Ancient World

Artemis

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Artemis (; Ancient Greek: Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of hunting, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was often said to roam the forests and mountains, attended by an entourage of nymphs. The goddess Diana is her Roman equivalent. Artemis was the daughter of Leto and Zeus, and twin sister of Apollo. In most accounts, the twins were produced by an extramarital liaison, for which Zeus's wife Hera forbade Leto from giving birth anywhere on solid land. Only the island of Delos allowed her to give birth to her children. In one account, Artemis is born first and then proceeds to assist Leto in the birth of the second twin, Apollo. Artemis was a kourotrophic (child-nurturing) deity, being the protector of children, especially girls, and animal cubs. She was worshipped and feared as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia and Hera. She was also a patron of healing and disease, and was believed to send good health, illness and death upon women and children, and a guardian over transitions from maidenhood. Artemis was one of the three major virgin goddesses, alongside Athena and Hestia. She was thought of as an unmarried maiden and one of the three Greek goddesses over whom Aphrodite had no power. In myth and literature, Artemis is presented as a hunting goddess, who roams the wilderness, often surrounded by a retinue of nymphs. The hunter Actaeon was said to have seen her bathing naked, whereupon the goddess transformed him into a deer, to let his own dogs devour him. In another myth, Callisto is driven away from Artemis' company after breaking her vow of virginity, turned into a bear and then into Ursa Major. In the Epic tradition, Artemis halted the winds blowing the Greek ships during the Trojan War, stranding the fleet in Aulis, after King Agamemnon, the leader of the expedition, shot and killed her sacred deer. Artemis demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia, his daughter, as compensation for her slain deer. In most versions, Artemis pities her and takes her away, leaving a deer in her place. In the war that followed, Artemis supported the Trojans against the Greeks, and she challenged Hera in battle. Artemis was one of the most widely venerated Greek deities.

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See also

• ▸Bhagwan Lal Indraji
• ▸Colin Campbell Cooper
• ▸Eretria

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