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ARTEMIS
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ARTEMIS , one of the See also:principal goddesses in See also:Greek See also:mythology, the counterpart of the See also:Roman See also:Diana. The suggested etymologies of the name (see O. Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie, ii. p. 1267, See also:note 2), as in the See also:case of most of the Olympian deities, are unsatisfactory, and throw no See also:light upon her significance and characteristics. The Homeric and later conception of Artemis, though by no means the See also:original one, may be noticed first. She is the daughter of See also:Zeus and Leto, twin-See also:sister and counterpart of See also:Apollo. She is said to have been See also:born a See also:day before him (on the 6th of the See also:month) and tradition assigns them different birthplaces—Delos to Apollo, Ortygia to Artemis. But Ortygia (" See also:home of quails ") applies still to See also:Delos, and may well have been a synonym for that See also:island. In its original sense it does not apply either to the island of Ortygia at See also:Syracuse, or to Ortygia near See also:Ephesus, which also claimed the See also:honour of having been the birthplace of the goddess. Artemis is the goddess of chastity, an aspect of her See also:character which gradually assumed more and more importance—the protectress of See also:young men and maidens, who defies and contemns the See also:power of See also:Aphrodite. Her resemblance to her See also:brother is shown in many ways. Like him, armed with See also:bow and arrows, she deals See also:death to mortals, sometimes gently and suddenly, especially to See also:women, but also as a See also:punishment for offences against herself or morality. With him she takes See also:part in the combat with See also:Python and with Tityus, in the slaughter of the See also:children of See also:Niobe, while alone she executes vengeance on See also:Orion. Although Apollo has nothing to do with the earlier cult of Artemis, nor Artemis with that of See also:Delphi, their association was a comparatively See also:early one, and probably originated in Delos. Here the connexion of Artemis with the Hyperborean See also:legend (see APOLLO) is shown in the names of the maidens (Opis, Hecaerge) who were supposed to have brought offerings from the See also:north to Delos, where they were buried. Both Opis (or Oupis) and Hecaerge are names of Artemis, the latter being the feminine of Hecaergos, an epithet of Apollo. Like her brother, she is not only a goddess who deals death, but she is also a healing and a purifying divinity, oaia (" the healer," cf. Apollo Oulios), XG7t, ?dada (" purifier,") and vwretpa, " she who saves from all evils" (cf. Apollo aaoTpoaatos). Her connexion with the prophetic See also:art is doubtful, although mention is made of an Artemis Sibylla. To her association with Apollo are certainly to be referred the names See also:Delphinia and Pythia, and the titles referring to See also:state and See also:family life—apo rrarrlpLa, aarpL&ns, (3ovXal.a. It probably accounts for her See also:appearance as a goddess of seafarers, the bestower of See also:fair See also:weather and prosperous voyages. At See also:Phigalia in See also:Arcadia, Eurynome, represented as See also:half woman and half See also:fish, was probably another See also:form of Artemis. To the same association may be traced her slight connexion with See also:music, See also:song and See also:dance. It is in the Arcadian and Athenian See also:rites and legends, however, which are certainly earlier than See also:Homer, that the original conception of the goddess is to be found. These tend to show that Artemis was first and foremost a nature goddess, whose cult shows numerous traces of See also:totemism. As a goddess of fertilizing moisture, lakes, See also:rivers, springs, and marshy lowlands are brought into See also:close connexion with her. Thus she is ALµvaia, SEgaotva )tiµvrts (" See also:lady of the See also:lake ") Ada (" of marshes "), rroragia (" of rivers," especially of the Cladaus and See also:Alpheus, whence her name 'AX eLata). Her See also:influence is very active in promoting the increase of the fruits of the See also: 429; cf. the "See also:swing" festival (aliapa) of the Greeks, and the See also:oscilla of the See also:Romans).
The functions of the goddess extended from the See also:vegetable to the See also:animal See also:world, to the inhabitants of the See also:woods and mountains. This is clearly expressed in the cult of Artemis Laphria (possibly connected with Ah4 vpa, " spoils "), at whose festivals all kinds of animals, both See also:wild and tame, as well as fruits, were thrown together on a huge See also:wood See also:fire. Her See also:general name in this connexion was aypommpa (" roaming the wilds," not necessarily " goddess of the See also:chase," an aspect less See also:familiar in the older See also:religion), to whom five See also:hundred goats were offered every See also:year by the Athenians as a thanksgiving in See also:commemoration of the victory at See also:Marathon. Numerous animals were sacred to her, and at Syracuse all kinds of wild beasts, including a lioness, were carried in procession in her honour. It has been observed that she is rather the patroness of the wild beasts of the field than of the more agricultural or domestic animals (Farnell, Cults, ii. p. 431), although the epithet i,uepaoia (" the tamer," according to others, the "See also:gentle" goddess of healing) seems to refer to her connexion with the latter. The See also:bear was especially associated with her in Arcadia, and in her worship as Artemis Brauronia at Brauron in See also:Attica. According to .the legend, See also:Callisto, an Arcadian nymph, became by Zeus the See also:mother of Arcas, the See also:eponymous See also:hero of the Arcadians. Zeus, to conceal the amour, changed Callisto into a she-bear; See also:Hera, however, discovered it, and persuaded Artemis to slay Callisto, who wasplaced amongst the stars as apKros (" the bear "). There is no doubt that Callisto is identical with Artemis; her name is an obvious variation of KaXXLgrrt,a frequent epithet of the goddess, to whom a See also:temple was erected on the See also: Kraus in Classical See also:Review, See also:February 1908, that Aphaea, the cult-name of Artemis at See also:Aegina, is of Semitic origin and means " beautiful. " Closely connected with this legend is the worship of Artemis Brauronia. The accounts of its institution, which differ in detail, agree that it was intended to appease the wrath of the goddess at the killing of a bear. A number of young girls, between five and ten years of See also:age, wearing a bear-skin (afterwards a See also:saffron-coloured robe) danced a bear-dance, called apireia, the girls themselves being calledapKrot. In one See also:account, a See also:maiden was ordered to be sacrificed to the bear Artemis, but a certain man who had a See also:goat called it his daughter and offered it up in See also:secret, just as at. Munychium a fawn dressed up as a girl was sacrificed to the goddess. In See also:place of the goat or fawn a bear might have been expected, but the choice may have been influenced by the animal totem of the tribe into whose hands the See also:ritual See also:fell. The whole is a See also:reminiscence of earlier times, when the goddess herself was a bear, to whom human See also:sacrifice was offered. Callisto was origin-ally a bear-goddess worshipped in Arcadia, identified with Artemis, when nothing remained of the original animal-worship but name and ritual. The worship of Callisto being merged in that of the greater divinity, she became the handmaid and See also:companion of Artemis. A See also: 
See also:Lang, Myth, Ritual and Religion, ii.; Farnell, Cults, ii. p. 437). The custom of flogging youths at the See also:altar of Artemis Orthia 1 at Limnaeum in See also:Laconia, and the legend of See also:Iphigeneia (q.v.), herself another form of Artemis, connected with Artemis Taurica of the Tauric See also:Chersonese, are usually supposed to point to early human sacrifice (but see Farnell). Various explanations have been given of the epithet SpOia: (1) that it refers to the See also:primitive type of the " erect " wooden idol; (2) that it means " she who safely rears children after See also:birth," or "heals the sick " (cf. opOLos applied to Asclepius); (3) that it has a phallic significance (See also:Schreiber in See also:Roscher's Lexikon). Scholars differ as to whether Artemis Taurica is identical with Artemis Tauropolos, worshipped chiefly at See also:Samos with a milder ritual, but it is more probable that ravpo7roXos simply means " protectress of bulls." The protecting influence of Artemis was extended, like that of Apollo, to the highest animal, man. She was especially concerned in the bringing up of the young. Boys were brought by their nurses to the temple of Artemis KopvOaXia (= Kovporph4 os) and there consecrated to her; at the See also:Apaturia, on the day called KOUpeWTLS, boys cut off and dedicated their See also:hair to her. Girls as well as boys were under her protection. Her See also:function as a goddess of See also:marriage is less certain, and the cult-titles adduced in support of it are hardly convincing; such are ityeµovrt, interpreted as " she who leads home the See also:bride," aeXao ¢ pos, " See also:bearer of light," that is, of torches at the marriage procession. On the other See also:hand, her connexion with childbirth is clearly shown: in many places she is even called Eilithyia, who in the earlier poets was regarded as distinct from her. In one version of the See also:story of her birth she is said to have been born a day before Apollo, in See also:order to assist Leto at his birth; women in childbirth invoked her aid, and after delivery offered up their clothes or a See also:lock of hair. As already noticed, in Homer Artemis appears as a goddess of death; closely akin to this is the conception of her as a goddess of See also:war. As such she is vrKrt>bpos (" bringer of victory "); the See also:title KoXau'is is possibly connected with 1 The site of the temple of Artemis Orthia was excavated by the See also:British School of See also:Archaeology at See also:Athens (see See also:Annual, 1906). The flogging (&aµaortywfLs) is explained by R. C. Bosanquet as a See also:late institution of decadent See also:Sparta, an exaggeration of an old ritual practice of See also:whipping away boys who tried to steal cheeses from the altar (see The Year's See also:Work in Classical Studies, ed. W. H. D. Rouse, 1907). Ko? fin "`See also:sword-sheath "); and Xacbpta (see above) may refer to the spoils of war as well as the chase. The See also:idea of Artemis as a virgin goddess, the " See also:queen and huntress, chaste and fair," which obtained See also:great prominence in early times, and seems inconsistent with her association with childbirth, is generally explained as due to her connexion with Apollo, but it is suggested by Farnell that ?rapOEvos originally meant "unmarried," and that""Apre,uts aapOEVos may have been originally the goddess of a See also:people who had not yet the advanced Hellenic institutions of settled marriage . . . and when society See also:developed the later family See also:system the goddess remained celibate, though not opposed to childbirth." Another view of the original character of Artemis, which has found much support in See also:modern times, is that she was a See also:moon-goddess. But there is no trace of Artemis as such in the epic See also:period, and the Homeric hymn knows nothing of her See also:identification with Selene. The attribute of the See also:torch will apply equally well to the goddess of the chase, and epithets such as 4worcopos, Qeaaa¢opos, atOoiria, although applicable, are by- no means convincing. The idea See also:dates from the 5th See also:century, and was due to her connexion with See also:Hecate and Apollo. When the latter came to be identified by philosophical See also:speculation with the See also:sun-See also:god Helios, it was natural that his sister and counterpart should be identified with the moon-goddess Selene. But she is nowhere recognized in cult as such (see Gruppe, Griechische Mythologic, ii. p. 1297, note 2). It has been mentioned that Callisto, Iphigeneia, Eilithyia, are only Artemis under different names; to these may be added Adrasteia, See also:Atalanta, See also:Helen, Leto and others (see Wernicke in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie). Again, various non-Hellenic divinities were identified with Artemis, and their cult gradually amalgamated with hers. The most important of these was Artemis of Ephesus, whose seat was in the marshy valley of the Caystrus. Like the Greek Artemis, she was essentially a nature goddess, the great See also:foster-mother of the vegetable and animal See also:kingdom. A number of officials were engaged in the performance of her temple service. Her See also:eunuch priests, ,ueyaM'of (a name which points to a See also:Persian origin), were under the See also:control of a high See also:priest called See also:Essen (according to others, there was a See also:body of priests called See also:Essenes). There were also three classes of priestesses, Mellierae, Hierae, Parierae; there is no See also:evidence that they were called Melissae (" bees "), although the See also:bee is a frequent See also:symbol on the coins of the See also:city. Her See also:chief festival, Ephesia or See also:Artemisia, was held in the See also:spring, at which See also:games and various contests took place after the Greek See also:fashion, although the ritual continued to be of a modified See also:oriental, orgiastic type. This goddess is closely connected with the See also:Amazons (q.v.), who are said to have built her temple and set up her image in the See also:trunk of a tree. The Greeks of Ephesus identified her with their own Artemis, and claimed that her birthplace Ortygia was near Ephesus, not in Delos. She has much in See also:common with the oriental prototype of Aphrodite, and the Cappadocian goddess Ma, another form of See also:Cybele. The usual figure of the Ephesian Artemis, which was said in the first instance to have fallen from See also:heaven, is in the form of a See also:female with many breasts, the symbol of productivity or a token of her function as the all-nourishing mother. From the See also:waist to the feet her image resembles a See also:pillar, narrowing downwards and sculptured all round with rows of animals (lions, rams and bulls). Mention may also be made of the following non-Hellenic representatives of Artemis. Leucophryne (or Leucophrys), whose worship was brought by emigrants from See also:Magnesia in See also:Thessaly to Magnesia on the Maeander, was a nature goddess, and her See also:representation on coins exactly resembles that of the Ephesian Artemis. Her cult, however, from the little that is known of it appears to have been more Hellenic. There was an altar and temple of Artemis Pergaea at See also:Perga in See also:Pamphylia, where a yearly festival was held in her honour. As in the case of Cybele, mendicant priests were attached to her service. Similar figures were Artemis Coloene, worshipped at Lake Coloe near See also:Sardis; Artemis Cordax, celebrated in wanton dances on See also:Mount Sipylus; the Persian Artemis, identical with Anaitis Bendis,was a Thracian goddess of war and the chase, whose cult was introduced into Attica in the See also:middle of the 5th century B.C. by Thracian metics. At her festival called Bendidea, held at the See also:Peiraeus, there was a procession of Thracians who were settled in the See also:district, and a torch-See also:race on horseback. (For See also:Britomartis see See also:separate See also:article.) Among the chief attributes of Artemis are: the See also:hind, specially regarded as her sacred animal; the bear, the boar and the goat; the zebu (Artemis Leucophrys); the See also:lion, one of her See also:oldest animal symbols; bow and arrows, as goddess of the chase and death; a mural See also:crown, as the protectress of cities; the torch, originally an attribute of the goddess of the chase or marriage, but, like the See also:crescent (originally an attribute of the See also:Asiatic nature goddesses), transferred to Artemis, when she came to be regarded as a moon-goddess. The Greek Artemis was usually represented as a huntress with bow and See also:quiver, or torch in her hand, in See also:face very like Apollo, her drapery flowing to her feet, or, more frequently, girt high for See also:speed. She is accompanied often by a See also:deer or a See also:dog. Perhaps the finest existing statue of her is the Diana of See also:Versailles from See also:Hadrian's See also:Villa (now in the Louvre), in which she wears a See also:short See also:tunic See also:drawn in at the waist and sandals on her feet; her hair is bound up into a See also:knot at the back of her See also:head, with a See also:band over the forehead. With her See also:left hand she holds a See also:stag, while See also:drawing an arrow from the quiver on her See also:shoulder with the right. Another famous statue is one from See also:Gabii, in which she is See also:finishing her See also:toilet and fastening the chlamys over her tunic. In older times her figure is See also:fuller and stronger, and the clothing more See also:complete; certain statues discovered at Delos, imitated from wooden See also:models (Oa*, are supposed to represent Artemis; they are described as stiff and rigid, the limbs as it were glued to the body without See also:life or See also:movement, garments closely fitting, the folds of which fall in symmetrical parallel lines. As a goddess of the moon she wears a See also:long robe, carries a torch, and her head is surmounted by a crescent. On the coins of Arcadia, See also:Aetolia, See also:Crete and See also:Sicily, are to be seen varied and beautiful representations of her head as conceived by the Greek artists in the best times. For the Roman goddess identified with Artemis see DIANA. (J. H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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