The Goddess Artemis

Artemis was born on the sacred island of Delos, where Leto had taken refuge to avoid the jealousy and anger of Hera. She then helped her mother give birth to her brother Apollo. She also belongs to the twelve gods of Olympus and was worshiped as the goddess of hunting, protector of mountains and forests, but also of purity and childbirth.

She is her father’s beloved child, and to him she turns, scorned by Hera, insulted and dispossessed of her weapons, for comfort and protection, while her mother collects her scattered arrows and bow

Pausanias records another version about the origin of Artemis: “That Artemis is the daughter of Demeter and not of Leto, which is also the version of the Egyptians, was first presented to the Greeks by Aeschylus, the son of Euphorion”, although the the same poet in the Seven on Thebes calls her Latogenia kura, daughter of Leto.

Names and Epithets of Artemis

Various epithets were attributed to the goddess, which testify to her hypostases and attributes but also to her relationships with other figures of the myth. The most well-known adjectives are the following:

1. Potnia of beasts, Elafivolos, Tauropolos (the one worshiped among Bulls or the one hunting bulls or the one mounted on a vehicle drawn by a pair of bulls), Chitoni (wearing the Doric tunic while hunting)

2. Agraia and Agroteri (=hunter), Kynigetis, Kedreatida (in Orchomenos), Caryatida (in Karyes of Laconia), Orthia (in Laconia and Arcadia on her altar the wickedly stealing children of the Spartans and crawling around were flogged), Lygodesma ( =surrounded by willows, a bush or tree that resembled a willow)

3. Alfeia and Alfiousa

4. Iocheira (=the one who shot arrows), Toxia, Ekaerga and Hecativolos (from ἑkas = far away), Daphnia, Pythia, Delphinia, Chrysilakatos (the one who shot arrows of gold), Korithalia (=a crowned laurel; sometimes identified with Iresioni = an olive or laurel branch intertwined with vines and having hanging fruits of all kinds that were hung above the door of the house until the following year, when they changed it)

5. Agni, Kallisti, Kourotrofos, Lochia or Lecho, Hegemon, Abbess, Agoraia, Voulaia, Aristovouli, Epipyrgidia

6. Selasphoros, amphifire (as if carrying a torch in one hand).

7. Another category of adjectives comes from the places of her worship on peaks, lakes, springs, rivers (e.g. Akria, Thermia, Imbrasia, Limnaia, Limnatida, Ortygia, Potamia, Paralia, etc.)

8. Artemis Melissa. As Melissa (Bee), reports the Neoplatonist Porphyry, while the priestesses at Delphi, as well as Demeter, Artemis and Cybele, were called bees. In addition, the two sides of coins from Ephesus (4th century BC), where there was an emblematic temple of the goddess, depicted a deer and a bee, while elsewhere the goddess herself is represented with elements of a bee.

Some of the epithets and designations of the goddess indicate that Artemis is a nature goddess with dominion over the entire animal kingdom. Especially her relationship with deer is demonstrated by myths that associate her with Herakles, Actaeon, Iphigenia, while visual and philological sources associate her with the bee and justify the later and secondary name “Artemis Melissa” . Others indicate it as dendritic, i.e. in relation to trees, referring to primitive tree worship.

Thus, at Orchomenos in Arcadia she was called Kedreatida, because her altar was placed on a large hollow cedar trunk, while at Karyes, on the borders of Arcadia and Laconia, she was worshiped as Caryatida from the walnut trees of the region; as Orthia and Lygodesma she was worshiped in Sparta, because the her horse had been found among reeds, and as it grew, they beat it round and round to keep it upright.

Adjectives from category 3 and several from 7 associate her with the liquid element, a condition of fertility, while others (category 4 ) with Apollo, the divination art but also the death he causes, mainly in women – lion women, she is called the Ira, implying the death it causes to women, especially in the interest rates and lechonas.

The fifth category connects her with virginity but also with the possibility, since she is eternally virgin, to become a mother at any time; therefore it is associated with the premarital rites of passage of girls from childhood to manhood woman but also with death rituals of lechos. The sixth category of adjectives connects her with the political act of assembly in the Agora, in order to make decisions, and with the “herds” of people who move, i.e. the settlers, how much more that as a ruler of nature she sends animals as money for the establishment of settlements or sanctuaries; for example, a hare was a road guide for the founders of the Laconian city Boiae.

Patron of the hunt and hunters, Artemis lives the nomadic life of her protégés, mainly roaming the mountains of Arcadia and Laconia, areas where she was especially worshipped. He controls the storms and thus delays the start of the campaign of the Greeks to Troy, anchoring their ships in the Court. It is constantly in motion, like the winds and the waters, among the wild, close to the lives of men but far from them.

Artemis the Deer hunter

The relationship of the goddess with the deer is close – hence the epithet. It is demonstrated by three well-known myths, involving Heracles, Actaeon and Iphigenia.

Heracles managed to escape the wrath caused to the goddess by the death of the deer with golden horns, dedicated to her, on Mount Kyrenia, on the border of Arcadia with Achaia. The hero explained to Artemis that he did not want to kill it, but he did it because he got tired of hunting it (for a year) and blamed the murder on Eurystheus who had asked for the specific feat.

The goddess punished the hunter Aktaeons, because he overlooked and saw her naked taking her bath. He transformed him into a deer and had his fifty dogs devour him.

The whole story of the sacrifice of Iphigenia is based on unnecessary murder, but she appears in the myths as a substitute for the goddess. In fact, the daughter’s life and movements are connected or accompany the spread of the cult of Artemis.

Artemis in the Trojan War

Together with her brother Apollo she stands on the side of the Trojans. However, in the battle of the gods that takes place shortly before Hector’s duel with Achilles, and which is rather comic in nature, Artemis reprimands him, because Apollo gives up his fight against Poseidon out of respect for his father’s brother. Because of this attitude, she received the wrath of Hera who took away her armor and beat her. Disarmed, beaten and crying, she took refuge in her father’s arms, complaining about the behavior of Hera’s concubine.

Punishments of Artemis

Besides Agamemnon and Actaeon, others punished by the goddess are Niobe, Tityus, Orion, Oeneas, Callisto, Ariadne, Chione, Buphagus, Komitho and Melanippus, the Aloyades.

She punished Callisto, her hunting companion, daughter of Lycaon, by unleashing terrible arrows against her, because the young woman broke her vow of eternal chastity and gave herself to Zeus.

She killed Ariadne in Naxos, according to one version of the myth, because she was given to Theseus. Adonis provoked her anger and killed him by sending against the boar.

She punished the Arcadian hero Buphagus, because he was disturbed by his pressing love (he chased the goddess on Mount Foloi) or because he did not perform the sacrifice according to the rules that had already been inherited from the Stone Age.

She killed Chione, daughter of Daedalion and lover of her brothers Apollo and Hermes, because the daughter was proud of her beauty, that she was superior to Artemis.

She punished Niobe by killing her seven girls, because she dared to boast that she had fourteen children, while Leto had only two. Apollo killed her seven boys.

She punished Oeneas, king of Calydon in Aetolia, and Admetus, king of the Pherae in Thessaly, because they neglected or forgot the sacrifices they owed her.
The former by sending a wild boar into his fields, the latter by filling his wedding bedroom with snakes. Here, he is particularly Mars-like, as both claim a share of the spoils of either war or hunting. This hunting goddess takes on martial characteristics.

She sent a pestilence to the country of Patras, because the priestess of Komithos was putting her lover Melanippos in the shelter of the temple, because their parents did not want this bond. The oracle revealed the cause of the goddess’s anger and indicated as a way of atonement the sacrifice of the two culprits as well as the sacrificial sacrifice of the most beautiful young man and the most beautiful young woman of the country.

The custom lasted until the arrival of Eurypylus, a Thessalian who had taken part in the Trojan War and who had fallen into a state of madness, when a mysterious box was opened from there. The oracle indicated to him as his place of residence and deliverance from his madness, the place where he would see an unusual sacrifice performed. But also the inhabitants of Patras had received an oracle that when a foreigner would appear as a witness, there would no longer be a need to perform the wild sacrifice.

Together with Apollo, she killed the Giant Tityos, son of Zeus and Elara, because he tried to rape their mother Leto on her way to Delphi.

Out of jealousy, he punished the hunter Giant Orion, son of Poseidon, because he mixed with the dawn goddess, Io, who brought him to Delos. Or because he challenged her to the discus contest, she who was a goddess, or because he raped Opi, one of the Hyperborean virgins, or because he wanted to rape her.

In this last version, Artemis sends a scorpion that bites Orion on the heel. For these services she transformed him into a constellation, and so did her victim. But the two constellations never meet in the sky.

For the unnatural deeds of Otus and Ephialtes, the two Giant sons of Poseidon, who were called Aloyades after their mortal father, for their attempt to reach heaven, for the fact that they imprisoned Ares in a bronze vase, for the fact that expressed their love for the goddesses Hera (Ephialtes) and Artemis (Otus), the Aloyades were punished. Artemis transformed herself into a deer, entered between them, and they, wanting to shoot it with an archery, killed each other. Their punishment continued in Hades.

Artemis is also involved in the story of the transformation of Hippo, daughter of the centaur Chiron, into a constellation. However, it is not clear whether the transformation is due to the daughter’s piety or the fact that she failed to preserve her virginity

She lost her to Aeolus, the son of Hellene, descended from Zeus, who fell in love with her and seduced her. When the daughter could no longer hide her pregnancy, she fled to the mountains, where she gave birth.

Her father sought her out, and she, ashamed of her fate, prayed to the gods not to recognize her, and the gods, chiefly Artemis, transformed both her and her father into constellations for their piety. But they placed them in the sky in such a way that the constellation of the Artemis could not be seen from the constellation of the Centaur, in fact, her backside could not be seen, so that her gender – that she is a woman – could not be recognized.

The favored ones of the goddess

The goddess protects weak and defenseless people. To the orphaned daughters of Pandareus he gave a gift. The Athenians put their little girls under her protection with the nickname “bears”.

She honors Hippolytus, a victim of the contradictory claims of Aphrodite and herself (by honoring Artemis with his chastity he insulted Aphrodite) by imposing his worship on the daughters of Troizena and honors before their marriage – to sing to him and dedicate his hair their.

In fact, according to one version, Artemis begged Asclepius to give life to the young man again, which the god did but provoked the wrath of Zeus who punished Asclepius by taking his life. In the Trojan war she takes the side of the Trojans, on the side of her brother. And when Apollo saved Aeneas from the rush of Diomedes by pulling him from the battle to his temple “the archer Artemis with Leto in the depths of the sanctuary healed him, and they gave him a glow. It goes without saying that she was considered the protector of the Amazons who lived free and away from the male yoke.

Artemis and Sacrifice

The name of the goddess is, according to linguists, connected with the slaughterer (artamos). But the word ἀταμης also means whole, unharmed, whole, strong. If we accept these linguistic observations as correct, then we perceive Artemis as the one who oversees the performance of the sacrifice in a correct way, which means that she is the guarantor of religious and social normality, since the performance of a ritual requires the participation and cooperation of many, each with their own role and place in the ritual procession.

In this way we also understand those epithets of the goddess that give her a political connotation. They are the epithets Epipyrgidia, Agoraia – you do not have in your flock careless citizens says Anacreon, since before every assembly of the people and as a guarantee of its smooth outcome a sacrifice is required. And because, before the performance of the sacrifice, a purification had to be performed, her sanctuaries, more than those of other gods, are near springs.

The punishment was also severe for those who forgot to perform the sacrifice correctly. The goddess sent a boar that destroyed the fields of Calydona when King Oeneas, father of Meleager, sacrificed to all the gods after the harvest except Artemis, whom he forgot. The boar succumbed to the blows of Meleager, who in turn died, when the Kouretes, who had participated in the hunt, claimed the animal’s skin and head from the Aetolians. The reason, of course, was that the wrath of the goddess had not been appeased.

The goddess mercilessly punished wanton, wild behavior, such as the killing of a bear in Bravrona or her sacred deer, and therefore strictly observed that the sacrificial killing was carried out with order and respect for the animal. Any official and with the permission of the goddess “savageness” in the sacrifice served as a reminder of the rule:

The celebration begins with a magnificent procession in honor of Artemis and the virgin, who is a priestess of the goddess, advances to the end of the procession on a chariot drawn by deer. And on the next day they are wont to offer the sacrifice.

And the celebration is not only a public function but also a pallaic event. For men throw upon the altar alive the edible fowls and all the carcases, even wild boars and deer and roe deer, some bringing wolves and bear cubs and others large beasts. They also place on the altar fruits from tame trees. Then they set fire to the wood.

Pausanias mentions this celebration as a celebration of the imperial years. However, since the feast of the Kouretes in Messina was similar, in whose cave “they sacrifice all kinds of animals indiscriminately, starting with oxen and goats and ending with birds, which they throw whole into the fire”, we can reasonably guess that the beginning of this of the ceremony is at the death of Meleager.

Sanctuaries of Artemis

In honor of the goddess, the Athenians built a small Ionic four-column and two-column temple (mid-5th century BC) at the site of Agrai, on the eastern bank of Ilis, where the goddess was said to have hunted for the first time when she came from Delos; for this and Artemis was named Agrotera (=hunter).

Important sanctuaries of her existed in Vravrona, in Marousi (Amarousion), where she was worshiped with the epithet Amarissia, in Munichia (identified with today’s Kastela). She was worshiped together with her brother and their mother in the archaic temple of Apollo Zostiras in the ancient municipality of Aixonid Alos, the temple, and the area, were so named because Leto, thinking that her time had come to give birth and end the torture of her wanderings, she untied her belt. In Eleusis she was worshiped as Artemis of Propylaia.

Other important sanctuaries and temples of her are at Amarynthos in Euboea, where she was worshiped as Artemis Amarynthia, at Sparta (Artemis Orthia), at Aulis, a site associated with the tradition of the sacrifice of Iphigenia by Agamemnon, as well as in other Boeotian cities , in Megaris, Corinth, Sicyon, Argolis, Messinia, Ilia, Achaia, Arcadia, Phocis, Locris, Aetolia, Thessaly, Salamis, Aegina, Naxos, Delos, Lesvos, Samos, Ikaria, Rhodes, Crete, Troas, Lydia, Caria, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Taurida, Byzantium, Sicily, Campania, Latium, Marseilles and the Iberian Peninsula .

Her greatest temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, is in Ephesus in Teuthrania. In Ikaria her sanctuary was called Tauropolion. With the epithet Korithalia, she was worshiped by the Dorians in Laconia and Lower Italy, while in Sipylus of Asia Minor she was worshiped under the rhythm of the Kordacus, with indecent and open movements.