Artemis
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Artemis is the goddess of hunting, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. In later times, she was identified with Selene, the personification of the Moon. She was often said to roam the forests and mountains, attended by her entourage of nymphs. The goddess Diana is her Roman equivalent.
In Greek tradition Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and twin sister of Apollo. In most accounts, the twins are the products of an extramarital liaison. For this, Zeus's wife Hera forbade Leto from giving birth anywhere on solid land. Only the island of Delos gave refuge to Leto, allowing 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 deity, being the patron and protector of young children, especially young girls. Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia and Hera. She was also a patron of healing and disease, particularly among women and children, and was believed to send both good health and illness upon women and children. Artemis was one of the three major virgin goddesses, alongside Athena and Hestia. Artemis preferred to remain an unmarried maiden and was one of the three Greek goddesses over whom Aphrodite had no power.
In myth and literature, Artemis is presented as a hunting goddess of the woods, surrounded by her chaste band of nymphs. In the myth of Actaeon, when the young hunter sees her bathing naked, he is transformed into a deer by the angered goddess and is then devoured by his own hunting dogs, who do not recognize their master. In the story of Callisto, the girl is driven away from Artemis's company after breaking her vow of virginity, having lain with and been impregnated by Zeus. In the Epic tradition, Artemis halted the winds blowing the Greek ships during the Trojan War, stranding the Greek fleet in Aulis, after King Agamemnon, the leader of the expedition, shot and killed her sacred deer. Artemis demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia, Agamemnon's young daughter, as compensation for her slain deer. In most versions, when Iphigenia is led to the altar to be offered as a sacrifice, 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 of the Ancient Greek deities; her worship spread throughout ancient Greece, with her multiple temples, altars, shrines, and local veneration found everywhere in the ancient world. Her great temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, before it was burnt to the ground. Artemis's symbols included a bow and arrow, a quiver, and hunting knives, and the deer and the cypress were sacred to her. Diana, her Roman equivalent, was especially worshipped on the Aventine Hill in Rome, near Lake Nemi in the Alban Hills, and in Campania.
Etymology
The etymology of the name "Artemis" remains uncertain, though various origins have been proposed. R.S.P. Beekes suggested the e/''i interchange indicates a Pre-Greek origin, a view supported by the Lydian variant Artimus and by Georgios Babiniotis, who notes the name's Mycenaean attestation and possible pre-Greek roots..The name may be related to Greek árktos "bear", supported by the bear cult the goddess had in Attica and the Neolithic remains at the Arkoudiotissa Cave, as well as the story of Callisto, which was originally about Artemis ; this cult was a survival of very old totemic and shamanistic rituals and formed part of a larger bear cult found further afield in other Indo-European cultures. It is believed that a precursor of Artemis was worshipped in Minoan Crete as the goddess of mountains and hunting, Britomartis. While connection with Anatolian names has been suggested, the earliest attested forms of the name Artemis are the Mycenaean Greek, a-te-mi-to /Artemitos/ and, a-ti-mi-te /Artimitei/, written in Linear B at Pylos.
According to J. T. Jablonski, the name is also Phrygian and could be "compared with the royal appellation Artemas of Xenophon". Charles Anthon argued that the primitive root of the name is probably of Persian origin from *arta, *art, *arte, all meaning "great, excellent, holy", thus Artemis "becomes identical with the great mother of Nature, even as she was worshiped at Ephesus". Anton Goebel "suggests the root or, 'to shake', and makes Artemis mean the thrower of the dart or the shooter".
Ancient Greek writers, by way of folk etymology, and some modern scholars, have linked Artemis to, artamos, i.e. "butcher" or, like Plato did in Cratylus, to, artemḗs, i.e. "safe", "unharmed", "uninjured", "pure", "the stainless maiden". A. J. van Windekens tried to explain both and Artemis from, atremḗs'', meaning "unmoved, calm; stable, firm" via metathesis.
Description
Artemis is presented as a goddess who delights in hunting and punishes harshly those who cross her. Artemis's wrath is proverbial and represents the hostility of wild nature to humans. Homer calls her Potnia Theron, lit. "the mistress of animals", a title associated with representations in art going back as far as the Bronze Age, showing a woman between a pair of animals. Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths.Artemis was one of the most popular goddesses in Ancient Greece. The most frequent name of a month in the Greek calendars was Artemision in Ionic, territories Artemisios or Artamitios in the Doric and Aeolic territories and in Macedonia. Also Elaphios in Elis, Elaphebolion in Athens, Iasos, Apollonia of Chalkidice and Munichion in Attica. In the calendars of Aetolia, Phocis and Gytheion there was the month Laphrios and in Thebes, Corcyra, and Byzantion the month Eucleios. The goddess was venerated in festivals during spring.
In some cults she retains the theriomorphic form of a Pre-Greek goddess who was conceived with the shape of a bear. Kallisto in Arcadia is a hypostasis of Artemis with the shape of a bear, and her cults at Brauron and at Piraeus are remarkable for the arkteia where virgin girls before marriage were disguised as she-bears.
The ancient Greeks called Potnia Theron the representation of the goddess between animals; on a Greek vase from circa 570 BCE, a winged Artemis stands between a spotted panther and a deer. "Potnia theron" is very close to the daimons and this differentiates her from the other Greek divinities. This is the reason that Artemis was later identified with Hecate, since the daimons were tutelary deities. Hecate was the goddess of crossroads and she was the queen of the witches.
File:Emprunte d'un sceau de Cnossos.jpg|thumb|Minoan seal from Knossos. A goddess flanked by two lionesses, probably the "Mother of the Mountains", in the presence of her consort or the dedicant.
Laphria is the Pre-Greek "mistress of the animals" at Delphi and Patras. There was a custom to throw live animals into the annual fire of the fest. The festival at Patras was introduced from Calydon and this relates Artemis to the Greek heroine Atalanta who symbolizes freedom and independence. Other epithets that relate Artemis to the animals are Amarynthia and Kolainis.
In the Homeric poems Artemis is mainly the goddess of hunting, because it was the most important sport in Mycenean Greece. An almost formulaic epithet used in the Iliad and Odyssey to describe her is ἰοχέαιρα iocheaira, "she who shoots arrows", often translated as "she who delights in arrows" or "she who showers arrows". She is called Artemis Chrysilakatos, of the golden shafts, or Chrysinios, of the golden reins, as a goddess of hunting in her chariot. The Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis paints this picture of the goddess:
According to the beliefs of the first Greeks in Arcadia Artemis is the first nymph, a goddess of free nature. She is an independent free woman, and she does not need any partner. She is hunting surrounded by her nymphs. This idea of freedom and women's skill is expressed in many Greek myths.
File:Artemis libation Louvre CA599.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Artemis pouring a libation. Attic white-ground lekythos, c. 460–450 BCE. From Eretria. c. 460–450 BCE. Attributed to Bowdoin Painter. Louvre, Paris
In Peloponnese the temples of Artemis were built near springs, rivers and marshes. Artemis was closely related to the waters and especially to Poseidon, the god of the waters. Her common epithets are Limnnaia, Limnatis and Potamia and Alphaea. In some cults she is the healer goddess of women, with the surnames Lousia and Thermia.
Artemis is the leader of the nymphs and she is hunting surrounded by them. The nymphs appear during the festival of the marriage, and they are appealed by the pregnant women. Artemis became goddess of marriage and childbirth. She was worshipped with the surname Eucleia in several cities. Women consecrated clothes to Artemis for a happy childbirth and she had the epithets Lochia and Lecho.
The Dorians interpreted Artemis mainly as goddess of vegetation who was worshipped in an orgiastic cult with lascivious dances, with the common epithets Orthia, Korythalia and Dereatis. The female dancers wore masks and were famous in antiquity. The goddess of vegetation was also related to the tree-cult with temples near the holy trees and the surnames Apanchomene, Caryatis and Cedreatis.
According to Greek beliefs the image of a god or a goddess gave signs or tokens and had divine and magic powers. With these conceptions she was worshipped as Tauria, Aricina and Anaitis. In the bucolic songs the image of the goddess was discovered in bundles of leaves or dry sticks and she had the surnames Lygodesma and Phakelitis.
In the European folklore, a wild hunter is chasing an elfish woman who falls in the water. In the Greek myths the hunter is chasing a female deer and both disappear into the waters. In relation to these myths Artemis was worshipped as Saronia and Stymphalia. The myth of a goddess who is chased and then falls in the sea is related to the cults of Aphaea and Diktynna.
Artemis carrying torches was identified with Hecate and she had the surnames Phosphoros and Selasphoros. In Athens and Tegea, she was worshipped as Artemis Kalliste, "the most beautiful". Sometimes the goddess had the name of an Amazon like Lyceia and Molpadia. The female warriors Amazons embody the idea of freedom and women's independence.
In spite of her status as a virgin who avoided potential lovers, there are multiple references to Artemis's beauty and erotic aspect; in the Odyssey, Odysseus compares Nausicaa to Artemis in terms of appearance when trying to win her favor, Libanius, when praising the city of Antioch, wrote that Ptolemy was smitten by the beauty of Artemis; whereas her mother Leto often took pride in her daughter's beauty. She has several stories surrounding her where men such as Actaeon, Orion, and Alpheus tried to couple with her forcibly, only to be thwarted or killed. Ancient poets note Artemis's height and imposing stature, as she stands taller and more impressive than all the nymphs accompanying her.