- Greek Geography C2nd AD
- Greek History C1st BC
- Greek Mythography C2nd AD
- Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D.
- Greek Rhetoric C3rd A.D.
- Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
- Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
- Latin Epic C1st BC
- Latin Philosophy C1st BC
- Latin Tragedy C1st AD
- Latin Epic C1st AD
- Latin Epic C2nd AD
- Greek Epic C5th-6th AD
- Greek Epic C5th AD
- Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th AD
34

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Artemis A

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ARTEMIS, one of the great divinities of the Greeks.

Her name is usually derived from

Hom. Hymn. in Dian. 10.)

and Suid. s. v. essn.)

Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis :

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF ARTEMIS

Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 19. 5 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd

Homer, The Odyssey

The Homeric Hymns

Apollonius Rhodius, The Argonautica

Pausanias, Description of Greece

The Orphic Hymns

- Greek Epic C8th B.C.

- Greek Poetry C3rd B.C.

- Greek Hymns C3rd B.C. - C2nd A.D.

- Greek Epic C5th A.D.

SOURCE STATUS (of Artemis pages)

GODDESS OF WILDERNESS, ANIMALS & HUNTING

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 41. 3 :

III) GODDESS OF FOREST FIRES

MYTHS of Artemis as the goddess of lakes and springs see:

GODDESS OF DAWN & FROST

GODDESS OF BIRTH, INFANTS & CHILDREN

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 21 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd

GODDESS OF MAIDENHOOD & MARRIAGE

GODDESS OF MAIDEN DANCE & SONG

GODDESS OF DISEASE & SUDDEN DEATH

Homer, Odyssey 20. 60 ff :

Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 16. 7 :

MYTHS of Artemis as the bringer of death to women and children see:

For MYTHS of Artemis as the bringer of plague see:

II) GODDESS OF RABIES IN DOGS

GODDESS OF HEALING & GOOD HEALTH

GODDESS OF RITUAL PURIFICATION

ANCESTRAL GODDESS, PROTECTOR OF THE FATHERLAND

GODDESS OF THE AMAZONES

GODDESS OF THE HYPERBOREOI

IDENTIFIED WITH SELENE THE MOON

Aeschylus, Fragment 87 Xantriae (from Galen, Commentary on Hippocrates'

although Diana, i.e. Artemis, is not always meant)

IDENTIFIED WITH HEKATE

TRIAD OF HEKATE, ARTEMIS & SELENE

IDENTIFIED WITH DESPOINE

IDENTIFIED WITH BRITOMARTIS-DIKTYNNA

IDENTIFIED WITH NON-GREEK GODDESSES

II) THE EGYPTIAN GODESS BASTET

Homer, The Iliad

Homer, The Odyssey

The Homeric Hymns

Homerica, The Aethiopis

Greek Lyric I Alcaeus, Fragments

Greek Elegaic Theognis, Fragments

Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes

Aeschylus, Suppliant Women

Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae- Greek Comedy C5th-4th BC

Apollodorus, The Library

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy

The Orphic Hymns

- Greek Epic C9th-8th BC

- Greek Epic C9th-8th BC

- Greek Epic C8th-4th BC

- Greek Lyric C5th BC

- Greek Lyric C6th BC

Greek Elegaic C6th BC