Artemis 2905 225285986 2008-07-12T22:01:26Z Wahrmund 4752225 Artemis was a goddess who hunted, not the goddess of the hunt. {{otheruses}} [[Image:Diane de Versailles Leochares.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The ''[[Diana of Versailles]]'', a [[Roman art|Roman]] copy of a [[Art in ancient Greece|Greek]] [[sculpture]] by [[Leochares]]. ([[Louvre Museum]])]] In [[Greek mythology]], ''Artemis'' [([[Greek language|Greek]]: ([[nominative]]) {{polytonic|Ἄρτεμις}}, ([[genitive]]) {{polytonic|Ἀρτέμιδος}})] was the daughter of [[Zeus]] and [[Leto]], and the twin sister of [[Apollo]]. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.<ref name="Hammond">“Her proper sphere is the earth, and specifically the uncultivated parts, forests and hills, where wild beasts are plentiful<br />. . . .” Hammond and Scullard (editors), ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary''. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970) 126.</ref> The [[deer]] and the [[Cupressus|cypress]] were sacred to her. In later, Hellenistic times she even assumed the ancient role of [[Eileithyia]] in aiding childbirth. Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the gods and one of the oldest (Burkert 1985, 149). Her later association with the moon is a popular idea which has little foundation. She later became identified with [[Selene]],<ref>Hammond, ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 970-971.</ref> a [[Titan (mythology)|Titaness]] who was a Greek moon goddess, and she was sometimes depicted with a crescent moon above her head. She also became identified with the Roman goddess [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]]<ref>Hammond, ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 337-338.</ref> and with the [[Etruscan mythology|Etruscan]] goddess, Artume. <ref>“Artemis is very often identified with foreign goddesses of a more or less similar kind.” Hammond, ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 127.</ref> == Etymology == {{Greek myth (Olympian)}} There may be some connection with the [[Greek language|Greek]] αρτεμης = "safe and sound" from the [[root (linguistics)|root]] αρ = "to fit". {{Fact|date=February 2007}} == Birth == [[Image:Artemis_Apollo_Louvre_Myr199.jpg|thumb|left|140px| ''Artemis and Apollo''. [[Terracotta]], [[Myrina]], ca. 25 BC/CE.]] Various conflicting accounts are given in Greek mythology of the birth of Artemis and her twin brother, Apollo. All accounts agree, however, that she was the daughter of [[Zeus]] and [[Leto]]. An account by [[Callimachus]] has it that Hera forbade Leto to give birth on either terra firma (the mainland) or on an island. Hera was angry with Zeus, her husband, because he had impregnated Leto. But the island of [[Delos]] (or possibly [[Ortygia]]) disobeyed Hera, and Leto gave birth there.<ref>Hammond. ''Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' 597-598.</ref> The myths also differ as to whether Artemis was born first, or Apollo. For further details, see [[Hera|Hera 5.2]]. [[Image:Artemis_Kephisodotos_Musei_Capitolini_MC1123.jpg|thumb|right|140px|''Bust of Artemis'' by Kephisodotos (4th century BC). [[Musei Capitolini]], Rome, Italy.]] === Childhood=== The childhood of Artemis is not embodied in any surviving myth: the ''[[Iliad]]'' reduced the figure of the dread goddess to a girl, who, having been thrashed by [[Hera]], climbs weeping into the lap of Zeus.<ref>''Iliad'' xxi.505-13; </ref> A poem of [[Callimachus]] – the goddess "who amuses herself on mountains with archery" – imagines some charming vignettes: at three years old, Artemis asked her father, Zeus, while sitting on his knee, to grant her six wishes. Her first wish was to remain chaste for eternity, and never to be confined by marriage. She then asked for lop-eared hounds, stags to lead her chariot, and [[nymph]]s to be her hunting companions, 60 from the river and 20 from the ocean. Also, she asked for a silver bow like her brother [[Apollo]]. He granted her wishes.<ref>[http://www.katinkahesselink.net/other/artemis.html On-line English translation].</ref> All of her companions remained virgins, and Artemis guarded her own chastity closely. Her symbol was the silver bow and arrow. ==Myths of Artemis== ===Artemis and Actaeon === She was once bathing in a vale on Mount [[Cithaeron]], when the Theban prince and hunter [[Actaeon]] stumbled across her. One version of this story says that Actaeon hid in the bushes and spied on her as she continued to bathe; she was enraged to discover the spy, and turned him into a stag which was pursued and killed by his own hounds. Alternatively, Actaeon boasted that he was a better hunter than she and Artemis turned him into a stag and he was eaten by his hounds. [[Image:Adonis3.jpg|thumb|200px|left|[[Adonis]].]] ===Artemis and Adonis === In some versions of the story of [[Adonis]], Artemis sent a [[Boar|wild boar]] to kill Adonis as punishment for his hubristic boast that he was a better hunter than she. In other versions, Artemis killed him for revenge. Adonis had been a favorite of Aphrodite, and Aphrodite was responsible for the death of [[Hippolytus (mythology)#Hippolytus as Virbius|Hippolytus]], who had been a favorite of Artemis. Therefore Artemis killed Adonis to avenge Hippolytus’s death. === Orion === [[Orion (mythology)|Orion]] was a hunting companion of the goddess Artemis. In some versions of his story he was killed by Artemis, while in others he was killed by a [[Scorpius#Mythology|scorpion]] sent by [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]. In some versions, Orion tried to [[rape]] [[Opis]],<ref>"Another name for Artemis hereself", [[Karl Kerenyi]] observes, ''The Gods of the Greeks'' (1951:204).</ref> one of her followers, and she killed him. In a version by [[Aratus]],<ref>Aratus, 638</ref> Orion took hold of Artemis' robe and she killed him in [[self-defense]]. In yet another version, Apollo sent the scorpion. According to [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]<ref>Hyginus, ''[[Poeticon astronomicon]]'', ii.34, quoting the Greek poet Istrus.</ref> Artemis once loved Orion,<ref>In spite of the late source, this appears to be a rare remnant of a pre-Olympian goddess, who took consorts, as [[Eos]] did.</ref> but was tricked into killing him by her brother Apollo, who was protective of his sister's maidenhood. == Other stories == === Callisto === [[Image:Tizian 015.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Tizian]]'s ''[[Diana and Callisto]]'']] Daughter of Lycaon, King of Arcadia. She was one of Artemis's hunting attendants. As a companion of Artemis, Callisto took a vow of chastity. Zeus appeared to her disguised as Artemis, or in some stories Apollo, gained her confidence, then took advantage of her (or raped her, according to [[Ovid]]). As a result of this encounter she conceived a son, Arcas. Enraged, Hera or Artemis (some accounts say both) changed her into a bear. Arcas almost killed the bear, but Zeus stopped him just in time. Out of pity, Zeus placed Callisto the bear into the heavens, thus the origin of Callisto the Bear as a constellation. Some stories say that he placed both Arcas and Callisto into the heavens as bears, forming the [[Ursa Minor]] and [[Ursa Major]] constellations. === Iphigenia and the Taurian Artemis === Artemis punished [[Agamemnon]] after he killed a sacred stag in a [[sacred grove]] and boasted that he was a better hunter. When the Greek fleet was preparing at [[Aulis]] to depart for [[Troy]] to begin the [[Trojan War]], Artemis becalmed the winds. The seer [[Calchis]] advised Agamemnon that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice his daughter [[Iphigenia]]. In some version, the sacrifice goes through as planned (with Agamemnon killing his daughter), and the act results in his own death at the hands of his wife [[Clytemnestra]] and her lover, Aegisthus. In another version, Artemis snatches Iphigenia from the altar and substitutes a deer. Iphigenia is then transported to the [[Crimea]] and appointed as priestess in the goddess's Tauric temple, where strangers were offered as [[human sacrifice]]. === Niobe === A Queen of [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebes]] and wife of [[Amphion]], [[Niobe]] boasted of her superiority to Leto because while she had fourteen children ([[Niobids]]), seven boys and seven girls, Leto had only one of each. When Artemis and Apollo heard this impiety, Apollo killed her sons as they practiced athletics, and Artemis shot her daughters, who died instantly without a sound. Apollo and Artemis used poisoned arrows to kill them, though according to some versions two of the Niobids were spared, one boy and one girl. Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, killed himself. A devastated Niobe and her remaining children were turned to stone by Artemis as they wept. Some myths say that their tears, which still flowed from their stone eyes, formed the river [[Achelous]]. The gods themselves entombed them. === Otus and Ephialtes === The [[Gigantes]] [[Aloadae|Otus]] and [[Ephialtes (giant)|Ephialtes]] were sons of [[Poseidon]]. They were so strong that nothing could harm them. One night, as they slept, Gaea whispered to them, that since they were so strong, they should be the rulers of Olympus. They built a mountain as tall as [[Mount Olympus (Mountain)|Mt. Olympus]], and then demanded that the gods surrender, and that Artemis and Hera become their wives. The gods fought back, but couldn't harm them. The sons even managed to kidnap Ares and hold him in a jar for thirteen months. Artemis later changed herself into a deer and ran between them. The [[Aloadae]], not wanting her to get away because they were eager huntsmen, each threw their javelin and simultaneously killed each other. [[Image:Houdon-diana4.jpg|thumb|140px|left|Bronze statue of ''Diana the huntress goddess'', [[Jean-Antoine Houdon]] (1741-1828).]] === The Meleagrids === After the death of [[Meleager]], Artemis turned his grieving sisters, the [[Meleagrids]] into [[guineafowl]] that Artemis loved very much. === Chione === Artemis killed Chione for becoming too proud and vain after having an affair with Apollo. === Atalanta and Oeneus === Artemis saved the infant [[Atalanta]] from dying of exposure after her father abandoned her. She sent a female bear to suckle the baby, who was then raised by hunters. But she later sent a bear to hurt Atalanta because people said Atalanta was a better hunter. This is in some stories. Among other adventures, Atalanta participated in the hunt for the [[Calydonian Boar]], which Artemis had sent to destroy [[Calydon]] because King [[Oeneus]] had forgotten her at the harvest sacrifices. In the hunt, Atalanta drew the first blood, and was awarded the prize of the skin. She hung it in a sacred grove at [[Tegea]] as a dedication to Artemis. === Trojan War === Artemis may have been represented as a supporter of Troy because her brother [[Apollo]] was the patron god of the city and she herself was widely worshipped in western Anatolia in historical time. In the ''[[Iliad]]''<ref> Homer, ''Iliad'' 21.470 ff)</ref> she came to blows with Hera, when the divine allies of the Greeks and Trojans engaged each other in conflict. Hera struck Artemis on the ears with her own quiver, causing the arrows to fall out. As Artemis fled crying to Zeus, Leto gathered up the bow and arrows which had fallen out of the quiver. == Worship of Artemis== [[Image:Jerash_Temple_of_Artemis.jpg|thumb||right|250px|''Roman Temple of Artemis'' in [[Jerash, Jordan]], built during the reign of [[Antoninus Pius]].]] {{main|Brauronia}} Artemis, the goddess of forests and hills, was worshipped throughout [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greece]].<ref>“. . . a goddess universally worshipped in historical Greece, but in all likelihood pre-Hellenic.” Hammond, ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 126.</ref>. Her best known [[Cult (religious practice)|cults]] were on the island of [[Delos]] (her birthplace); in Attica at [[Brauron]] and Mounikhia (near [[Piraeus]]); in [[Sparta]]. She was often depicted in paintings and statues in a forest setting, carrying a bow and arrows, and accompanied by a deer. As '''Aeginaea''', she was worshiped in [[Sparta]]; the name means either huntress of [[chamois]], or the wielder of the javelin ({{polytonic|αιγανέα}}).<ref>[[Pausanias]], iii. 14. § 3</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Schmitz | first = Leonhard | author-link = | contribution = Aeginaea | editor-last = Smith | editor-first = William | title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]] | volume = 1 | pages = 26 | publisher = | place = Boston | year = 1867 | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0035.html }}</ref> She was worshipped at [[Naupactus]] as '''Aetole'''; in her temple in that town there was a statue of white marble representing her throwing a javelin.<ref>[[Pausanias]], x. 38. § 6.</ref> This "Aetolian Artemis" would not have been introduced at Naupactus, anciently a place of [[Ozolian Locris]], until it was awarded to the [[Aetolia]]ns by [[Philip II of Macedon]]. Strabo records another precinct of "Aetolian Artemos" at the head of the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]].<ref>"Among the Heneti certain honours have been decreed to Diomedes; and, indeed, a white horse is still sacrificed to him, and two precincts are still to be seen — one of them sacred to the Argive Hera and the other to the Aetolian Artemis. (Strabo, v.1.9 [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5A*.html on-line text]).</ref> As [[Agoraea]] she was the protector of the [[agora]]. As '''[[Agrotera]]''', she was especially associated as the patron goddess of hunters. In Athens Artemis was often associated with the local [[Aegina|Aeginian]] goddess, '''[[Aphaea]]'''. As '''[[Potnia Theron]]''', she was the patron of wild animals; [[Homer]] used this title. As '''Kourotrophos''', she was the nurse of youths. As '''Locheia''', she was the goddess of childbirth and midwives. She was sometimes known as '''Cynthia''', from her birthplace on [[Cynthus|Mount Cynthus]] on [[Delos]], or ''Amarynthia'' from a festival in her honor originally held at Amarynthus in [[Euboea]]. She was sometimes identified by the name '''Phoebe''', the feminine form of her brother Apollo's solar epithet [[Phoebus]]. The ancient Spartans used to sacrifice to her as one of their patron goddesses before starting a new [[military campaign]]. <!--==References== {{Reflist}} *Salmonson, .(1991) ''The Encyclopedia of Amazons''. Paragon House. Page 5. ISBN 1-55778-420-5--> Athenian festivals in honor of Artemis included [[Elaphebolia]], [[Mounikhia]], Kharisteria, and [[Brauronia]]. The festival of [[Artemis Orthia]] was observed in [[Sparta]]. [[Image:Brauron-2.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''Sanctuary of Artemis at [[Brauron]]''.]] Pre-pubescent Athenian girls and young Athenian girls approaching marriageable age were sent to the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron to serve the Goddess for one year. During this time the girls were known as ''arktoi'', or little she-bears. A myth explaining this servitude relates that a bear had formed the habit of regularly visiting the town of Brauron, and the people there fed it, so that over time the bear became tame. A young girl teased the bear, and, in some versions of the myth it killed her, while in other versions it clawed her eyes out. Either way, the girl's brothers killed the bear, and Artemis was enraged. She demanded that young girls "act the bear" at her sanctuary in atonement for the bear's death. Virginal Artemis was worshipped as a fertility/childbirth goddess in some places, assimilating [[Ilithyia]], since, according to some myths, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. During the [[classical antiquity|Classical period]] in [[Athens]], she was identified with [[Hecate]]. Artemis also assimilated [[Caryatis]] ([[Carya (goddess)|Carya]]). ===Artemis in art=== [[Image:Bust of the goddess of Issa, Vis Museum, Croatia.JPG|thumb|140px|Fourth century [[Praxiteles|Praxitelean]] bronze head of a goddess wearing a [[lunate]] crown, found at Issa ([[Vis]], Croatia)]] The oldest representations of Artemis in Greek Archaic art portray her as ''[[Potnia Theron]]'' ("Queen of the Beasts"): a winged goddess holding a stag and leopard in her hands, or sometimes a leopard and a lion. This winged Artemis lingered in ex-votos as [[Artemis Orthia]], with a sanctuary close by [[Sparta]]. In Greek classical art she is usually portrayed as a maiden huntress clothed in a girl's short skirt,<ref>Homer portrayed Artemis as girlish in the ''[[Iliad]]''.</ref> with hunting boots, a quiver, a bow<ref>Greek poets could not decide whether her bow was silver or gold: "Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow." ([[Homeric Hymn]] to Artemis), and it is a golden bow as well in [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 1.693, where her nymph's is of horn. "And how often goddess, didst thou make trial of thy silver bow?", asks [[Callimachus]] for whom it is a [[Cydonia (ancient Greece)|Cydonia]]n bow that the [[Cyclopes]] make for her (Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis).</ref> and arrows. Often she is shown in the shooting pose, and is accompanied by a [[hunting dog]] or stag. Her darker side is revealed in some vase paintings, where she is shown as the death-bringing goddess whose arrows fell young maidens and women, such as the daughters of [[Niobe]]. The attributes of the goddess were often varied: bow and arrows were sometimes replaced by hunting spears; as a goddess of maiden dances she held a [[lyre]]; {{Fact|date=February 2007}} as a goddess of light a pair of flaming torches. Only in post-Classical art do we find representations of Artemis-Diana with the crown of the [[crescent]] [[moon]], as [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]]. In the ancient world, although she was occasionally associated with the moon, she was never portrayed as the moon itself. Ancient statues of Artemis have been found with crescent moons, but these moons are always Renaissance-era additions. On June 7, 2007, a Roman era bronze sculpture of “Artemis and the Stag” was sold at [[Sotheby’s]] auction house in New York City by the [[Albright-Knox Art Gallery]] for $25.5 million. === Artemis as ''the Lady of Ephesus'' === {{main|Temple of Artemis}} [[Image:Ac_artemisephesus.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ruins of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus]] At Ephesus, her temple became one of the [[Seven Wonders of the World]]. There the Lady whom Greeks associated with Artemis through ''[[interpretatio Graeca]]'' was worshiped primarily as a mother goddess, akin to the Phrygian goddess [[Cybele]], in an ancient sanctuary where her [[cult image]] depicted the "Lady of Ephesus" adorned with multiple rounded breast like protuberances on her chest. They had been traditionally interpreted as multiple [[accessory breast]]s, or as sacrificed bull testes, as some newer scholars claimed,<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9E04E3DB1130F932A1575BC0A962958260 "In Search of Diana of Ephesus", ''New York Times'', August 21 1994.]</ref> until excavation at the site of the ''Artemision'' in 1987-88 identified the multitude of tear-shaped [[amber]] beads that had adorned her ancient wooden ''[[xoanon]]''. In [[Ionia]] (Turkey), the "Lady of Ephesus," a goddess whom the [[Anatolia|Anatolians]] identified with Artemis, was a principal deity. Her [[Temple of Artemis|temple at Ephesus]], an ancient Greek city located in the western part of [[Turkey]], was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was probably the best known center of her worship except for Delos. In [[Acts of the Apostles]], Ephesian metalsmiths who felt threatened by Saint Paul's preaching of Christianity, jealously rioted in her defense, shouting “''Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!''” (Acts 19:28, [[Authorized King James Version|KJV]]). == Artemis in Astronomy == A [[minor planet]], [[(105) Artemis]]; a [[Artemis (crater)|lunar crater]]; the [[Artemis Chasma]] and the [[Artemis Corona]] (both on Venus) have all been named for her. ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Sources== *[[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]], 1985. ''Greek Religion'' (Cambridge:Harvard University Press) *[[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]] (1955) 1960. ''The Greek Myths'' (Penguin) *[[Karl Kerenyi|Kerenyi, Karl]], 1951. ''The Gods of the Greeks'' *[[Seppo Telenius|Telenius, Seppo]] (2005) 2006. ''Athena-Artemis'' (Helsinki: Kirja kerrallaan) ==External links== {{commons|Artemis}} * [http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html Encyclopedia Mythica's article on Artemis] * [http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Artemis.html Theoi Project, Artemis, information on Artemis from original Greek and Roman sources, images from classical art]. *[http://www.crystalrivers.com/prayers/artemis.html Hymn To Artemis - The Virgin Goddess of the Hunt] *[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063&query=label%3D%23290&word=Amarysia A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. G. E. Marindin, William Smith, LLD, William Wayte)] {{Greek religion}} {{FA link|ar}} [[Category:Artemis| ]] [[Category:Greek mythology]] [[Category:Greek goddesses]] [[Category:Twelve Olympians]] [[Category:Lunar goddesses]] [[Category:Hunting goddesses]] [[Category:Nature goddesses]] [[Category:Animal goddesses]] [[Category:Childhood goddesses]] [[Category:Offspring of Zeus]] {{Link FA|ar}} [[als:Artemis (Mythologie)]] [[ar:آرتميس]] [[ast:Artemisa]] [[bn:আর্টেমিস]] [[bs:Artemida]] [[br:Artemis]] [[bg:Артемида]] [[ca:Àrtemis]] [[cs:Artemis]] [[da:Artemis]] [[de:Artemis (Mythologie)]] [[et:Artemis]] [[el:Άρτεμις]] [[es:Artemisa]] [[eo:Artemiso]] [[fr:Artémis]] [[gl:Ártemis]] [[ko:아르테미스]] [[hi:आर्टेमिस]] [[hr:Artemida]] [[id:Artemis]] [[it:Artemide]] [[he:ארטמיס]] [[ka:არტემიდა]] [[la:Artemis]] [[lv:Artemīda]] [[lb:Artemis]] [[lt:Artemidė]] [[hu:Artemisz]] [[mk:Артемида]] [[mr:आर्टेमिस]] [[nl:Artemis (mythologie)]] [[ja:アルテミス]] [[no:Artemis]] [[nds:Artemis (Mythologie)]] [[pl:Artemida]] [[pt:Ártemis]] [[ro:Artemis]] [[ru:Артемида]] [[sq:Artemis]] [[simple:Artemis]] [[sk:Artemis]] [[sl:Artemida (mitologija)]] [[sr:Артемида]] [[sh:Artemida]] [[fi:Artemis]] [[sv:Artemis]] [[ta:ஆர்ட்டெமிஸ்]] [[vi:Artemis (thần thoại)]] [[tr:Artemis]] [[uk:Артеміда]] [[wo:Artemis]] [[zh:阿尔忒弥斯]]