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{{Short description|Goddess of the hunt and the wild in ancient Greek religion and mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Artemis
| image = Diane de Versailles - Musée du Louvre AGER Ma 589.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = The ''[[Diana of Versailles]]'', a [[Roman art|Roman]] copy of a [[Art in ancient Greece|Greek]] [[sculpture]] by [[Leochares]]<br />([[Louvre Museum]])
| god_of = Goddess of nature, childbirth, wildlife, healing, the hunt, sudden death, animals, virginity, young women, and archery
| member_of = the [[Twelve Olympians]]
| abode = [[Mount Olympus]]
| symbol = bow and arrows, crescent moon, animal pelts, spear, knives, torch, lyre, [[amaranth]]
| planet = [[Moon]]
| consort = 
| birth_place = [[Island of Delos]], [[Greece]]
| parents = [[Zeus]] and [[Leto]]
| siblings = [[Apollo]] (twin), [[Zeus#Offspring|many paternal half-siblings]]
| children = 
| mount = A silver chariot driven by four silver-horned deer
| Roman_equivalent = [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]]
| animals = deer, serpent, dog, boar, goat, bear, quail, [[common buzzard|buzzard]], [[guineafowl]]
| tree = cypress, palm, walnut
| other_names = see [[Epithets of Artemis]]
}}
{{Contains special characters}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}

In [[ancient Greek religion]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]], '''Artemis''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑr|t|ɪ|m|ɪ|s}}; {{langx|grc|Ἄρτεμις}}) is the [[goddess]] of the [[hunting|hunt]], the [[wilderness]], wild animals, transitions, [[nature]], [[vegetation]], [[childbirth]], [[Kourotrophos|care of children]], and [[chastity]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Artemis {{!}} Myths, Symbols, & Meaning|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Artemis-Greek-goddess|access-date=2021-07-06|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":merr">{{cite book |title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature|date=1995|publisher=Merriam-Webster |isbn=9780877790426 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=eKNK1YwHcQ4C&pg=PA74&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 74]}}</ref> In later times, she was identified with [[Selene]], the [[Lunar deity|personification of the Moon]].<ref name=":smt">Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA%3Aentry+group%3D47%3Aentry%3Dartemis-bio-2 s.v. Artemis]</ref> She was often said to roam the forests and mountains, attended by her entourage of [[nymph]]s. The goddess [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] is her [[Religion in ancient Rome|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.<ref>Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.21</ref>

Artemis was a [[kourotrophos|kourotrophic]] (child-nurturing) 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 goddess]]es, alongside [[Athena]] and [[Hestia]]. Artemis preferred to remain an unmarried [[Virginity|maiden]] and was one of the three Greek goddesses over whom [[Aphrodite]] had no power.<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]] to [[Aphrodite]]'' (5), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D5%3Acard%3D1 p.21–32]</ref>

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 (mythology)|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 Cycle|Epic tradition]], Artemis halted the winds blowing the Greek ships during the [[Trojan War]], stranding the Greek fleet in [[Aulis (ancient Greece)|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 of Artemis|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 [[Cupressus|cypress]] were sacred to her. Diana, her Roman [[Syncretism|equivalent]], was especially worshipped on the [[Aventine Hill]] in [[Rome]], near [[Lake Nemi]] in the [[Alban Hills]], and in [[Campania]].<ref name=":1" />

==Etymology==
[[File:0 Artémis (Diane) - Galleria dei Candelabri - Vatican.JPG|thumb|upright|Artémis (Diane), the huntress. Roman copy of a Greek statue, 2nd century. Galleria dei Candelabri - [[Vatican Museums]]]]

The name "Artemis" ([[Proper noun|''n.'']], [[Gender (linguistics)|''f.'']]) is of unknown or uncertain etymology,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Artemis |dictionary=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Artemis}}</ref><ref name="Babiniotis">{{cite dictionary |last=Babiniotis |first=Georgios |author-link=Georgios Babiniotis |year=2005 |dictionary=[[Dictionary of Modern Greek|{{math|Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας}}]] |title={{math|Άρτεμις}} |publisher={{math|Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας}} |location=Athens, EL |page=286}}</ref> although various sources have been proposed. [[Robert S. P. Beekes|R.S.P. Beekes]] suggested that the ''e''/''i'' interchange points to a [[Pre-Greek]] origin.<ref name=":2">[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R.S.P. Beekes]], 2009, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, p. 142</ref> Artemis was venerated in [[Lydia]] as ''Artimus''.<ref>Houwink ten Cate, 1961, ''The Luwian Population Groups of Lycia and Cilicia Aspera during the Hellenistic Period'' (Leiden) p 166, noted in this context by {{harvp|Brown|2004|p=252}}</ref><ref>''Indogermanica et Caucasica: Festschrift fur Karl Horst Schmidt zum 65. Geburtstag'' (Studies in Indo-European language and culture), W. de Gruyter, 1994, ''Etyma Graeca'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=P3vb4KDB_UkC&pg=PA213&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false pp. 213–214].</ref>{{rp|213–214}} [[Georgios Babiniotis]], while accepting that the etymology is unknown, also states that the name is already attested in Mycenean Greek and is possibly of pre-Greek origin.<ref name="Babiniotis" />

The name may be related to [[Greek language|Greek]] ''árktos'' "[[bear]]" (from [[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] *''h₂ŕ̥tḱos''), supported by the bear cult the goddess had in [[Attica]] ([[Brauronia#Cult of Artemis Brauronia|Brauronia]]) and the [[Neolithic]] remains at the [[Arkoudiotissa Cave]], as well as the story of Callisto, which was originally about Artemis ([[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]n epithet ''kallisto'');<ref>Michaël Ripinsky-Naxon (1993) ''The Nature of Shamanism: Substance and function of a religious metaphor'', Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, p 32</ref> this cult was a survival of very old totemic and shamanistic rituals and formed part of a larger [[bear worship|bear cult]] found further afield in other [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] cultures (e.g., Gaulish [[Artio]]). It is believed that a precursor of Artemis was worshipped in [[Minoan civilization|Minoan Crete]] as the goddess of mountains and hunting, [[Britomartis]]. While connection with [[Anatolia]]n names has been suggested,<ref>Campanile, ''Ann. Scuola Pisa'' '''28''':305</ref><ref>Restelli, ''Aevum'' '''37''':307, 312</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Edwin L. |last=Brown |year=2004 |title=In search of Anatolian Apollo |series=Charis: Essays in Honor of Sara A. Immerwahr |journal=Hesperia Supplements |volume=33 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zQOQey4OkAsC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA244&hl=en&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 243–257]}} — Artemis, as Apollo's inseparable twin, is discussed at {{nobr|p 251 ff}}</ref> the earliest attested forms of the name Artemis are the [[Mycenaean Greek]] {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀀𐀳𐀖𐀵}}}}, ''a-te-mi-to'' /Artemitos/ ([[Genitive case|gen.]]) and {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀀𐀴𐀖𐀳}}}}, ''a-ti-mi-te'' /Artimitei/ ([[Dative case|dat.]]), written in [[Linear B]] at [[Pylos]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=John|last1=Chadwick |author-link1=John Chadwick|first2=Lydia|last2=Baumbach|author2-link=Lydia Baumbach|year=1963|title=The Mycenaean Greek vocabulary|journal=Glotta|volume=41|issue=3–4 |pages=157–271, {{nobr|esp. p 176 ff}} }} — ''s.v.'' {{math|Ἂρτεμις}}, ''a-te-mi-to-'' (genitive)</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first=C. |last=Souvinous |year=1970 |title=A-TE-MI-TO and A-TI-MI-TE |journal=Kadmos |volume=9 |pages=42–47 }}
:
{{cite journal |first=T. |last=Christidis |date=c. 1970 |title=Further remarks on A-TE-MI-TO and A-TI-MI-TE |journal=Kadmos |volume=11 |pages=125–128 }}</ref><ref name=":2" />

According to [[Johann Theodor Jablonski|J. T. Jablonski]], the name is also [[Phrygia]]n and could be "compared with the royal appellation ''Artemas'' of [[Xenophon]]".<ref name=Anthon1855>{{cite dictionary|last=Anthon |first=Charles|author-link=Charles Anthon|year=1855|title=Artemis|dictionary=A Classical Dictionary|publisher=[[Harper (publisher)#Harper & Brothers (1833–1962)|Harper & Brothers]]|location=New York, NY|page=210|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TIYMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA210|via=Google books }}</ref> [[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".<ref name=Anthon1855/> Anton Goebel "suggests the root {{math|στρατ}} or {{math|ῥατ}}, 'to shake', and makes Artemis mean the thrower of the dart or the shooter".<ref name="Andrew Lang" />

Ancient Greek writers, by way of [[folk etymology]], and some modern scholars, have linked Artemis (Doric ''Artamis'') to {{lang|grc|{{math|ἄρταμος}}}}, ''artamos'', i.e. "butcher"<ref>{{LSJ|a)/rtamos|{{math|ἄρταμος}}|ref}}</ref><ref>{{LSJ|*)/artemis|{{math|Ἄρτεμις}}|ref}}</ref> or, like [[Plato]] did in ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', to {{lang|grc|{{math|ἀρτεμής}}}}, ''artemḗs'', i.e. "safe", "unharmed", "uninjured", "pure", "the stainless maiden".<ref name="Andrew Lang">{{cite book |last=Lang |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Lang |year=1887 |title=Myth, Ritual, and Religion |publisher=Longmans, Green and Co |location=London, UK |pages=209–210 |url=https://archive.org/stream/mythritualreligi02lang#page/209/mode/1up }}</ref><ref name=Anthon1855/><ref>{{LSJ|a)rtemh/s|{{math|ἀρτεμής}}|ref}}</ref> A. J. van Windekens tried to explain both {{lang|grc|{{math|ἀρτεμής}}}} and Artemis from {{lang|grc|{{math|ἀτρεμής}}}}, ''atremḗs'', meaning "unmoved, calm; stable, firm" via [[metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]].<ref>{{harvp|Van Windekens|1986|pages=[https://archive.org/details/van-windekens-dictionnaire-etymologique-complementaire-de-la-langue-grecque-1986/page/18/mode/2up 19‒20]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Blažek|first=Václav|author-link=Václav Blažek|year=2016|title=Artemis and her family|journal=Graeco-Latina Brunensia|volume=21 |issue=2|pages=29–50, esp. p&nbsp;40|issn=2336-4424|doi=10.5817/GLB2016-2-4|hdl=11222.digilib/136225|url=https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/node/9892 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Description==
[[File:Artemis, Parian pottery plate, 675-600 BC, AM Mykonos, 177233.jpg|thumb|left|Artemis as Mistress of Animals, [[Paros|Parian]] pottery, 675–600 BCE. Hypothetical restoration (only some parts have been preserved). [[Archaeological Museum of Mykonos]].]]

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.<ref name=":merr"/> [[Homer]] calls her {{lang|grc|πότνια θηρῶν}}, "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.{{sfn|Powell|2012|page=[https://archive.org/details/classicalmyth0000powe_l2w2/page/224/mode/2up?q=&view=theater p.225]}} Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] form whose history was lost in the myths.<ref>Dietrich, "The origins of Greek religion", p. 185</ref>

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 [[Ionia|Ionic]], territories ''Artemisios'' or ''Artamitios'' in the [[Dorians|Doric]] and [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolic]] territories and in [[Ancient Macedonia|Macedonia]]. Also ''Elaphios'' in [[Ancient Elis|Elis]], [[Elaphebolia|Elaphebolion]] in Athens, [[Iasos]], [[Apollonia (Chalcidice)|Apollonia]] of [[Chalkidice]] and [[Munichia (festival)|Munichion]] in [[Attica]].<ref>Nilsson,"Geschichte", Vol I, p.481</ref> In the calendars of [[Aetolia]], [[Phocis (ancient region)|Phocis]] and [[Gytheion]] there was the month [[Laphria (festival)|Laphrios]] and in [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], [[Corfu|Corcyra]], and [[Byzantion]] the month [[Eucleia|Eucleios]]. The goddess was venerated in festivals during spring.<ref>Nilsson,"Geschichte", Vol I, p.483-484 and 493-494</ref>

In some cults she retains the theriomorphic form of a Pre-Greek goddess who was conceived with the shape of a bear (άρκτος ''árktos'': bear). [[Kallisto (mythology)|Kallisto]] in [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]] is a hypostasis of Artemis with the shape of a bear, and her cults at [[Brauron]] and at [[Piraeus]] ([[Munichia (festival)|Munichia]]) are remarkable for the ''arkteia'' where virgin girls before marriage were disguised as she-bears.<ref name=Suid.1>Suidas s,v : " Arkteusai (being bears)..... is established for the virgins before marriage at the temples of Artemis Mounychia and Brauronia</ref><ref name=Geschichte>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol. I, p. 482-487</ref>

The ancient Greeks called ''[[Potnia Theron|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.{{sfn|Powell|2012|page=[https://archive.org/details/classicalmyth0000powe_l2w2/page/56/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 56]}} "Potnia theron" is very close to the [[daimon]]s 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.<ref name=Nils227>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.227</ref>

[[File:Emprunte d'un sceau de Cnossos.jpg|thumb|[[Minoan civilization|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 (festival)|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.<ref name="Lane91" /> The festival at [[Patras]] was introduced from [[Calydon]] and this relates Artemis to the Greek [[heroine]] [[Atalanta]] who symbolizes freedom and independence.<ref name="The Atalanta Legend in Art and Lite">Howell 1989",{{cite journal |last1=Howell |first1=Reet A. |last2=Howell |first2=Maxwell L. |title=The Atalanta Legend in Art and Literature |journal=Journal of Sport History |date=1989 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=127–139 |jstor=43609443}}</ref> Other epithets that relate Artemis to the animals are [[Amarynthos|Amarynthia]] and ''Kolainis''.<ref name=Geschichte/>

In the [[Homer]]ic 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 {{lang|grc|ἰοχέαιρα}} ''iocheaira'', "she who shoots arrows", often translated as "she who delights in arrows" or "she who showers arrows".{{sfn|Immendörfer|2017|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0cxjssVerbkC&pg=PA224&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 224-225]}} She is called Artemis ''Chrysilakatos'', of the golden shafts, or ''Chrysinios'', of the golden reins, as a goddess of hunting in her chariot.<ref name=Iliad6200>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Il.+6.205&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134 Iliad 6.200]</ref><ref name=Geschichte/> The ''[[Homeric Hymn]] 27 to Artemis'' paints this picture of the goddess:

{{Blockquote
|I sing of Artemis, whose shafts are of gold, who cheers on the hounds, the pure maiden, shooter of stags, who delights in archery, own sister to Apollo with the golden sword. Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and sends out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains tremble and the tangled wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts: earthquakes and the sea also where fishes shoal.|title=''Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0138:hymn=27 p. 1–9]<ref>Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White</ref>}}

According to the beliefs of the first [[Greeks]] in [[Arcadia (region)|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 [[nymph]]s.<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.498</ref> This idea of freedom and women's skill is expressed in many Greek myths.<ref name="The Atalanta Legend in Art and Lite"/>

[[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 [[Athena Painter|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'' (relation to waters) and ''Potamia'' and [[Alpheus (mythology)|Alphaea]] (relation to rivers). In some cults she is the healer goddess of women with the surnames ''Lousia'' and ''Thermia''.<ref name=Nilsson492>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.492,493</ref>

Artemis is the leader of the nymphs ([[Hegemone]]) and she is hunting surrounded by them.<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.499</ref> The nymphs appear during the festival of the marriage, and they are appealed by the pregnant women.<ref name="Nilsson251">Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol. I, p.251, 252</ref> Artemis became goddess of marriage and childbirth. She was worshipped with the surname [[Eucleia]] in several cities.<ref name=Nilsson492/> Women consecrated clothes to Artemis for a happy childbirth and she had the epithets ''Lochia'' and ''Lecho''.<ref name=Oxf268 />

The [[Dorians]] interpreted Artemis mainly as goddess of vegetation who was worshipped in an orgiastic cult with lascivious dances, with the common epithets [[Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia|Orthia]], ''Korythalia'' and  ''Dereatis''.<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p. 161,490</ref> 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''.<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.315,486-487</ref>

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'' (the [[Tauri]]c, goddess),<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.83</ref> [[Arricia|Aricina]] ([[Italy]]) and ''Anaitis'' ([[Lydia]]). In the bucolic ([[pastoral]]) songs the image of the goddess was discovered in bundles of leaves or dry sticks and she had the surnames ''Lygodesma'' and ''Phakelitis''.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTfxZH4QnqgC&pg=PA187 |title=Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible, and the Ancient Near East |isbn=978-9004164734 |last1=Bremmer |first1=Jan N. |author-link=Jan N. Bremmer|year=2008|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]| page=187 }}</ref>

[[File:Scene of sacrifice in honour of Diana. Fresco from the triclinium of House of the Vettii in Pompeii.jpg|thumb|Scene from sacrifice in honour of Artemis-Diana who is accompanied by a deer. Fresco from the triclinium of the house of Vettii in [[Pompeii]], Italy, between 62 CE and 79 CE (Destruction of Pompeii).]]

In the [[Europe]]an folklore, a wild hunter is chasing an [[elf]]ish woman who falls in the water. In the Greek myths the hunter is chasing a female deer (doe) and both disappear into the waters. In relation to these myths Artemis was worshipped as ''Saronia'' and [[Stymphalian birds|Stymphalia]]. The myth of a goddess who is chased and then falls in the sea is related to the cults of [[Aphaea]] and [[Britomartis|Diktynna]].<ref name=Geschichte/>

Artemis carrying torches was identified with [[Hecate]] and she had the surnames ''Phosphoros'' and ''Selasphoros''.<ref>Nilsson, ''Geschichte'', Vol I, p.495</ref> In [[Athens]] and [[Tegea]], she was worshipped as Artemis ''Kalliste'', "the most beautiful".<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.29.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 1.29.2 Pausanias 1.29.2]</ref> Sometimes the goddess had the name of an [[Amazons|Amazon]] like ''Lyceia'' (with a helmet of a wolf-skin) and [[Molpadia]]. The female warriors Amazons embody the idea of freedom and women's independence.<ref>{{cite book |author=Adrienne Mayor |url=https://archive.org/details/amazonsliveslege0000mayo |title=The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World |date=September 22, 2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691147208 |access-date=January 12, 2021 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In spite of her status as a virgin who avoided potential lovers, there are multiple references to Artemis's beauty and erotic aspect;{{sfn|Konstan|2014|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1QgBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA65&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 65]}} 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 (the statue of) Artemis;{{sfn|Konstan|2014|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1QgBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 65]}} whereas her mother Leto often took pride in her daughter's beauty.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [https://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:dialogues-of-the-gods#section16 Hera and Leto]</ref><ref name=":0o" /> 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.<ref name=":0o">[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' 6.102 ff</ref><ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 3.138 ff</ref>

== Epithets and functions ==
[[File:Artemis Manicalunga MAR Palermo.jpg|thumb|upright|Artemis with bow and arrow in front of an altar. Attic red-figure lekythos, c. 475 BCE, from Selinunte, Sicily. [[Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum]], Palermo]]

Artemis is rooted to the less developed personality of the [[Mycenean Greece|Mycenean]] goddess of nature. The goddess of nature was concerned with birth and vegetation and had certain [[Chthonic deities|chthonic]] aspects. The Mycenean goddess was related to the [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] mistress of the animals, who can be traced later in local cults,<ref name=D182>B. C. Dietrich (1974), '' The origins of the Greek religion '' p. 181,182 :[https://books.google.com/books?id=TZVsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA181&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 181–182]</ref> however we do not know to what extent we can differentiate the Minoan from the Mycenean religion.<ref>Burkert (1985),''Greek religion'', p.21</ref> Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths.<ref name=D182 /> According to the beliefs of the first [[Greeks]] in [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]], Artemis is the first [[nymph]], a divinity of free nature. She was a great goddess and her temples were built near springs marshes and rivers where the nymphs live, and they are appealed by the pregnant women.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Larson|first1=Jennifer|year=1997|title=Handmaidens of Artemis?|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=92|issue=3|pages=249–257|jstor=3298110}}</ref> In Greek religion we must see less tractable elements which have nothing to do with the [[twelve Olympians|Olympians]], but come from an old, less organized world–exorcisms, rituals to raise crops, gods and goddesses conceived not quite in human shape. Some cults of Artemis retained the pre-Greek features which were consecrated by immemorial practices and connected with daily tasks. Artemis shows sometimes the wild and darker side of her character and can bring immediate death with her arrows, however she embodies the idea of "the free nature" which was introduced by the first Greeks.<ref>Nilsson, ''Geschichte'', Vol I, p.498</ref> The [[Dorians]] came later in the area, probably from [[Epirus]] and the goddess of nature was mostly interpreted as a vegetation goddess who was related to the ecstatic Minoan tree-cult. She was worshipped in orgiastic cults with lascivious and sometimes obscene dances, which have pure [[Greeks|Greek]] elements introduced by the Dorians.<ref>A not localized [[phallus|phallic]] dance of women is connected with the boisterous and nudge dances of the cult of Artemis, as a goddess of vegetation": Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I, p.491</ref> The feminine (sometimes male) dancers wore usually masks, and they were famous in the antiquity. The great popularity of Artemis corresponds to the Greek belief in freedom<ref>"Hospitality to the strangers and freedom for all": L.H.Jeffery (1976), ''The city states'', c.700-500 BCE, p.6, Ernest Benn Limited</ref> and she is mainly the goddess of women and children. The goddess of free nature is independent and celibate.<ref>Ionescu, C., ''The Enduring Goddess: Artemis and Mary, Mother of Jesus'', dissertation under the tutelage of Prof. B. Lee, [[York University]], Toronto, 2016, [https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/22fa14c4-9d82-4b69-9584-4b8b794b4623/content#page=232 pp. 227–229].</ref>{{rp|227–229}} Artemis is frequently depicted carrying a torch and she was occasionally identified with [[Hecate]]. Like other Greek deities, she had [[Epithets of Artemis|a number of other names applied to her]], reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the goddess.<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967), "Die Geschichte der Griechischen religion", C.H. Beck Verlag, Munchen, p.481-500</ref><ref name=Oxf268>The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome Vol I, 7, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lNV6-HsUppsC&pg=PA268 Oxford Encyclop, p.268]</ref>

==Mythology==
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2021}}{{blockquote| text=<poem>
Leto bore Apollo and Artemis, delighting in arrows,
Both of lovely shape like none of the heavenly gods,
As she joined in love to the [[Aegis]]-bearing ruler.
</poem> | sign= [[Hesiod]] | source= ''[[Theogony]]'', lines 918–920 (written in the 7th century BCE)}}

===Birth===
[[File:Arte romana, latona in fuga con artemide e apollo, 350-400 dc ca. (kunstsien stichting).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Leto on the run with Artemis and Apollo, Roman statue circa 350–400 CE]]

Various conflicting accounts are given in Greek mythology regarding the birth of Artemis and Apollo, her twin brother. In terms of parentage, though, all accounts agree that she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and that she was the twin sister of Apollo. In some sources, she is born at the same time as Apollo; but in others, earlier or later.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Roman |first1=Luke |last2=Roman |first2=Monica |date=2010 |title=Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=9781438126395 |pages=85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOgWfjNIxoMC&q=Encyclopedia+of+Greek+and+roman+mythology+cite&pg=PP1}}</ref>

Although traditionally stated to be twins, the author of ''The [[Homeric Hymn]] 3 to Apollo'' (the oldest extant account of Leto's wandering and birth of her children) is only concerned with the birth of Apollo, and sidelines Artemis;{{sfn|Shelmerdine|1995|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VVowBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA63&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 63]}} in fact in the Homeric Hymn they are not stated to be twins at all.

It is a slightly later poet, [[Pindar]], who speaks of a single pregnancy.{{sfn|Rutherford|2001|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gPjZOB1YNqAC&pg=PA368&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 368]}} The two earliest poets, [[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]], confirm Artemis and Apollo's status as full siblings born to the same mother and father, but neither explicitly makes them twins.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 1.9] and [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D502 21.502–510]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D901 918–920]</ref>

According to [[Callimachus]], Hera, who was angry with her husband Zeus for impregnating Leto, forbade her from giving birth on either ''terra firma'' (the mainland) or on an island, but the island of [[Delos]] disobeyed and allowed Leto to give birth there; this rooted the once freely floating island to one place.

According to the [[Homeric Hymn]] to Artemis, however, the island where she and her twin were born was [[Ortygia]].<ref>''[[Homeric Hymn]]'' 3 ''to [[Apollo]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3%3Acard%3D1 14&ndash;18]; Gantz, p.38; cf. ''[[Orphic Hymns|Orphic Hymn]]'' 35 ''to Leto'', 3&ndash;5 (Athanassakis & Wolkow, p.31)</ref><ref>Hammond. ''Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' p.597-598</ref> In [[History of Crete|ancient Cretan history]], Leto was worshipped at [[Phaistos]], and in Cretan mythology, Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis on the islands known today as [[Paximadia (islands)|Paximadia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=cdi_istex_primary_ark_67375_NDQ_10ZMMMW1_2&context=PC&vid=01JHU_INST:JHU&lang=en&search_scope=All_except_EU&adaptor=Primo%20Central&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Apollo%20and%20Artemis&offset=0 |url=https://catalyst.library.jhu.edu/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=cdi_istex_primary_ark_67375_NDQ_10ZMMMW1_2&context=PC&vid=01JHU_INST:JHU&lang=en&search_scope=All_except_EU&adaptor=Primo%20Central&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Apollo%20and%20Artemis&offset=0 |access-date=2025-09-08 |website=catalyst.library.jhu.edu |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:1769_Mengs_Latona_mit_ihren_Kindern_Apoll_und_Diana_Historisches_Museum_Bamberg_anagoria.jpg|thumb|upright|''Latona with her children Apollo and Diana'', oil painting, [[Anton Raphael Mengs]], 1769]]
A ''[[scholium]]'' of [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]] on ''[[Aeneid]]'' iii. 72 accounts for the island's archaic name Ortygia<ref>Or as a separate island birthplace of Artemis: "Rejoice, blessed Leto, for you bear glorious children, the lord Apollon and Artemis who delights in arrows; her in Ortygia, and him in rocky Delos," says the [[Homeric Hymn]]; the etymology ''Ortygia'', "Isle of Quail", is not supported by modern scholars</ref> by asserting that Zeus transformed Leto into a [[quail]] (''ortux'') to prevent Hera from finding out about his infidelity, and [[Kenneth McLeish]] suggested further that in quail form, Leto would have given birth with as few birth-pains as a mother quail suffers when she lays an egg.<ref>McLeish, Kenneth. ''Children of the Gods'' pp 33f; Leto's birth-pangs, however, are graphically depicted by ancient sources</ref>

The myths also differ as to whether Artemis was born first, or Apollo. Most stories depict Artemis as firstborn, becoming her mother's [[midwife]] upon the birth of her brother Apollo. [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], a late fourth/early fifth-century grammarian, wrote that Artemis was born first because at first it was night, whose instrument is the Moon, which Artemis represents, and then day, whose instrument is the Sun, which Apollo represents.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on [[Virgil|Virgil's]] [[Aeneid]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D3%3Acommline%3D73 3.73]</ref> [[Pindar]] however writes that both twins shone like the Sun when they came into the bright light.{{sfn|Rutherford|2001|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rutherford-2001-pindars-paeans/page/364/mode/2up?view=theater 364–365]}}

After their troubling childbirth, Leto took the twin infants and crossed over to [[Lycia]], in the southwest corner of [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], where she tried to drink from and bathe the babies in a spring she found there. However, the local [[Lycian peasants]] tried to prevent the twins and their mother from making use of the water by stirring up the muddy bottom of the spring, so the three of them could not drink it. Leto, in her anger that the impious Lycians had refused to offer hospitality to a fatigued mother and her thirsty infants, transformed them all into frogs, forever doomed to swim and hop around the spring.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bryce|author-link=Trevor R. Bryce|first=Trevor R.|title=The Arrival of the Goddess Leto in Lycia|journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte|volume=32|number=1|date=January 1, 1983|pages=1–13|publisher=[[Franz Steiner Verlag]]|jstor=4435828|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4435828|access-date=February 13, 2023}}</ref>

===Relations with men===
[[File:Tityos Leto Louvre G42.jpg|thumb|The rape of Leto by Tityos: Apollo (left), tries to grasp Tityos, Leto (middle) pushes him and Artemis (right), ready to stop him. Attic red-figure amphora from Vulci. c. 510–520 BCE, by [[Phintias (painter)|Phintias]] Painter. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]The invention of archery itself is credited to Artemis and Apollo. When the giant [[Tityos]] tried to rape Leto, she called out to her children, who were still young, for help. The twins were quick to respond by raining down their arrows on Tityos, killing him.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D11%3Acard%3D567 11.580 ff]; [[Pindar]], ''Pythian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0223 4.161–165]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D1 1.4.1]; [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.183739/page/n149/mode/2up?view=theater 3.390 ff]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA147 p. 147–148]</ref> For his actions against Leto, Tityos was banished to Tartarus, where he was pegged to the rock floor and stretched on an area of {{convert|9|acre|m2}}, while a pair of vultures feasted daily on his liver<ref name="Homer, Odyssey 11. 576">Homer, ''Odyssey'' 11. 576</ref> or his heart.<ref name="Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.22">Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca'' 1.22</ref>

The twin sons of [[Poseidon]] and [[Iphimedeia]], [[Aloadae|Otos]] and [[Ephialtes]], grew enormously at a young age. They were aggressive and skilled hunters who could not be killed except by each other. The growth of the [[Aloadae]] never stopped, and they boasted that as soon as they could reach heaven, they would kidnap Artemis and Hera and take them as wives. The gods were afraid of them, except for Artemis who captured a fine deer that jumped out between them. In another version of the story, she changed herself into a doe and jumped between them.<ref name=":1" /> The Aloadae threw their [[Dory (spear)|spears]] and so mistakenly killed one another. In another version, Apollo sent the deer into the Aloadae's midst, causing their accidental killing of each other.<ref name=":1" /> In another version, the Aloadae start pilling up mountains to reach Mount Olympus in order to catch [[Hera]] and Artemis, but the gods spot them and attack. When the twins had retreated the gods learnt that [[Ares]] had been captured. The Aloadae, not sure about what to do with Ares, lock him up in a pot. Artemis then turns into a deer and causes them to kill each other.

According to [[Diodorus Siculus|Diodorus]], [[Britomartis]] was a nymph and a huntress known for her use of nets, for which she became a beloved companion of Artemis. [[Minos]], king of [[Crete]] and a half-brother of Artemis, took interest in Britomartis and pursued her for nine months. Britomartis continually fled his advances, and to escape, she at last leapt into the sea (possibly from Mount Dikte) and landed in fishermen's nets. She became entangled but was rescued by Artemis, who then made her a goddess.<ref name="5.76.3">[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#76 5.76.3]</ref>[[File:Herakles Ceryneian Hind Louvre F 234bis.jpg|thumb| Artemis (left) and Apollo try to get the [[Ceryneian Hind]] from Heracles. Detail of an Attic black-figure amphora c. 530–520 BCE. [[Louvre]], Paris ]][[Eurystheus]] commanded [[Heracles]] to catch the [[Ceryneian Hind|Ceryneian hind]] in the hope that it would enrage Artemis and lead her to punish the hero for his desecration of her sacred animal. The Cerynian hind used to be the [[Pleiad]] [[Taygete]], known as the "Mistress of Animals" and a dear companion of Artemis. One day, Zeus pursued Taygete, who invoked her protectress, who in turn saved her from her father by turning her into the hind.<ref>[[Biogeography|Biogeographically]] speaking, in Greece the nearest species of deer in which females carry horns was and is the [[reindeer]] (Ruck and Staples p 173), a fact which has occasioned various speculations: see also  [[Deer (mythology)]]</ref> As Heracles was returning with the hind to present it to Eurystheus, he encountered Artemis and her brother Apollo. He begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had snared the hind as part of his penance, but promised to return it to the wild soon thereafter. Convinced by Heracles's earnestness, she forgave him, foiling Eurystheus's plan.

The river god [[Alpheus (mythology)|Alpheus]] was in love with Artemis, but as he realized he could do nothing to win her heart, he decided to capture her. When Artemis and her companions at [[Letrini|Letrenoi]] go to Alpheus, she becomes suspicious of his motives and covers her face with mud so he does not recognize her. In another story, Alphaeus tries to rape Artemis's attendant [[Arethusa (nymph)|Arethusa]]. Artemis pities the girl and saves her, transforming her into a spring in the temple [[Artemis Alphaea]] in Letrini, where the goddess and her attendants drink.

According to [[Antoninus Liberalis]], [[Siproites]] was a [[Crete|Cretan]] who was metamorphized into a woman by Artemis for having seen the goddess bathing while he was hunting.<ref>Forbes Irving, p.89, 149 n. 1, 166; Fontenrose, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tD4lJxC95mEC&pg=PA125 p. 125]; [[Antoninus Liberalis]], 17 (Celoria, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9_Eolzuv0eQC&pg=PA71 p.71]; Papathomopoulos, p.31)</ref> Artemis similarly changed a Calydonian man named [[Calydon (son of Ares)|Calydon]], the son of Ares and [[Astynome]], into stone when he saw the goddess bathing naked.<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''De fluviis'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ps.+Plut.+Fluv.+22&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0400 XXII. Achelous]</ref>

[[Daphnis]] was a young boy, a son of [[Hermes]], who was accepted by and became a follower of the goddess Artemis; Daphnis would often accompany her in hunting and entertain her with his singing of pastoral songs and playing of the [[panpipes]].<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#p83 4.84.1]</ref>

Artemis taught a man, [[Scamandrius (Trojan war)|Scamandrius]], how to be a great archer, and he excelled in the use of a bow and arrow with her guidance.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/2#5.50 5.50]</ref>

Bouphagos, son of the [[Titans|Titan]] [[Iapetus]], sees Artemis and thinks about raping her. Reading his sinful thoughts, Artemis strikes him down at [[Foloi|Mount Pholoe]].

[[Broteas]] was a famous hunter who refused to honour Artemis, and boasted that nothing could harm him, not even fire. Artemis then drove him mad, causing him to [[Self-immolation|walk into fire]], ending his life.<ref>"I think that this is an [[Etiology|aetiological myth]], intended to explain the rite in which a human effigy was burnt upon a pyre in the festival of the hunters' goddess," observes [[Martin P. Nilsson]], "Fire-Festivals in Ancient Greece", ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''43'''.2 (1923:144-148) p. 144 note 2; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''Epitome'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D2 2.2]</ref>

===Divine retribution===
====Actaeon====
[[File:Krater Aktaion Louvre CA3482 n2.jpg|thumb|left|Artemis drives a chariot drawn by a team of deer next to the dying Actaeon. Attic red-figure volute crater, c. 450–440 BCE by the Painter of the Wooly Satyrs. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]
Multiple versions of the [[Actaeon]] myth survive, though many are fragmentary. The details vary but at the core, they involve the great hunter Actaeon whom Artemis turns into a [[Deer#Etymology and terminology|stag]] for a transgression, and who is then killed by hunting dogs.<ref>Heath, "The Failure of Orpheus", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' '''124''' (1994:163-196) p. 196</ref><ref>[[Walter Burkert]], ''Homo Necans'' (1972), translated by Peter Bing (University of California Press) 1983, p. 111</ref> Usually, the dogs are his own, but no longer recognize their master. Occasionally they are said to be the hounds of Artemis.

Various tellings diverge in terms of the hunter's transgression: sometimes merely seeing the virgin goddess naked, sometimes boasting he is a better hunter than she,<ref>Lacy, "Aktaion and a Lost 'Bath of Artemis'" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''110''' (1990:26-42)</ref> or even merely being a rival of Zeus for the affections of [[Semele]]. Apollodorus, who records the Semele version, notes that the ones with Artemis are more common.<ref name=":apact">[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D4 3.4.4]</ref>

According to Lamar Ronald Lacey's ''The Myth of Aktaion: Literary and Iconographic Studies'', the standard modern text on the work, the most likely original version of the myth portrays Actaeon as the hunting companion of the goddess who, seeing her naked in her sacred spring, attempts to force himself on her. For this [[hubris]], he is turned into a stag and devoured by his own hounds. However, in some surviving versions, Actaeon is a stranger who happens upon Artemis.
[[File:Volubilis mosaic Diana and her nymph.jpg|thumb|Mosaic depicting [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] and her [[nymph]] surprised by [[Actaeon]].Mosaic, 2nd century CE Ruins of [[Volubilis]], Morocco]]

A single line from [[Aeschylus]]'s now lost play ''Toxotides'' ("female archers") is among the earlier attestations of Actaeon's myth, stating that "the dogs destroyed their master utterly", with no confirmation of Actaeon's metamorphosis or the god he offended (but it is heavily implied to be Artemis, due to the title).<ref>Aeschylus fr 135 (244), ''[https://ryanfb.github.io/loebolus-data/L146.pdf Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Fragments]''. Translated by Smyth, Herbert Weir. [[Loeb Classical Library]] Volume 146. Cambridge, MA. [[Harvard University Press]]. 1926, p.464</ref> Ancient artwork depicting the myth of Actaeon predate Aeschylus.<ref>Matheson, S. B., ''Polygnotos and Vase Painting in Classical Athens'' ([[Madison, WI]]: [[University of Wisconsin Press]], 1995), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y_UTwjgroSIC&pg=PA264&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 264].</ref>{{rp|264}} [[Euripides]], coming in a bit later, wrote in the ''[[Bacchae]]'' that Actaeon was torn to shreds and perhaps devoured by his "flesh-eating" hunting dogs when he claimed to be a better hunter than Artemis.<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Bacchae]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0092%3Acard%3D298 330-342]</ref> Like Aeschylus, he does not mention Actaeon being deer-shaped when that happens. [[Callimachus]] writes that Actaeon chanced upon Artemis bathing in the woods, and she caused him to be devoured by his own hounds for the sacrilege, and he makes no mention of transformation into a deer either.<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn 5 On the Bath of Pallas'' [https://archive.org/details/callimachuslycop00calluoft/page/120/mode/2up?view=theater 109-115]</ref>

[[Diodorus Siculus]] wrote that Actaeon dedicated his prizes in hunting to Artemis, proposed marriage to her, and even tried to forcefully consummate said "marriage" inside the very sacred temple of the goddess; for this he was given the form "of one of the animals which he was wont to hunt", and then torn to shreds by his hunting dogs. Diodorus also mentioned the alternative of Actaeon claiming to be a better hunter than the goddess of the hunt.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#p75 4.81.3-5]</ref> [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] also mentions Actaeon attempting to rape Artemis when he finds her bathing naked, and her transforming him into the doomed deer.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#181 181]</ref>
[[File:Titian - Diana and Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Diana and Actaeon (Titian)|Diana and Actaeon]]'' by [[Titian]] (1556–1559), oil in canvas. [[National Gallery]] and [[Scottish National Gallery]], London and Edinburg.]]

Apollodorus wrote that when Actaeon saw Artemis bathing, she turned him into a deer on the spot, and intentionally drove his dogs into a frenzy so that they would kill and devour him. Afterward, [[Chiron]] built a sculpture of Actaeon to comfort his dogs in their grief, as they could not find their master no matter how much they looked for him.<ref name=":apact" />

According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman [[Ovid]], Actaeon was a hunter who after returning home from a long day's hunting in the woods, he stumbled upon Artemis and her retinue of nymphs bathing in her sacred grotto. The nymphs, panicking, rushed to cover Artemis's naked body with their own, as Artemis splashed some water on Actaeon, saying he was welcome to share with everyone the tale of seeing her without any clothes as long as he could share it at all. Immediately, he was transformed into a deer, and in panic ran away. But he did not go far, as he was hunted down and eventually caught and devoured by his own fifty hunting dogs, who could not recognize their own master.<ref>{{EB1911|wstitle=Actaeon|volume=1|page=157}}</ref><ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0074%3Abook%3D3%3Acard%3D138 3.138 ff.]; Grimal, s.v. Actaeon, p. 10</ref>

Pausanias says that Actaeon saw Artemis naked and that she threw a deerskin on him so that his hounds would kill him, in order to prevent him from marrying Semele.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.2.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 9.2.3]</ref>

====Niobe====
[[Niobe]], queen of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] and wife of [[Amphion and Zethus|Amphion]], blasphemously boasted of being superior to Leto. This myth is very old; Homer knew of it and wrote that Niobe had given birth to twelve children, equally divided in six sons and six daughters (the [[Niobids]]). Other sources speak of fourteen children, seven sons, and seven daughters. Niobe claimed of being a better mother than Leto, for having more children than Leto's own two, "but the two, though they were only two, destroyed all those others."<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' 24.602 ff, trans. Lattimore</ref> She also mocked Apollo's effeminate appearance and Artemis's manly appearance. Leto was not slow to catch up on that and grew angry at the queen's hubris. She summoned her children and commanded them to avenge the slight.

[[File:Niobe JacquesLouisDavid 1772 Dallas Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|right|290px|A 1772 painting by [[Jacques-Louis David]] depicting Niobe attempting to shield her children from Artemis and [[Apollo]]. [[Dallas Museum of Art]], Dallas.]]

Swiftly Apollo and Artemis descended on Thebes. While the sons were hunting in the woods, Apollo crept up on them and slew all seven with his silver bow. The dead bodies were brought to the palace. Niobe wept for them, but did not relent, saying that even now she was better than Leto, for she still had seven children, her daughters.<ref name="Ovid 6.146">[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0074%3Abook%3D6%3Acard%3D146 6.146 ff]</ref>

On cue, Artemis then started shooting the daughters one by one. Right as Niobe begged for her youngest one to be spared, Artemis killed that last one.<ref name="Ovid 6.146" /> Niobe cried bitter tears, and was turned into a rock. Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, killed himself. The gods themselves entombed them. In some versions, Apollo and Artemis spared a single son and daughter each, for they prayed to Leto for help; thus Niobe had as many children as Leto did, but no more.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.21.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.21.9]</ref>

====Orion====
[[File:Diane auprès du cadavre d'Orion.jpg|thumb|[[Daniel Seiter]]'s 1685 painting of [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]] over Orion's dead body, before he is placed in the heavens. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]

[[Orion (mythology)|Orion]] was Artemis's hunting companion; after giving up on trying to find [[Oenopion]], Orion met Artemis and her mother [[Leto]], and joined the goddesses in hunting. A great hunter himself, he bragged that he would kill every beast on earth. [[Gaia]], the earth, was not too pleased to hear that, and sent a giant scorpion to sting him. Artemis then transferred him into the stars as the constellation [[Orion (constellation)|Orion]].<ref>Pseudo-[[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0EoZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA162 32] [[Hesiod]], ''[[Astronomia (poem)|Astronomia]]'' [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/70/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 4 Evelyn-White, p.70&ndash;73] = [https://books.google.com/books?id=B75GgVdxYT0C&pg=PA12 fr. 7 Freeman, p. 12&ndash;13]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.26.2 2.26.2]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA564 p.564]; cf. [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#195 195]</ref> In one version Orion died after pushing Leto out of the scorpion's way.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/OvidFastiBkFive.php#anchor_Toc69367925 5.539]</ref>

In another version, Orion tries to violate [[Upis (mythology)|Opis]],<ref>Kerenyi 1951 (p.204) says that this is "[a]nother name for Artemis herself"</ref> one of Artemis's followers from [[Hyperborea]], and Artemis kills him.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D4%3Asection%3D5 1.4.5]</ref> In a version by [[Aratus]], Orion grabs Artemis's robe and she kills him in [[self-defense]].<ref>[[Aratus]], ''Phaenomena'' [https://topostext.org/work/551#634 638]</ref> Other writers have Artemis kill him for trying to rape her or one of her attendants.<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn III to Artemis'' [https://archive.org/details/callimachuslycop00calluoft/page/82/mode/2up?view=theater 265]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/529#48.382 48.395]</ref>

[[Istros the Callimachean|Istrus]] wrote a version in which Artemis fell in love with Orion, apparently the only time Artemis ever fell in love. She meant to marry him, and no talk from her brother [[Apollo]] would change her mind. Apollo then decided to trick Artemis, and while Orion was off swimming in the sea, he pointed at him (barely a spot in the horizon) and wagered that Artemis could not hit that small "dot". Artemis, ever eager to prove she was the better archer, shot Orion, killing him. She then placed him among the stars.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.34.4 2.34.4]</ref>

In [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', the [[Dawn deities|goddess of the dawn]] [[Eos]] seduces Orion, angering the gods who did not approve of immortal goddesses taking mortal men for lovers, causing Artemis to shoot and kill him on the island of [[Ortygia]].<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D5%3Acard%3D92 5.121&ndash;124]; Gantz, p.97; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Orion; Hansen, p. 118</ref>

====Callisto====
[[File:Wall painting - Artemis and Kallisto - Pompeii (VII 12 26) - Napoli MAN 111441.jpg|thumb|Artemis (seated and wearing a radiate crown), the beautiful nymph Callisto (left), [[Eros]] and other nymphs. Antique fresco from Pompeii. [[National Archaeological Museum, Naples]].]]

[[Callisto (mythology)|Callisto]], the daughter of [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]], King of [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]],<ref>Pseudo-[[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0EoZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA50 1] [= [[Hesiod]], ''[[Astronomia (poem)|Astronomia]]'' [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 3 Evelyn-White, p.68&ndash;71] = [https://books.google.com/books?id=B75GgVdxYT0C&pg=PA12 fr. 6 Freeman, p. 12]; Gantz, p.725; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Callisto; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D25%3Asection%3D1 1.25.1], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D6 8.2.6]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#176 176], [https://topostext.org/work/206#177 177]. According to the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', Eumelos "and some others" called Callisto the daughter of Lycaon, [[Asius of Samos|Asius]] called her the daughter of [[Nycteus]], Pherecydes called her the daughter of [[Ceteus]], and Hesiod called her a [[nymph]]. ([[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D2 3.8.2] [= Eumelos, fr. 32 (West 2003, [https://archive.org/details/L497GreekEpicFragmentsVIIVcBC/page/n259/mode/2up?view=theater p.248&ndash;249]) = [[Asius of Samos|Asius]] fr. 9 (West 2003, [https://archive.org/details/L497GreekEpicFragmentsVIIVcBC/page/n269/mode/2up?view=theater p.258&ndash;259]) = [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]] ''[[FGrHist]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=y5pxAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA92 3 F86] = Hesiod, fr. 163 Merkelbach-West])</ref>
was one of Artemis's hunting attendants, and, as a companion of Artemis, took a vow of chastity.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D2 3.8.2]; Gantz, p.98; Tripp, s.v. Callisto, p. 145&ndash;146; cf. Pseudo-[[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0EoZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA50 1] [= [[Hesiod]], ''[[Astronomia (poem)|Astronomia]]'' [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/70/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 4 Evelyn-White, p.70&ndash;73] = [https://books.google.com/books?id=B75GgVdxYT0C&pg=PA12 fr. 7 Freeman, p. 12&ndash;13]</ref>

According to [[Hesiod]] in his lost poem ''[[Astronomia (poem)|Astronomia]]'', [[Zeus]] appeared to Callisto, and seduced her, resulting in her becoming pregnant. Though she was able to hide her pregnancy for a time, she was soon found out while bathing. Enraged, Artemis transformed Callisto into a bear, and in this form she gave birth to her son [[Arcas]]. Both of them were then captured by shepherds and given to Lycaon, and Callisto thus lost her child. Sometime later, Callisto "thought fit to go into" a forbidden sanctuary of Zeus, and was hunted by the Arcadians, her son among them.<ref>Gantz (p.275) notes that "[t]he text here seems to indicate that Arkas (and others) pursued [Callisto] only after she had entered the sanctuary, and only because she had done so"</ref> When she was about to be killed, Zeus saved her by placing her in the heavens as a constellation of a bear.<ref>Pseudo-[[Eratosthenes]], ''[[Catasterismi]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=0EoZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA50 1] [= [[Hesiod]], ''[[Astronomia (poem)|Astronomia]]'' [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 3 Evelyn-White, p.68&ndash;71] = [https://books.google.com/books?id=B75GgVdxYT0C&pg=PA12 fr. 6 Freeman, p. 12]; Gantz, p. 98, 725&ndash;726; cf. [[Hesiod]], ''[[Astronomia (poem)|Astronomia]]'' [https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesiuoft/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 3 Evelyn-White, p.68&ndash;71]</ref>

In his ''[[De astronomia]]'', [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], after recounting the version from Hesiod,<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.1.1 2.1.1]</ref> presents several other alternative versions. The first, which he attributes to [[Amphis]], says that Zeus seduced Callisto by disguising himself as Artemis during a hunting session, and that when Artemis found out that Callisto was pregnant, she replied saying that it was the goddess's fault, causing Artemis to transform her into a bear. This version also has both Callisto and Arcas placed in the heavens, as the constellations [[Ursa Major]] and [[Ursa Minor]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.1.2 2.1.2]</ref> Hyginus then presents another version in which, after Zeus lay with Callisto, it was [[Hera]] who transformed her into a bear. Artemis later, while hunting, kills the bear, and "later, on being recognized, Callisto was placed among the stars".<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.1.3 2.1.3]; Gantz, p.727. Compare with [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#177 p. 177] and [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D6 8.2.6]</ref> Hyginus also gives another version, in which Hera tries to catch Zeus and Callisto in the act, causing Zeus to transform her into a bear. Hera, finding the bear, points it out to Artemis, who is hunting; Zeus, in panic, places Callisto in the heavens as a constellation.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.1.4 2.1.4]; Gantz, p.727; cf. [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D2 3.8.2]</ref>[[File:Tizian 015 (2).jpg|thumb|left|''[[Diana and Callisto]]'', c. 1556–1559, by [[Titian]]. [[Scottish National Gallery]], Edinburgh.]]
[[Ovid]] gives a somewhat different version: Zeus seduced Callisto once again disguised as Artemis, but she seems to realise that it is not the real Artemis,<ref>Gantz (p.726) says that "Kallisto realizes the identity (or at least the gender) of her seducer..."</ref> and she thus does not blame Artemis when, during bathing, she is found out. Callisto is, rather than being transformed, simply ousted from the company of the huntresses, and she thus gives birth to Arcas as a human. Only later is she transformed into a bear, this time by Hera. When Arcas, fully grown, is out hunting, he nearly kills his mother, who is saved only by Zeus placing her in the heavens.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0074%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D401 401&ndash;530]; Gantz, p.726</ref>

In the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', a version is presented in which Zeus raped Callisto, "having assumed the likeness, as some say, of Artemis, or, as others say, of Apollo". He then turned her into a bear himself so as to hide the event from Hera. Artemis then shot the bear, either upon the persuasion of Hera, or out of anger at Callisto for breaking her virginity.<ref>In the first version, Artemis was not aware the bear was Callisto. (Gantz, p. 727) Of the second version, Gantz (p. 727) says that it "[q]uite probably … implies a variant in which Kallisto does not become a bear at all, as Artemis is not likely to transform her ''and'' shoot her, or to slay her for her own reasons after Hera has accomplished the transformation"</ref> Once Callisto was dead, Zeus made her into a constellation, took the child, named him Arcas, and gave him to [[Maia (mythology)|Maia]], who raised him.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D2 3.8.2]; Gantz, p.727; Tripp, s.v. Callisto, p. 145&ndash;146; cf. Eumelos, fr. 32 (West 2003, [https://archive.org/details/L497GreekEpicFragmentsVIIVcBC/page/n259/mode/2up?view=theater p.248&ndash;249]) [= [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D2 3.8.2]. Gantz (p.727) suggests that this version may have come from [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]], while West 2003 says that [[Eumelos]] "must have told the story of how Zeus made love to Callisto and changed her into a bear. Artemis killed her, but Zeus saved her child, who was Arcas." (West 2003, [https://archive.org/details/L497GreekEpicFragmentsVIIVcBC/page/n259/mode/2up?view=theater p.249, note 26 to fr. 32])</ref>

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], in his ''[[Description of Greece]]'', presents another version, in which, after Zeus seduced Callisto, Hera turned her into a bear, which Artemis killed to please Hera.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D6 8.2.6]; Gantz, p.727. Compare with [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[De astronomia]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.1.3 2.1.3] and [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D25%3Asection%3D1 1.25.1]</ref> [[Hermes]] was then sent by Zeus to take Arcas, and Zeus himself placed Callisto in the heavens.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D6 8.2.6&ndash;7]; Gantz, p.727; cf. [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D2 3.8.2]</ref>

===Minor myths===
[[File:Artemis (Diana) from the "Rospigliosi type", Roman copy of the 1st–2nd centuries AD after a Hellenistic original, Louvre Museum (7462739810).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Artemis (Diana) from the "Rospigliosi type", Roman copy of the 1st–2nd centuries CE after a Hellenistic original, [[Louvre]] Museum.]]

According to Apollodorus, Artemis joined to Gigantomachy and killed Gration (Γρατίων) with the help of Heracles.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.6.2 1.6.2].</ref><ref>Grimal, [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/60/mode/2up?view=theater s.v. Artemis, p. 61].</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Salisbury|first=Joyce E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HF0m3spOebcC&q=Gration+giant&pg=PA19|title=Encyclopedia of Women in the Ancient World|date=2001|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-092-5|pages=19|language=en}}</ref>

When the monstrous [[Typhon]] attacked Olympus, all the terrified gods except for Zeus transformed into various animals and fled to Egypt. Artemis became a cat,<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0074%3Abook%3D5%3Acard%3D250 5.319]; [[Antoninus Liberalis]], ''Collection of Transformations'' [https://topostext.org/work/216#28 28]</ref> as she was identified by the Greeks with the Egyptian feline goddess [[Bastet]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Rutherford |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oBqHCwAAQBAJ |title=Greco-Egyptian Interactions: Literature, Translation, and Culture, 500 BC-AD 300 |date=February 19, 2016 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-965612-7 |location=United Kingdom |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oBqHCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 64]}}</ref>

Artemis saved the infant [[Atalanta]] from dying of [[Hypothermia|exposure]] after her father abandoned her. She sent a female bear to nurse the baby, who was then raised by hunters and grew to model herself after the goddess. In some stories, Artemis later sent a bear to attack Atalanta because others claimed Atalanta was a superior hunter. Among other adventures, Atalanta participated in the [[Calydonian boar hunt]], which Artemis had sent to destroy [[Calydon]] because King [[Oeneus]] had forgotten her at the [[Ancient Greek religion|harvest sacrifices]]. In the hunt, Atalanta drew the first blood and was awarded the prize of the boar's [[Hide (skin)|hide]]. She hung it in a sacred grove at [[Tegea]] as a dedication to Artemis. After the death of [[Meleager]], Oeneus's son who awarded Atalanta with the hide, Artemis turned his grieving sisters, the [[Meleagrids]], into [[guineafowl]] she favours.

[[Cyrene (mythology)|Cyrene]] was a fierce [[Thessaly|Thessalian]] huntress and companion of Artemis, who had given her two hunting dogs. With the help of these dogs, Cyrene had been able to win the prize in the funeral games of [[Pelias]].<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn to Artemis'' 208</ref> When King [[Eurypylus (of Cyrene)|Eurypylus]] was still ruling [[Libya]], a monstrous lion had terrorized the citizens greatly, so Apollo brought Cyrene to get rid of it. After she killed the lion, he made her the new ruler of the lands, renamed [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]] in her honor.<ref>Callimachus, ''Hymn to Apollo'' 85</ref><ref>Susan A. Stephens, ''Callimachus: The Hymns''</ref> In some versions, she was transformed into a nymph so that she could have a long life and keep hunting with Artemis as much as she desired.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cyrene |url=https://www.maicar.com/GML/Cyrene.html |access-date=December 19, 2017 |work=Greek Mythology Link}}</ref>

[[File:Brauron - Relief of the Gods.jpg|thumb|Leto with Zeus and their children, 420–410 BCE, marble, [[Archaeological Museum of Brauron]]]]

In one version, Artemis, along with her mother Leto, stood before Zeus with tearful eyes while Apollo pleaded with him to release [[Prometheus]] (the god who had stolen fire from the gods, give them to humans, and was subsequently chained in the [[Caucasus]] with an eagle feasting on his liver each day for punishment) from his eternal torment. Moved, Zeus agreed instantly and commanded [[Heracles]] to free Prometheus.<ref>[[Gaius Valerius Flaccus (poet)|Valerius Flaccus]], ''Argonautica'' [https://www.theoi.com/Text/ValeriusFlaccus4.html 4.60]</ref>[[File:Giuseppe-Mazzuoli-The-Death-of-Adonis-hermitag.jpg|thumb|''The Death of Adonis'', by [[Giuseppe Mazzuoli (1644–1725)|Giuseppe Mazzuoli]], 1709. [[Hermitage Museum]], [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia.]]

In some versions of the story of [[Adonis]], Artemis sent a [[wild boar]] to kill him as punishment for boasting that he was a better hunter than her.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D14%3Asection%3D4 3.14.4]; cf. [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0074%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D652 10.652]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#248 248]; [[Plutarch]], ''Quaestiones Convivales'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0312%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D3 4.5.3]; [[Athenaeus]], ''The Deipnosophists'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2013.01.0003%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D80 2.80]</ref> In other versions, Artemis killed Adonis for revenge. In later myths, Adonis is a favorite of [[Aphrodite]], who was responsible for the death of [[Hippolytus of Athens#Hippolytus as Virbius and his afterlife|Hippolytus]], who had been a hunter of Artemis. Therefore, Artemis killed Adonis to avenge Hippolytus's death. In yet another version, Adonis was not killed by Artemis, but by [[Ares]] as punishment for being with Aphrodite.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/210/mode/2up?view=theater 42.204&ndash;211]; Grimal, s.v. Adonis, p. 12&ndash;13</ref>

When two of her hunting companions who had sworn to remain chaste and be devoted to her, [[Rhodopis and Euthynicus]], fell in love with each other and broke their vows in a cavern, Artemis turned Rhodopis into a fountain inside that very cavern as punishment. The two had fallen in love not on their own but only after Eros had struck them with his love arrows, commanded by his mother Aphrodite, who had taken offence in that Rhodopis and Euthynicus rejected love and marriage in favour of a chaste life.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Rowland |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924026460869/mode/2up?view=theater |title=The Greek romances of Heliodorus, Longus and Achilles Tatius; comprising the Ethiopics; or, Adventures of Theagenes and Chariclea; The pastoral amours of Daphnis and Chloe; and The loves of Citopho and Leucippe |date=1901 |publisher=G. Bell and Sons |location=[[London]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924026460869/page/504/mode/2up?view=theater 8.12]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Strelan |first=Rick |date=1996 |title=Paul, Artemis, and the Jews in Ephesus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nw1xdz7fO18C |journal=Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft |location=Berlin, New York City |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |volume=80 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nw1xdz7fO18C&pg=PA75 75] |isbn=9783110150209 |issn=0171-6441}}</ref>

In [[Nonnus]]'s ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', [[Aura (mythology)|Aura]], the daughter of [[Lelantos]] and [[Periboia]], was a companion of Artemis.<ref>Grimal, s.v. Aura, p.71</ref> When out hunting one day with Artemis, she asserts that the goddess's voluptuous body and breasts are too womanly and sensual, and doubts her virginity, arguing that her own lithe body and man-like breasts are better than Artemis's and a true symbol of her own chastity. In anger, Artemis asks [[Nemesis (mythology)|Nemesis]] for help to avenge her dignity. Nemesis agrees, telling Artemis that Aura's punishment will be to lose her virginity, since she dared question that of Artemis. Nemesis then arranges for [[Eros]] to make [[Dionysus]] fall in love with Aura. Dionysus intoxicates Aura and rapes her as she lies unconscious, after which she becomes a deranged killer. While pregnant, she tries to kill herself or cut open her belly, as Artemis mocks her over it. When she bore twin sons, she ate one, while the other, [[Iacchus]], was saved by Artemis.

[[Chione (daughter of Daedalion)|Chione]] was a beautiful princess of Phocis. She was beloved by two gods, [[Hermes]] and [[Apollo]], and boasted that she was more beautiful than Artemis because she had made two gods fall in love with her at once. Artemis was furious and pierced Chione's blasphemous tongue with an arrow, leaving the girl to choke in her own blood.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#200 200]; Hard 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA192 192]</ref>

[[Polyphonte]] was a young woman who fled home in pursuit of a free, virginal life with Artemis, as opposed to the conventional life of marriage and children favoured by Aphrodite. As a punishment, Aphrodite cursed her, causing her to mate and have children with a bear. Artemis, seeing that, was disgusted and sent a horde of wild animals against her, causing Polyphonte to flee to her father's house. Her resulting offspring, [[Agrius and Oreius (mythology)|Agrius and Oreius]], were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus. Ultimately the entire family was transformed into birds who became ill [[Omen|portents]] for mankind.<ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#21 p.21]</ref>

[[Coronis (lover of Apollo)|Coronis]] was a princess from [[Thessaly]] who became the lover of Apollo and fell pregnant. While Apollo was away, Coronis began an affair with a mortal man named [[Ischys]]. When Apollo learnt of this, he sent Artemis to kill the pregnant Coronis, or Artemis had the initiative to kill Coronis on her own accord for the insult done against her brother. The unborn child, [[Asclepius]], was later removed from his dead mother's womb.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Pythian Ode'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DP.%3Apoem%3D3 3 str1-ant3]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.26.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 2.26.6]</ref>

When Queen [[Echemeia]] of [[Kos]] ceased to worship Artemis, she shot her with an arrow; [[Persephone]] then snatched the still-living Euthemia and brought her to the Underworld.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Astronomica'' [https://topostext.org/work/207#2.16.2 2.16.2]</ref>

===Trojan War===
[[File:Estatua de Artemisa matando un ciervo (Museo de Delos -Grecia-, segunda mitad del siglo II a.C.).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Artemis slaying a deer, from the courtyard of House III, 125–100 BCE. [[Archaeological Museum of Delos]], [[Greece]].]]
{{Trojan War}}

Artemis may have been represented as a supporter of Troy because her brother [[Apollo]] was the [[Tutelary deity|patron god]] of the city, and she herself was widely worshipped in western [[Anatolia]] in historical times. Artemis plays a significant role in the war; like Leto and Apollo, Artemis took the side of the Trojans. In the [[Iliad]], Artemis on her chariot with the golden reins, kills the daughter of [[Bellerophon]].<ref name="Iliad6200"/> Bellorophone was a divine Greek [[hero]] who killed the monster [[Chimera (mythology)|Chimera]]. At the beginning of the Greek's journey to Troy, Artemis punished [[Agamemnon]] after he killed a sacred stag in a [[sacred grove]] and boasted that he was a better hunter than the goddess.<ref name="Theoi.com">{{cite web |last=Atsma |first=Aaron J. |title=FAVOUR OF ARTEMIS: Greek mythology |publisher=Theoi.com |url=http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/ArtemisFavour.html#Iphigeneia |access-date=2011-01-28}}</ref>
[[File:Bourdon, Sébastien - Le Sacrifice d'Iphigénie - 1653.jpg|thumb|''The Sacrifice of Iphigeneia'' (1653) by [[Sébastien Bourdon]], [[Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans]]]]

When the [[Hellenic Navy|Greek fleet]] was preparing at [[Aulis (ancient Greece)|Aulis]] to depart for [[Troy]] to commence the [[Trojan War]], Artemis becalmed the winds. The seer [[Calchas]] erroneously advised Agamemnon that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice his daughter [[Iphigenia]]. In some version of the myth, Artemis then snatched Iphigenia from the altar and substituted a deer; in others, Artemis allowed Iphigenia to be sacrificed. In versions where Iphigenia survived, a number of different myths have been told about what happened after Artemis took her; either she was brought to [[Tauri]]s and led the priests there, or she became Artemis's immortal companion.<ref name="Theoi.com" />[[Aeneas]] was also helped by Artemis, Leto, and Apollo. Apollo found him wounded by [[Diomedes]] and lifted him to heaven. There, the three deities secretly healed him in a great chamber.

During the ''[[theomachy]]'', Artemis found herself standing opposite of Hera, on which a scholium to the ''[[Iliad]]'' wrote that they represent the Moon versus the air around the Earth.<ref name=":soi2067"/> Artemis chided her brother Apollo for not fighting Poseidon and told him never to brag again; Apollo did not answer her. An angry Hera berated Artemis for daring to fight her:

<blockquote>
How now art thou fain, thou bold and shameless thing, to stand forth against me? No easy foe I tell thee, am I, that thou shouldst vie with me in might, albeit thou bearest the bow, since it was against women that Zeus made thee a lion, and granted thee to slay whomsoever of them thou wilt. In good sooth it is better on the mountains to be slaying beasts and wild deer than to fight amain with those mightier than thou. Howbeit if thou wilt, learn thou of war, that thou mayest know full well how much mightier am I, seeing thou matchest thy strength with mine.
</blockquote>

Hera then grabbed Artemis's hands by the wrists, and holding her in place, beat her with her own bow.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D468 21.468-497]</ref> Crying, Artemis left her bow and arrows where they lay and ran to Olympus to cry at her father Zeus's knees, while her mother Leto picked up her bow and arrows and followed her weeping daughter.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D21%3Acard%3D502 502-510]</ref>

==Worship==
{{Main|Cult of Artemis at Brauron}}
[[File:Brauron.jpg|thumb|upright|Temple of Artemis at [[Brauron]]. The stoa and the sacred spring from the SW.]]

Artemis, the goddess of forests and hills, was worshipped throughout [[ancient Greece]].<ref>"... a goddess universally worshipped in historical Greece, but in all likelihood pre-Hellenic." Hammond, ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', p. 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]]), and in [[Sparta]]. She was often depicted in paintings and statues in a forest setting, carrying a bow and arrows and accompanied by a deer.

The ancient Spartans used to sacrifice to her as one of their patron goddesses before starting a new [[military campaign]].

[[Athenian festivals]] in honor of Artemis included [[Elaphebolia]], [[Mounikhia]], Kharisteria, and [[Brauronia]]. The festival of [[Artemis Orthia]] was observed in [[Sparta]].

Pre-pubescent and adolescent Athenian girls 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.

[[File:Jerash Temple of Artemis.jpg|thumb|left|260px|The ''[[Temple of Artemis, Jerash|Roman Temple of Artemis]]'' in [[Jerash, Jordan]], built during the reign of [[Antoninus Pius]]]]

A myth explaining this servitude states 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 girl teased the bear, and, in some versions of the myth, it killed her, while, in other versions, it clawed out her eyes. 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.<ref>[[Mark Golden|Golden, M.]], ''Children and Childhood in Classical Athens'' ([[Baltimore]]: [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], 1990), [https://books.google.com/books?id=LvV0CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT84 p.84]</ref>

Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with [[Eileithyia]]. Dedications of clothing to her sanctuaries after a successful birth was common in the [[Classical antiquity|Classical era]].<ref name=":0">{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Wise |first=Susan |date=2007 |title=Childbirth Votives and Rituals in Ancient Greece |publisher=University of Cincinnati |url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=ucin1186592935&disposition=inline |access-date=2 April 2022 |archive-date=17 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221117050720/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=ucin1186592935&disposition=inline |url-status=dead }}</ref> Artemis could be a deity to be feared by pregnant women, as deaths during this time were attributed to her. As childbirth and pregnancy was a very common and important event, there were numerous other deities associated with it, many localized to a particular geographic area, including but not limited to [[Aphrodite]], [[Hera]] and [[Hekate]].<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Ac artemisephesus.jpg|thumb|right|260px|The site of the [[Temple of Artemis]] at Ephesus. Its final form was one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World]].]]

It was considered a good sign when Artemis appeared in the dreams of hunters and pregnant women, but a naked Artemis was seen as an ill omen.<ref>van der Toorn et al, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA93 s.v. Artemis, p. 93]</ref> According to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]], she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pseudo-Apollodorus |title=[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]}}</ref> Older sources, such as [[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo]] (in Line 115), have the arrival of Eileithyia on Delos as the event that allows Leto to give birth to her children. Contradictory is [[Hesiod]]'s presentation of the myth in [[Theogony]], where he states that Leto bore her children before Zeus's marriage to Hera with no commentary on any drama related to their birth.

Despite being primarily known as a goddess of hunting and the wilderness, she was also connected to dancing, [[music]], and song like her brother Apollo; she is often seen singing and dancing with her nymphs, or leading the chorus of the [[Muses]] and the [[Charites|Graces]] at [[Delphi]]. In [[Sparta]], girls of marriageable age performed the ''partheneia'' (choral maiden songs) in her honor.<ref name=Oxf268 /> An ancient Greek proverb, written down by [[Aesop]], went "For where did Artemis ''not'' dance?", signifying the goddess's connection to dancing and festivity.<ref>The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, [https://books.google.com/books?id=oHAmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 p.81]</ref><ref>Budin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NL0BCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT110 p. 110] "One site especially famous for its choruses dedicated to Artemis was Ephesos. According to the Hellenistic poet Kallimakhos, this custom was established by the Amazons who founded the cult by dancing around a wooden image of the goddess."</ref>

During the [[classical antiquity|Classical period]] in [[Athens]], she was identified with [[Hecate|Hekate]]. Artemis also assimilated [[Caryatis]] ([[Carya (goddess)|Carya]]).

There was a women's cult at [[Cyzicus]] worshiping Artemis, which was called Dolon (Δόλων).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/delta/1345|title=SOL Search|website=www.cs.uky.edu}}</ref>

===Festivals===

Artemis was born on the sixth day of the month [[Attic calendar|Thargelion]] (around [[May]]), which made it sacred for her, as her birthday.<ref>Mikalson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=d4p9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 p. 18]</ref> On the seventh day of the same month was Apollo's birthday.<ref name=calendars>{{cite web|url=http://www.winterscapes.com/kharis/calendar.htm#Thar |title=Ancient Athenian Festival Calendar |publisher=Winterscapes.com |date=2007-07-24 |access-date=2011-01-28}}</ref> Artemis was worshipped in many festivals throughout Greece mainland and the islands, [[Asia Minor]] and south Italy. Most of these festivals were celebrated during spring.

; [[Attica]]
[[File:7316 - Piraeus Arch. Museum, Athens - Artemis - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 14 2009.jpg|thumb|upright|Bronze statue of Artemis (Piraeus Artemis), with a quiver at the back and the pose of the fingers which held a bow. A classicistic work, 4th century BCE attributed to [[Euphranor]]. [[Archaeological Museum of Piraeus]].]]

* [[Athens]]. The festival [[Elaphebolia]] was celebrated on the sixth day of the month [[Attic calendar|Elaphebolion]] (ninth month). The name is related to ''elaphos'' (deer) and Artemis is the Deer Huntress. Cakes made from flour, honey, and sesame and in the shape of stags were offered to the goddess during the festival.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hellenion.org/festivals/elaphebolia/|title=Elaphebolia|website=Hellenio non|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929100713/http://www.hellenion.org/festivals/elaphebolia/|archive-date=2019-09-29|access-date=2020-04-20}}</ref><ref name=calendars/><ref name=NilssonA>Nilsson, "Geschichte, Vol I p.483-486</ref>
* [[Cult of Artemis at Brauron|Brauron]]. The festival was remarkable for the ''arkteia'', where girls, aged between five and ten, were dressed in [[Saffron (color)|saffron]] robes and played at being bears, or "act the bear" to appease the goddess after she sent the plague when her bear was killed. Another commentator says that girls had to placate the goddess for their virginity (''parthenia''), so that they would not be the object of revenge from her.<ref>Blundell, Sue and Margaret Williamson, eds. The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge, 1998, 33.</ref>
* [[Piraeus]]. The festival of Artemis [[Munichia (festival)|Munichia]] was celebrated on the 6th or 16th day of the month [[Attic calendar|Munichion]] (tenth month). Young girls were dressed up as bears, as for the [[Brauronia]]. In the temple have been found sherds from the geometric period. The festival commemorated the victory of the Greek fleet over the [[Persia]]ns at Salamis.<ref>Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities edited by William Smith (1870) {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050617081723/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0776.html p.769]}}</ref><ref name=NilssonA/>
* [[Athens]]. Artemis had a filial cult of [[Cult of Artemis at Brauron|Brauronia]], near the Acropolis.<ref name=NilssonA/>
* [[Agrae]], a district of Athens, with a temple of Artemis-[[Agrotera]]. (huntress)<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D19%3Asection%3D6 Pausanias 1.19.6]</ref> On the 6th day of the month [[Boedromion]], an armed procession would take a large number of goats to the temple. They would all be sacrificed in honor of the victory at the [[Battle of Marathon]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Agroteras Thusia|volume=1|page=427|noicon=y}}</ref> The festival was called "Charisteria," also known as the Athenian "Thanksgiving."<ref name=calendars/>
* [[Myrrhinus]], a [[deme]] near Merenda ([[Markopoulo Mesogaias|Markopoulo]]). There was a cult of ''Kolainis''.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.31.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 1.31.4]</ref> Kolainis is usually identified with Artemis [[Amarynthus|Amarysia]] in [[Euboia]]. Some rites and animal sacrifices were probably similar with the rites of [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]].<ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Athmonia]], a deme near [[Marousi]]. The festival of Artemis [[Amarynthus|Amarysia]] was no less splendid than the [[Amarysia (festival)|festival of Amarysia]] in [[Euboea]].<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D31%3Asection%3D5 Pausanias 1.31.5]</ref>
*[[Halae Araphenides]], a deme near [[Brauron]]. The fest Tauropolia was celebrated in honour of Artemis Tauropolos. During the festival a human sacrifice was represented in a ritual.<ref name=NilssonA/>
* [[Erchia]] a district of Athens. The modern Athenian airport was built over the ruins of the [[deme]]. A festival was celebrated on the 16th day of the month [[Athenian calendar|Metageitnion]]. Sacrifices were offered to Artemis and [[Hekate]].<ref name=calendars/>

;[[Central Greece (geographic region)|Central Greece]] 
[[File:Artemis and Hind.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Artemis on her chariot drawn by two hinds. Detail from an Attic red figure crater 460–440 BCE. Attributed to the Painter of the Wooly Satyrs. [[Louvre]], Paris.]]

* [[Hyampolis]] in [[Phocis (ancient region)|Phocis]]. During an attack of the Thessalians, the Phocians terrified gathered together in one spot their women, children, movable property, and also their clothes, gold  and made a vast pyre. The order was that if they would be defeated, all should be killed and would be thrown into the flames together with their property.<ref>Forlorn hopes: Phocian despair (Φωκική απόνοια)</ref><ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D6 Pausanias 10,1.6]</ref> The Phocians achieved a great victory and each year they celebrated their victory in the festival [[Elaphebolia]]-[[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] in honour of Artemis. All kinds of offerings were burned in an annual fire, reminding the great pyre of the battle.<ref>Nilsson, ''Geschichte'', Vol I, p. 27,484</ref>
*[[Delphi]] in [[Phocis (ancient region)|Phocis]]. The festival [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] was celebrated in the month ''Laphrios''. The cult of Artemis ''Laphria'' was introduced by the priests of Delphi ''Lab(r)yaden'' who had probably [[Crete|Cretan]] origin.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Gods, Heroes and Tyrants: Greek chronology in chaos |first=Emmet John |last=Sweeney |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=9780875866826 |date=2009 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wI6zh4E06TgC&q=Labryades&pg=PA116}}</ref> Laphria is certainly the Pre-Greek "Mistress of the animals".<ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Delphi]]  in [[Phocis (ancient region)|Phocis]]. The festival  ''Eucleia'' was celebrated in honour of Artemis. According to the Labyaden inscriptions the offerings ''darata'' are determined by the specified ''gamela'' and ''pedēia''. ''Eucleia'' was a goddess of marriage.<ref name=NilssonC>Nilsson, "Geschichte, Vol I p.492-495</ref>

[[File:Getty Villa - Collection (5304597483).jpg|thumb|upright|Mixing Vessel with Hermes, Apollo and Artemis. Lucanian, 415–400 BCE, attributed to the Palermo Painter. [[J. Paul Getty Museum]], California.]]

*[[Tithorea]] in [[Phocis (ancient region)|Ancient Phocis]]. It seems that the festival of [[Isis]] was a reform of the festival of Artemis [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]].<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+10.32.14&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 10.32.14]</ref>
*[[Erineus (city)|Erineos]] in [[Doris (Greece)|Doris]]. Festival of Artemis [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]], indicated by the month ''Laphrios'' in the local calendar.<ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Antikyra]] in [[Phocis (ancient region)|Phocis]].Cult of Artemis-[[Britomartis|Diktynaia]], a popular goddess who was worshipped with great respect.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+10.36.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias  10.36.5]</ref>
*[[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] in [[Boeotia]]. Before marriage a premilinary sacrifice should be made by the bride and the groom to Artemis-[[Eucleia]].<ref name=NilssonC/>
*[[Amarynthos]] in [[Euboia]]. Festival of Artemis ''Amarysia''. Animals were sacrificed with rites probably similar with the fest [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]].<ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Aulis (ancient Greece)|Aulis]] in [[Boeotia]]. In a festival all kinds of sacrificial animals were offered to the goddess. It seems that the festival was a reverberation of the rites of [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]].<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D19%3Asection%3D7 Pausanias 9.19.7]</ref><ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Calydon]] in  [[Aetolia]]. Calydon is considered the origin of the cult of  Artemis [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] at [[Patras]]. In the [[Aetolia]]n calendar there was the month ''Laphrios''.<ref name=NilssonA/> Near the city there was the temple of [[Apollo|Apollo Laphrius]];<ref>{{Cite Strabo|p. 459}}</ref>
*[[Nafpaktos]] in  [[Aetolia]]. Cult of Artemis  [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]].<ref name="Pausanias 4.31.7">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+4.31.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 4.31.7]</ref>
*[[Acarnania]]. Cult of Artemis-[[Agrotera]] (huntress) in a society of hunters.<ref name=NilssonA/>

;[[Peloponnese]]
[[File:Large Cycladic krater (7th cent. B.C.) in the National Archaeological Museum on 21 June 2018.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Apollo's return to Delos from [[Hyperborea]]ns. Artemis holding a deer welcomes Apollo. Cycladic krater (7th cent. BCE) [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]].]]

*[[Patras]] in [[Achaea (ancient region)|Achaea]]. The great festival [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] was celebrated in honour of Artemis. The characteristic rite was the annual fire. Birds, deers, sacrificial animals, young wolves and young bears were thrown alive in a great pyre. ''Laphria'' (Pre-Greek name) is the "Mistress of Animals".<ref name=NilssonA/> Traditionally her cult was introduced from [[Calydon]] of [[Aetolia]].<ref name="Pausanias 4.31.7"/><ref>Eftychia Stavrianopoulou (2013), "Ritual and Communication in Graeco-Roman world", p. 102, Open editions books. [https://books.google.com/books?id=j_sXCwAAQBAJ&dq=Laphria+goddess&pg=PA102 p. 102]</ref>
*[[Patras]]. The [[Ionic Greek|Ionians]] who lived in Ancient Achaea celebrated the annual festival of Artemis ''Triclaria''. Pausanias mentions the legend of human sacrifices to the outraged goddess. The new deity [[Dionysus]], put an end to the sacrifices.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+7.19.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 7.19.1–7.19.4]</ref><ref name=NilssonC/>
*[[Corinth]]. The festival ''Eucleia'' was celebrated in honor of Artemis.<ref>Xenophon Hellenica 4.4.2</ref>
*[[Aigeira]] in [[Achaea (ancient region)|Achaea]]. Festival of Artemis [[Agrotera]] (huntress). When the Sicyonians attacked the city, the Aigeirians tied torches on all goats of the area and during night they set the torches alight. The Sicyonians believed that Aigeira had a great army and they retreated.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+7.26.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 7.26.2-7.26.3]</ref>
*[[Sparta]]. Festival of Artemis-Orthia. The goddess was associated with the female initiatory rite ''Partheneion''.<ref>Eyprosyne Boutsikas (2020), "The Cosmos in Ancient Greek religious experience" p. 135, Cambridge University Press [https://books.google.com/books?id=b9oGEAAAQBAJ&dq=orthia&pg=PA135 p. 135]</ref> Women performed round dances. In a legend [[Theseus]] stole Helene from the dancing floor of Orthia, during the round-dancing. The significant prize of the competitions was an iron sickle (drepanē) indicating that ''Orthia'' was a goddess of vegetation.<ref name =NilssonB>Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I, p.487-491</ref>
*[[Sparta]] on the road to [[Amyklai]]. Artemis-''Korythalia'' was a goddess of vegetation. Women performed lascivious dances. The fest was celebrated in round huts covered with leaves. The nurses brought the infants in the temple of Korythalia during the fest ''Tithenedia''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Claude |last=Calame |date=2001 |title=Choruses of Young women in Ancient Greece |publisher=Rowman @Littlefield Publishers Inc. |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DhfmgSz1eR4C&dq=korythalia&pg=PA169 169]}}</ref>

[[File:Star Lore Of All Ages (1911), 0389, Diana.png|thumb|upright|Marble statue of Artemis-Diana in the [[Capitoline Museums]]]]

*[[Messene]] near the borders with [[Laconia]]. Festival of Artemis ''Limnatis'' (of the lake). The festival was celebrated with cymbals and dances.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+4.4.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 4.4.2]</ref> The goddess was worshipped by young women during the festivals of transition from childhood to adulthood.<ref>Maria Spathi (2018) "Findings of cultic traditions for goddess Artemis", p. Center for Hellenic studies in Greece. Harvard University.[https://greece.chs.harvard.edu/news/early-career-2022-meet-maria  Cultic traditions of Artemis]</ref>
*[[Dereion]] on [[Taygetos]] in [[Laconia]]. Cult of Artemis -''Dereatis''. The festival was celebrated with the hymns ''calavoutoi'' and with the obscene dance ''callabis''.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=paus.+3.20.7 Pausanias 3.20.7]</ref><ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte" Vol I, p. 161</ref>
*[[Epidauros Limera]] in [[Laconia]]. Cult of Artemis-''Limnatis''.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.23.10&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 3.23.10]</ref><ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Caryae]] on the borders between [[Laconia]] and [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]]. Festival of Artemis-''Caryatis'', a goddess of vegetation related to the tree-cult. Each year women performed an ecstatic dance called the ''caryatis''.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.10.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 3.10.7]</ref><ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Boeae|Boiai]] in [[Laconia]]. Cult of Artemis-''Soteira'' (savior), which was related to the myrtle tree. When the inhabitants of the cities near the gulf were expelled, Artemis with the shape of a hare guided them to a myrtle tree where they built the new city.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D22%3Asection%3D11 Pausanias 3.22.11-3.22.12]</ref><ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Gytheion]] in [[Laconia]]. Cult of Artemis [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]], in the month ''Laphrios''.<ref name=NilssonA/>         
*[[Ancient Elis|Elis]]. [[Pelops]] (Peloponnese: Pelop's island) had won the sovereignty of [[Pisa (Greece)|Pisa]] and his followers celebrated their victory near the temple of Artemis-''Kordaka''. They danced the peculiar dance ''kordax''.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+6.22.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 6.21.11-6.22.1]</ref><ref name=NilssonB/>

[[File:Artemis BM E432.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Artemis hunting a stag, surrounded by Zeus (left), Nikê (top) and Apollo (right). The goddess is wielding a torch. Attic red-figured pelike 370–350 BCE. From Campania, South Italy. [[British Museum]], London]]

*[[Ancient Elis|Elis]]. Festival of Artemis-''Elaphia'' in the month ''Elaphios'' (elaphos:deer). Elaphia was a goddess of hunting.<ref name=Pausanias>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D22%3Asection%3D8 Pausanias 6.22.8-6.22.10)]</ref><ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Letrinoi]] in [[Elis]]. Festival of Artemis [[Alpheus (deity)|Alpheaia]]. Girls wearing masks performed dances.<ref name=Pausanias/><ref name=NilssonB/>
*[[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] in [[Ancient Elis|Elis]]. Annual festival (panegeris) of Artemis ''Alpheaia''.<ref name=Strabo>Strabo VIII p.343</ref><ref name=NilssonB/>
*[[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] in [[Ancient Elis|Elis]]. Annual festival  of Artemis ''Elaphia''.<ref name=Strabo/><ref name=NilssonB/>
*[[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] in [[Ancient Elis|Elis]]. Annual festival of Artemis ''Daphnaia'' (of the laurel-branch), as a goddess of vegetation.<ref name=Strabo/><ref name=NilssonB/>
*[[Hypsus]] in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]] near the borders of [[Laconia]]. Annual festival of Artemis-[[Britomartis|Diktynna]]. Her temple was built near the sea.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D24%3Asection%3D9 Pausanias 3.24.9]</ref>
*[[Hypsus]]. Annual fest of Artemis ''Daphnaia''.(Of the laurel-branch).<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.24.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 3.24.8]</ref><ref name =NilssonB/>
*[[Stymphalus (Arcadia)|Stymphalus]] in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]. Festival of Artemis-''Stymphalia''. The festival begun near the Katavothres where the water overflowed and created a big marsh.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.22.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 8.22.8]</ref><ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Orchomenus (Arcadia)|Orchomenus]], in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]. A sanctuary was built for Artemis [[Hymnia]] where her festival was celebrated every year.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.13.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 8.13.1]</ref>
*[[Tegea]] in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], on the road to [[Laconia]]. Cult of Artemis-''Limnatis'' (of the lake).<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.53.11&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 8.53.11]</ref><ref name=NilssonC/>
*[[Phigalia]] in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]. In a battle the Phigalians expelled the conquerors [[Sparta]]ns and recovered their city. On the summit of the Acropolis they built the sanctuary of Artemis-''Soteira'' (Savior) and a statue of the goddess. At the beginning of festivals, all their processions started from the sanctuary.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.39.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 8.39.5]</ref>
*[[Troizen]] in [[Argolis]]. Festival of Artemis-''Saronia''. Near the temple was the grave of the king Saron who was drowned into the sea.<ref name=NilssonA/>

;[[Northern Greece]]

*[[Aegae (Macedonia)|Aegae]], in [[Ancient Macedonia|Macedonia]]. [[Eucleia]] had a shrine with dedications in the [[agora]] of the city. The goddess is associated with Artemis-[[Eucleia]], the goddess of marriage who was widely worshipped in [[Boeotia]].<ref>Eugene Borza (2020), "In the shadow of Olympus. Emergence of Macedonia", p. 192, Princeton University Press. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OF3sDwAAQBAJ&dq=eucleia&pg=PA192 p. 192]</ref>
*[[Apollonia (Chalcidice)|Apollonia]] of [[Chalcidice]]. The festival [[Elaphebolia]] was celebrated in honor of Artemis in the month [[Attic calendar|Elaphebolion]]<ref name=NilssonA/>

;[[List of islands of Greece|Greek islands]]
[[File:Apollo Artemis Delos MAN.jpg|thumb|right|260px|From left to right: Artemis holding an oinochoe, Apollo holding a laurel branch and a phiale, about to pour a libation on the altar. Attic red-figure column-krater 450 BCE. [[National Archaeological Museum (Madrid)]]]]
 
*[[Icaria]]. The ''Tauropolion'',<ref>[[Strabo]] (xiv.1.19)</ref> the temple of Artemis Tauropolos  was built at [[Oenoe (Icaria)|Oinoe]]. There was another smaller  temenos that was sacred to Artemis-''Tauropolos ''on the  coast of the island.<ref>J. H. Croon, "Hot Springs and Healing: A Preliminary Answer" ''Mnemosyne'', Fourth Series, '''14'''.2 (1961:140–141).</ref>
*[[Cephalonia]]. Cult of  Artemis-[[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] who is related to the legend of [[Britomartis]].<ref>Antonin. Lib 40 : Nilsson, Vol I, p.484</ref>
*[[Corfu|Corcyra]]. Cult of Artemis-[[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] in the month ''Laphrios''.<ref name =NilssonA/>
       
; [[Asia Minor]]

*[[Ephesus]] in [[Ionia]]. The great festival [[Temple of Artemis|Artemisia]] was celebrated in honor of Artemis. The wealth and splendor of temple and city were taken as evidence of Artemis Ephesia's power. Under Hellenic rule, and later, under Roman rule, the Ephesian ''Artemisia'' festival was increasingly promoted as a key element in the pan-Hellenic festival circuit.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Pliny the Elder]] |title=Natural History |at=35–93}}</ref>
*[[Perga]] in [[Ionia]]. Famous festival of Artemis-Pergaia. Under Roman rule  Diana-Pergaia is identified with [[Selene]].<ref name="Karola">Margret Karola, Johannes Nollé: ''Götter, Städte, Feste. Kleinasiatische Münzen der römischen Kaiserzeit.'' Staatliche Münzsammlung, München 2014, S. 61</ref>
*[[Iasos]] in [[Caria]]. The festival [[Elaphebolia]] was celebrated in honor of Artemis in the month [[Attic calendar|Elaphebolion]]<ref name=NilssonA/>
*[[Byzantium|Byzantion]]. Festival of Artemis-[[Eucleia]] in the month ''Eucleios''.<ref name=NilssonC/>

;[[Magna Graecia]]

* [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] in [[Sicily]]. The festival of Artemis ''Chitonia'' was
distinguished by a peculiar dance and by a music on the flute. Chitonia (wearing a loose tunic) was a goddess of hunting.<ref name="Chitonia">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DC%3Aentry+group%3D5%3Aentry%3Dchitonia-cn Chitonia]</ref>

* [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] in [[Sicily]]. Festival of Artemis-''Lyaia''. Men from the countryside came to the city in a rustic dress. They carried a deer-antler on their head and held a shepherd's stab. They sang satirical songs drinking wine. The festival was the link between the comic performance and the countryside.<ref>"Theater and Autocracy in Ancient world" (2022), p.65  eds. Walter de Gruyter.[https://books.google.com/books?id=5JmnEAAAQBAJ&dq=lyaia&pg=PA65 p.65]</ref><ref name=NilssonC/>
*[[Taormina|Tauromenion]] in [[Sicily]]. Festival of Artemis-[[Eucleia]] in the month ''Eucleios''.<ref name =NilssonC/>
* Festival of Artemis-''Korythalia''. The male dancers wore wooden masks.<ref name =NilssonB/>

==Attributes==
===Virginity===
[[File:Bronze statue of Artemis. 4th cent. B.C.jpg|thumb|left|upright|This bronze statue of Artemis in the [[Archaeological Museum of Piraeus]] ([[Athens]]) dates from the mid-fourth century BCE and was given to sculptor [[Euphranor]].]]
[[File:Statuette of Artemis from Delos (1st cent. B.C.) at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens on 27 March 2018.jpg|thumb|upright| Artemis Diadoumena. Statuette of Artemis from Delos (1st cent. BCE) at the [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]]]

An important aspect of Artemis's persona and worship was her virginity, which may seem contradictory, given her role as a goddess associated with childbirth. The idea of Artemis as a virgin goddess likely is related to her primary role as a huntress. Hunters traditionally abstained from sex prior to the hunt as a form of ritual purity and out of a belief that the scent would scare off potential prey. The ancient cultural context in which Artemis's worship emerged also held that virginity was a prerequisite to marriage, and that a married woman became subservient to her husband.<ref name=Hjerrild />

In this light, Artemis's virginity is also related to her power and independence. Rather than a form of asexuality, it is an attribute that signals Artemis as her own master, with power equal to that of male gods. Her virginity also possibly represents a concentration of fertility that can be spread among her followers, in the manner of earlier mother-goddess figures. However, some later Greek writers did come to treat Artemis as inherently asexual and as an opposite to Aphrodite.<ref name=Hjerrild>Hjerrild, B. (2009). Near Eastern equivalents to Artemis. Tobias Fischer-Hansen & Birte Poulsen, eds. ''From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast''. Museum Tusculanum Press. {{ISBN|8763507889}}, 9788763507882</ref> Furthermore, some have described Artemis along with the goddesses [[Hestia]] and [[Athena]] as being asexual; this is mainly supported by the fact that in the Homeric Hymns, 5, ''To Aphrodite,'' Aphrodite is described as having "no power" over the three goddesses.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Homeric hymns|date=2003|publisher=Penguin Books|translator-last=Cashford|translator-first=Jules|isbn=0-14-043782-7|location=London|oclc=59339816}}</ref>

===As a mother goddess===
[[File:The Artemis of Ephesus.jpg|thumb|upright|The Artemis of Ephesus, second century CE. [[Ephesus Archaeological Museum]], Izmir, Turkey]]
Despite her virginity, both modern scholars and ancient commentaries have linked Artemis to the archetype of the [[mother goddess]]. Artemis was traditionally linked to fertility and was petitioned to assist women with childbirth. According to [[Herodotus]], Greek playwright [[Aeschylus]] identified Artemis with [[Persephone]] as a daughter of [[Demeter]]. Her worshipers in [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]] also traditionally associated her with Demeter and Persephone. In Asia Minor, she was often conflated with local mother-goddess figures, such as [[Cybele]], and [[Anahita]] in [[Iran]].<ref name=Hjerrild/>

The archetype of the mother goddess, though, was not highly compatible with the Greek pantheon, and though the Greeks had adopted the worship of Cybele and other Anatolian mother goddesses as early as the seventh century BCE, she was not directly conflated with any Greek goddesses. Instead, bits and pieces of her worship and aspects were absorbed variously by Artemis, Aphrodite, and others as Eastern influence spread.<ref name=Hjerrild/>

===As the Lady of Ephesus===
{{Main|Temple of Artemis}}
At [[Ephesus]] in [[Ionia]], [[Turkey]], her temple became one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World|Seven Wonders of the World]]. It was probably the best-known center of her worship except for Delos. There, the Lady whom the Ionians associated with Artemis through ''[[interpretatio graeca]]'' was worshipped 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 large beads. Excavation at the site of the ''Artemision'' in 1987–88 identified a multitude of tear-shaped [[amber]] beads that had been hung on the original wooden statue (''[[xoanon]]''), and these were probably carried over into later sculpted copies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/98868504/49-MORRIS-Potnia-Aswiya-Anatolian-Greek-Religion|title="Potnia Aswia: Anatolian Contributions to Greek Religion" by Sarah P. Morris|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106033338/http://www.scribd.com/doc/98868504/49-MORRIS-Potnia-Aswiya-Anatolian-Greek-Religion|archive-date=2014-01-06}}</ref>

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!"<ref>[[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] 19:28</ref> Of the 121 columns of her temple, only one composite, made up of fragments, still stands as a marker of the temple's location.

===As a lunar deity===
[[File:Bust of the goddess of Issa, Vis Museum, Croatia.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Praxiteles|Praxitelean]] bronze head of a goddess  (probably Artemis), wearing a [[lunate]] crown, 4th century BCE. Found at Issa, [[Vis (island)|Vis]], Croatia).]]

No records have been found of the Greeks referring to Artemis as a lunar deity, as their lunar deity was [[Selene]],<ref>[[#Sacks|Sacks (1995)]], p.35</ref><ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p.46]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Selene; Morford, [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/64/mode/2up?view=theater p.64], [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/219/mode/2up?view=theater 219–220]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=selene-bio-1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104 s.v. Selene]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Adler |first=Margot|author-link=Margot Adler |title=[[Drawing Down the Moon (book)|Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, Revised and Expanded Edition]] |year=1986 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-3253-4}}</ref> but the Romans identified Artemis with Selene leading them to perceive her as a lunar deity, though the Greeks did not refer to her or worship her as such.<ref>[[#Shen|Shen (2018)]], p.60</ref><ref>Gury, Françoise, "Selene, Luna" in ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae]] (LIMC)'' VII.1 Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1994. {{ISBN|3-7608-8751-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sfameni Gasparro |first=Giulia |chapter=The Hellenistic Face of Isis: Cosmic and Saviour Goddess |editor1-last=Bricault |editor1-first=Laurent |editor2-last=Versluys |editor2-first=Miguel John |editor3-last=Meyboom |editor3-first=Paul G. P. |title=Nile into Tiber: Egypt in the Roman World. Proceedings of the IIIrd International Conference of Isis Studies, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, May 11–14 2005 |url=https://archive.org/details/nileintotiberegy00bric |url-access=limited |pages=[https://archive.org/details/nileintotiberegy00bric/page/n66 40]–72 |year=2007 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-15420-9}}</ref> As the Romans began to associate [[Apollo]] more with [[Helios]], the [[Solar deity|personification of the Sun]], it was only natural that the Romans would then begin to identify Apollo's twin sister, Artemis, with Helios's own sister, Selene, the personification of the Moon.<ref name=":smt"/>

Evidence of the [[syncretism]] of Artemis and Selene is found early on; a [[scholia|scholium]] on the ''[[Iliad]]'', claiming to be reporting sixth century BCE author [[Theagenes of Rhegium|Theagenes]]'s interpretation of the ''[[theomachy]]'' in Book 21, says that in the fight between Artemis and Hera, Artemis represents the Moon, while Hera represents the earthly air.<ref name=":soi2067">[[Scholia]] on the ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://archive.org/details/scholiagraecainh02homeuoft/page/194/mode/2up?view=theater 20.67]; Hansen, [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/10/mode/2up?view=theater&q= p. 10]; ''Anecdota græca e codd. manuscriptis Bibliothecæ regiæ parisiensis'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=extPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA120 p. 120]</ref><ref name=":hard187">Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA187 p. 187]</ref>
 
Active references to Artemis as an illuminating goddess start much later.<ref name=":budin"/> Notably, Roman-era author [[Plutarch]] writes how during the [[Battle of Salamis]], Artemis led the Athenians to victory by shining with the [[full moon]], but all lunar-related narratives of this event come from Roman times, and none of the contemporary writers (such as [[Herodotus]]) makes any mention of the night or the Moon.<ref name=":budin">Budin, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yL0BCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 p.62]</ref>

[[File:Artemis with torch - Museo Chiaramonti - Vatican Museums - DSC00957.jpg|thumb|upright|Marble statue of Artemis-Selene with torch, 3rd century. [[Museo Chiaramonti]] - [[Vatican Museums]].]]

Artemis's connection to childbed and women's labour naturally led to her becoming associated with the menstrual cycle in course of time, thus the Moon.<ref>van der Toorn et al, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA92 s.v. Artemis, p.92]</ref> Selene, just like Artemis, was linked to childbirth, as it was believed that women had the easiest labours during the full moon, paving thus the way for the two goddesses to be seen as the same.<ref>[[Chrysippus]] [https://archive.org/details/stoicorumveterum02arniuoft/page/212/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 748]</ref><ref name=":hard187"/> On that, [[Cicero]] writes:

<blockquote>Apollo, a Greek name, is called [[Sol (Roman mythology)|Sol]], the sun; and [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]], [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]], the moon. [...] Luna, the moon, is so called a lucendo (from shining); she bears the name also of [[Lucina (mythology)|Lucina]]: and as in Greece the women in labor invoke [[Diana Lucifera]],<ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' [https://topostext.org/work.php?work_id=137#2.68 2.68]</ref></blockquote>

Association to health was another reason Artemis and Selene were syncretized; [[Strabo]] wrote that Apollo and Artemis were connected to the Sun and the Moon, respectively, which was due to the changes the two celestial bodies caused in the temperature of the air, as the twins were gods of pestilential diseases and sudden deaths.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+14.1.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239 14.1.6]</ref>

Roman authors applied Artemis/Diana's byname, "Phoebe", to Luna/Selene, the same way as "Phoebus" was given to [[Helios]] due to his identification with Apollo.<ref>Morford, [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/64/mode/2up?view=theater p. 64]</ref> Another epithet of Artemis that Selene appropriated is "Cynthia", meaning "born in Mount [[Cynthus]]."<ref>Pannen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=37CPbHwqPjwC&pg=PA96 p.96]</ref> The goddesses Artemis, Selene, and [[Hecate]] formed a triad, identified as the same goddess with three avatars: Selene in the sky (moon), Artemis on earth (hunting), and Hecate beneath the earth (Underworld).<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on the [[Aeneid]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053%3Abook%3D6%3Acommline%3D118 6.118]; Green, C. M. C. (2007). ''Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia.'' New York: [[Cambridge University Press]]</ref>

In Italy, those three goddesses became a ubiquitous feature in depictions of sacred groves, where Hecate/Trivia marked intersections and crossroads along with other liminal deities.<ref name=":bergm">Bergmann, Bettina, Joseph Farrell, Denis Feeney, James Ker, Damien Nelis, and [[Celia Schultz]]. "An Exciting Provocation: John F. Miller's 'Apollo, Augustus, and the Poets.'" Vergilius (1959-) 58 (2012): [http://www.jstor.org/stable/43186298 10–11]</ref> The Romans enthusiastically celebrated the multiple identities of Diana as Hecate, Luna, and Trivia.<ref name=":bergm" />

Roman poet [[Horace]] in his odes enjoins Apollo to listen to the prayers of the boys, as he asks Luna, the "two-horned queen of the stars", to listen to those of the girls in place of Diana, due to their role as protectors of the young.<ref>[[Horace]], ''Carmen Saeculare'' [https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/horace/carm4.shtml 33–36]</ref> In [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', when [[Nisus and Euryalus|Nisus]] addresses Luna/the Moon, he calls her "daughter of [[Latona]]."<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/245#9.367 9.404]</ref>

In works of art, the two goddesses were mostly distinguished; Selene is usually depicted as being shorter than Artemis, with a rounder face, and wearing a long robe instead of a short hunting chiton, with a billowing cloak forming an arc above her head.<ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D11%3Aentry%3Dselene-bio-1 s.v. Selene]</ref> Artemis was sometimes depicted with a lunate crown.<ref>Collins-Clinton, [https://books.google.com/books?id=U6vdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 p.88]</ref>

===As Hecate===
[[File:Artemis torches Chiaramonti Inv1432.jpg|thumb|upright|Artemis holding torches. Marble, Roman copy of the 2nd century CE after a Greek original of the 4th century BCE. [[Museo Chiaramonti]], [[Vatican Museums]]]]

[[Hecate]] was the goddess of crossroads, boundaries, ghosts and witchcraft. She is the queen of the witches.<ref>Seyffert, s.v. [https://archive.org/details/b3135841x/page/270/mode/2up?view=theater Hecate]</ref> Artemis absorbed the Pre-Greek goddess [[Potnia Theron]] who was closely associated with the [[daimon]]s.<ref name=Nils227/> In the [[Mycenean Greece|Mycenean age]] daimons were lesser deities of ghosts, divine spirits and tutelary deities.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2323243 2323243] [[Perseus Tufts]] Consulted 2017-05-05</ref>

Some scholars believe that Hecate was an aspect of Artemis prior to the latter's adoption into the Olympian pantheon.
Artemis would have, at that point, become more strongly associated with purity and maidenhood on the one hand, while her originally darker attributes like her association with magic, the souls of the dead, and the night would have continued to be worshipped separately under her title Hecate.<ref>Fairbanks, Arthur. A Handbook of Greek Religion. American Book Company, 1910. p.229</ref>

Both goddesses carried torches, and were accompanied by a dog. It seems that the character of Artemis in [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]] was original.<ref name=Nilsson497>Nilsson, "Geschichte Vol I p. 497</ref> At [[Acacesium]]  Artemis ''Hegemone'' is depicted 
holding two torches, and at [[Lycosura]] Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch. A bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her side.<ref name=Pausanias374 />

[[Sophocles]] calles Artemis ''Amphipyros'', carrying a torch in each hand, however the adjective refers also to the twin fire on the two peaks of the mountain [[Parnassus]] behind [[Delphi]]. In the fest of [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] at Delphi Artemis is related to the Pre-Greek mistress of the animals, with barbaric sacrifices and possible connections with magic and ghosts since Potnia Theron was close to the daimons. The annual fire was the characteristique custom of the fest.<ref name="Lane91" /><ref name="Paus718">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D18%3Asection%3D11 Pausanias 7.18.11-7.18.12]</ref>

At [[Kerameikos]] in Athens Artemis is clearly identified with Hecate. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] believes that ''Kalliste'' (the most beautiful ) is a surname of Artemis carrying a torch. In [[Thessaly]] the distinctly local goddess [[Enodia]] with the surname [[Pherai]]a is identified with Hecate.<ref name="Apollo p. 109-124">C.D.Graninger "Apollo, Enodia and fourth century Thessaly" Kernos22/2009 p. 109-124</ref> Artemis [[Pherai]]a was worshipped in [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], [[Athens]] and [[Sicyon]].<ref name="Pausanias2.23.5">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.23.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias2.23.5]</ref>

===Symbols===
[[File:Pittore di karlsruhe, lekythos con artemide, attica 460-450 ac. ca.JPG|thumb|upright=0.5|Artemis with a bow and a deer. Attic lekythos 460–450 BCE]]

====Chariots====
[[File:Red-figure hydria CPLH 707 detail.JPG|thumb|left|Detail of an Attic red-figure hydria depicting Apollo and Artemis. 480–450 BCE by the [[Pan Painter]]. [[Legion of Honor (museum)]], San Francisco.]]

[[Homer]] uses the epithet ''Chrisinios'', of the golden reigns, to illustrate the chariot of the goddess of hunting.<ref name=Nilsson483>Nilsson, "Geschichte" Vol I, p.482-484</ref> At the fest of [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] at [[Delphi]] the priestess followed the parade on a chariot which was covered with the skin of a deer.<ref name=Nilsson483/>

====Spears, nets, and lyre====
Artemis is rarely portrayed with a hunting spear. In her cult in [[Aetolia]], the Artemis ''Aetole'' was depicted with a hunting spear or javelin.<ref name="Pausanias 10.38.12">[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D38%3Asection%3D12 Pausanias 10.38.12]</ref>

Artemis is also sometimes depicted with a fishing spear connected with her cult as a patron goddess of fishing. This conception relates her with ''Diktynna'' ([[Britomartis]]).<ref name="Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I p.311-312">Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I, p.311-312</ref> As a goddess of maiden dances and songs, Artemis is often portrayed with a lyre in ancient art.<ref>Kimberley Christine Patton, ''Religion of the Gods: Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=QwgTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA333 p.333]</ref>

====Deer====
Deer were the only animals held sacred to Artemis herself. On seeing a deer larger than a bull with horns shining, she fell in love with these creatures and held them sacred. Deer were also the first animals she captured. She caught five golden-horned deer and harnessed them to her chariot.<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn 3 to Artemis'' [http://www.katinkahesselink.net/other/artemis.html 98]</ref> At [[Lycosura]] in isolated [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]] Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch and dressed with a deer skin, besides [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]].<ref name=Pausanias374>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.37.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 8.37.4]</ref> It seems that the depictions of Artemis and [[Demeter|Demeter-Melaina]] (black) in Arcadia correspond to the earliest conceptions of the first [[Greeks]] in Greece.<ref>L.H.Jeffery (1976), "The city states" p.23 Ernest Benn Ltd.</ref> At the fest of [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] at [[Delphi]] the priestess followed the parade on a chariot which was covered with the skin of a deer.<ref name=Nilsson483 />
The [[Labours of Hercules|third labour of Heracles]], commanded by [[Eurystheus]], consisted of chasing and catching the terrible [[Ceryneian Hind]]. The hind was a female deer with golden andlers and hooves of bronze and was sacred to Artemis. Heracles begged Artemis for forgiveness and promised to return it alive. Artemis forgave him, but targeted Eurystheus for her wrath.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D3 3]</ref>

====Hunting dog====
[[File:Artemis libation Louvre CA599.jpg|thumb|left|160px|Artemis with a hunting dog pouring a libation, c. 460–450 BCE.]]
In a legend Artemis got her hunting dogs from [[Pan (god)|Pan]] in the forest of [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]]. Pan gave Artemis two black-and-white dogs, three [[Laconian (dog)|reddish ones]], and one spotted one – these dogs were able to hunt even lions. Pan also gave Artemis seven bitches of the finest Arcadian race, but Artemis only ever brought seven dogs hunting with her at any one time.<ref>[[Callimachus]], ''Hymn 3 to Artemis'' [http://www.katinkahesselink.net/other/artemis.html 86]</ref> In the earliest conceptions of Artemis at [[Lycosura]], a bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her side.<ref name=Pausanias374 />

====Bear====
In a Pre-Greek cult Artemis was conceived as a bear. [[Callisto (mythology)|Kallisto]] was transformed into a bear, and she is a hypostasis of Artemis with a theriomorph form. In the cults of Artemis at [[Brauron]] and at [[Piraeus]] [[Munichia (festival)|Munichia]] (arkteia) young virgin girls were disguished to she-bears (arktoi) in a ritual and they served the goddess before marriage.<ref>Nilsson Vol I, p.285-486</ref>

[[File:7406 - Piraeus Arch. Museum, Athens - Artemis - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 14 2009.jpg|thumb|upright|The small [[Piraeus Artemis]], bronze statue of the 4th century]]

An [[etiology|etiological]] myth tries to explain the origin of the ''Arkteia''. Every year, a girl between five and ten years of age was sent to Artemis's temple at Brauron. A bear was tamed by Artemis and introduced to the people of Athens. They touched it and played with it until one day a group of girls poked the bear until it attacked them. A brother of one of the girls killed the bear, so Artemis sent a plague in revenge. The Athenians consulted an oracle to understand how to end the plague. The oracle suggested that, in payment for the bear's blood, no Athenian virgin should be allowed to marry until she had served Artemis in her temple (played the bear for the goddess).<ref>''[[Suda]]'', [https://topostext.org/work/240#al.3958 Ἄρκτος ἢ Βραυρωνίοις]</ref>

In a legend of the cult of ''Munichia'' if someone killed a bear, then they were to be punished by sacrificing their daughter in the sanctuary. Embaros disguised his daughter dressing her like a bear (arktos), and hid her in the [[adyton]]. He placed a goat on the altar and he sacrificed the goat instead of his daughter.<ref>Nilsson, "Geschicte", p.485 A6</ref>

====Boar====
The boar is one of the favorite animals of the hunters, and also hard to tame. In honor of Artemis's skill, they sacrificed it to her. [[Oeneus]]<ref>[[Homer]], the ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/2#9.530 9.530]</ref> and [[Adonis]]<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+3.14.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 3.14.4]</ref> were both killed by Artemis's boar. In [[The Odyssey]], she descends from a peak and she travels along the ridges of [[Mount Erymanthos]], that was sacred to the "Mistress of the animals".<ref name=Nilsson483/><ref name="Odyssey 6.102">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+6.102&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135 Odyssey 6.102]</ref> When the goddess became wrathful she would send the terrible [[Erymanthian boar]] to laid waste the farmer's fields. [[Heracles]] managed to kill the terrible creature during his [[Twelve Labors]].<ref name="Keren148">Kerenyi, C. (1959), "The Heroes of the Greeks", [[iarchive:heroes-of-the-greeks-carl-kerenyi/page/n3/mode/2up|pp. 148-151]].</ref>

In one legend, the [[Calydonian boar hunt|Calydonian boar]] had terrorized the territory of [[Calydon]] because Artemis (the mistress of the animals) was offended. The [[Calydonian boar hunt]] is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. The most famous Greek [[hero]]es including [[Meleager]] and [[Atalanta]] took part in the expedition. The fierce-hunter virgin Atalanta allied to the goddess Artemis was the first who wounded the Calydonian boar.<ref>Hard, p.415, calls it "the greatest adventure in Aetolian legend"</ref>

[[Ovid]] describes the boar as follows:<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:8.260-8.364 8.284&ndash;289]</ref>
:A dreadful boar.—His burning, bloodshot eyes
:seemed coals of living fire, and his rough neck
:was knotted with stiff muscles, and thick-set
:with bristles like sharp spikes. A seething froth
:dripped on his shoulders, and his tusks
:were like the spoils of Ind [India]. Discordant roars
:reverberated from his hideous jaws;
:and lightning—belched forth from his horrid throat—
:scorched the green fields.
::— [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 8.284–289 (Brookes More translation)

====Guinea fowl====
Artemis felt pity for the [[Calydon]]ian princesses [[Meleagrids]] as they mourned for their lost brother, Meleager, so she transformed them into Guinea fowl to be her favorite animals.<ref>[[Antoninus Liberalis]], ''Transformations'' [https://topostext.org/work/216#2 2]</ref>

====Bee====
The [[bee]] as a symbol of abundance was associated with [[Artemis Ephesia]]. Bees appear on the statue of the goddess, while the priestesses of the goddess received the name of 'Melissa' ('Bee' 'Μέλισσα'), possibly as a late [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] worship element addition. The bee was also related to the [[Crete|Cretan]] tradition of worship, whereby Artemis was designated as 'Britomartis' (Βριτομάρτις), a word possibly deriving from the root vrito- (βρίτο-) a variant of 'melissa' ('μέλισσα' or 'bee').<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elderkin |first1=G. W. |title=The Bee of Artemis |journal=The American Journal of Philology |date=1939 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=203–213 |doi=10.2307/291201 |jstor=291201 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/291201 |issn=0002-9475|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

====Buzzard hawk====
Hawks were the favored birds of many of the gods, Artemis included.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' [http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals12.html#4 12.4]</ref> 
[[File:Coin, Artemis with deer and bull, Tauric Chersonesos, 4th-3rd century BC.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Coin from [[Tauri]]c [[Chersonesus]] with Artemis, deer, bull, club and [[quiver]] ({{circa|300 BCE}})]]

====Bull====
Artemis is sometimes identified with the mythical bull-goddess in a cult foreign in Greece. The cult can be identified in [[Halae Araphenides]] in [[Attica]]. At the end of the peculiar fest the sacrifice of a man was represented in a ritual.<ref name="perseus.tufts.edu">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+IT+1450&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0112 Euripides, Iphigeneia in Tauris 1450-1460]</ref>

[[File:Terracotta amphora (jar) MET DP114809.jpg|thumb|left|300px| Apollo (left) and Artemis (right) carrying a torch and flanking an altar. Terracotta amphora (jar) 490 BCE. [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]. Manhattan, New York]]

[[Euripides]] relates her cult with [[Tauri]]s (tauros:bull) and with the myth of [[Iphigenia]] at [[Brauron]]. [[Orestes]] brought the image of the goddess from Tauris, to Brauron [[Sparta]] or [[Arricia|Aricia]].<ref>Nilsson, "Gescichte" Vol I, p.83, 482</ref><ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.16.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160Pausanias Pausanias 3.16.7]</ref>

====Torch====
Artemis is often depicted holding one or two torches. There is not any sufficient explanation for this depiction. The character of the goddess in [[Arcadia (region)|Arcadia]] seems to be original.<ref name=Nilsson497/> At [[Acacesium]]  Artemis ''Hegemone'' (the leader) is depicted holding two torches. At [[Lycosura]] the goddess is depicted holding a snake and a torch, and a bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her side<ref name="Pausanias837">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.37.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 8.37.1, 8.37.6]</ref>[[Sophocles]] calls Artemis "[[Elaphebolia|Elaphebolos]], (deer slayer) Amphipyros (with a fire in each end)" reminding the annual fire of the fest [[Laphria (festival)|Laphria]] at [[Delphi]].<ref>Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.495 A4 :Sophocles, Trach.214 [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0011,001:214&lang=original Sophocles Trach.214]</ref> The adjective refers also to the twin fires of the two peaks of the [[Mount Parnassus]] above [[Delphi]] ([[Phaedriades]]).<ref name="αμφίπυρος">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a)mfi/puros αμφίπυρος]</ref> Heshychius believes that ''Kalliste'' is the name of Hecate established at [[Kerameikos]] of [[Athens]], who some call Artemis (torch bearing). On a relief from [[Sicily]] the goddess is depicted holding a torch in one hand and an offering on the other. The torch was used for the ignition of the fire on the altar.<ref name="Nilsson, Geschichte p.80, 81">Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol. I, p.80, 81</ref>

==Archaic and classical art==
[[File:Artémis Potnia Theron.jpg|thumb|upright|Artémis Potnia Theron, 560–550 BCE]]

During the [[Bronze Age]], the "mistress of the animals" is usually depicted between two lions with a peculiar crown on her head.
The oldest representations of Artemis in Greek Archaic art, ''circa'' 550 BCE, portray her as [[Potnia Theron]] ("Queen of the Beasts"): a winged goddess holding a stag and lioness in her hands, or sometimes a lioness and a lion. Potnia theron is the only Greek goddess close to the [[daimons]] and sometimes is depicted with a [[Gorgon]] head, and the Gorgon is her distant ancestor. 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, young, tall, and slim, clothed in a girl's short skirt,<ref>Homer portrayed Artemis as girlish in the ''[[Iliad]]''</ref> with hunting boots, a quiver, a golden or silver bow<ref>Greek poets variously described Artemis's bow as 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)|Cydonian]] 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. When portrayed as a lunar deity, Artemis wore a long robe and sometimes a veil covered her head. 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]].

Artemis was sometimes represented in Classical art with the crown of the [[crescent]] [[moon]], such as also found on [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]] and others.

On June 7, 2007, a Roman-era bronze sculpture of ''[[Artemis and the Stag]]'' was sold at [[Sotheby's]] auction house in New York state by the [[Albright-Knox Art Gallery]] for $25.5 million.

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="heights=&quot;160&quot;" caption="Ancient art" class="center">
Funeral pithos, Potnia theron, Fortetsa near Knossos, 850-800 BC, AMH, 079075.jpg|Potnia theron, Fortetsa near Knossos, 850–800 BCE
Niobid Krater - Niobid massacre.jpg|Apollo and Artemis kill the children of [[Niobe]], 460–450 BCE by the [[Niobid Painter]]. [[Louvre]], Paris.
Artemis Hekate. Apollonia, Albania.jpg|Artemis Hecate, as a goddess protector of the necropolis. Marble, 3rd century CE, [[Apollonia (Illyria)|Apollonia]], Albania.
Plaque votive figurant Artémis ou Hécate.jpg|Votive figure Artemis and Hecate
</gallery>

<gallery mode="heights=&quot;160&quot;" caption="Modern art" class="center">
Diana and her hound.jpg|Artemis-Diana and her hound
Boucher Diane sortant du bain Louvre 2712.jpg|Boucher, Artemis-Diana, Louvre
Artemis (BM 1899,0120.160).jpg|Artemis in a landscape
Artemis-Endymion-Palais-Garnier.jpg|Artemis-Endymion-Palais-Garnier
Orion aveugle cherchant le soleil.jpg|Nicolas Poussin (1658) "Landscape with blind Orion seeking the sun". [[Metropolitan Museum of Arts]], Manhattan, New York.
</gallery>

==Legacy==
===In astronomy===
*[[105 Artemis]] (an [[asteroid]] discovered in 1868)
*[[Artemis (crater)]] (a tiny crater on the Moon, named in 2010)
*[[Artemis Chasma]] (a nearly circular fracture on the surface of the planet [[Venus]], described in 1980)
*[[Artemis Corona]] (an oval feature largely enclosed by the Artemis Chasma, also described in 1980)
*Acronym (ArTeMiS) for "Architectures de bolometres pour des Telescopes a grand champ de vue dans le domaine sub-Millimetrique au Sol", a large [[bolometer]] camera in the [[Submillimetre astronomy|submillimeter]] range that was installed in 2010 at the [[Atacama Pathfinder Experiment]] (APEX), located in the [[Atacama Desert]] in northern Chile.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apex-telescope.org/instruments/pi/artemis/ |title=APEX – Artemis |publisher=Apex-telescope.org |date=2010-01-11 |access-date=2013-03-25}}</ref>

===In taxonomy===
The [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic]] genus ''[[Artemia]]'', which entirely comprises the family Artemiidae, derives from Artemis. ''Artemia'' species are aquatic crustaceans known as brine shrimp, the best-known species of which, ''[[Artemia salina]]'', or [[sea monkeys]], was first described by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' in 1758. ''Artemia'' species live in salt lakes, and although they are almost never found in an open sea, they do appear along the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean coast]] near [[Ephesus]], where the Temple of Artemis once stood.

===In modern spaceflight===
The [[Artemis program]] is an ongoing robotic and [[List of human spaceflight programs|crewed spaceflight program]] which has the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the [[lunar south pole]] region no earlier than 2025.<ref>{{cite web |last=Foust |first=Jeff |date=2021-11-09 |title=NASA delays human lunar landing to at least 2025 |url=https://spacenews.com/nasa-delays-human-lunar-landing-to-at-least-2025/ |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=SpaceNews |language=en-US}}</ref> The program is being carried out by [[NASA]], U.S. [[Private spaceflight|commercial spaceflight companies]], and international partners such as the [[European Space Agency]], the [[Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency]], and the [[Canadian Space Agency]].<ref name="Artemis home">[https://www.nasa.gov/specials/moon2mars/]. NASA. Accessed on 19 May 2019</ref>

==Genealogy==
{{Family tree of the Olympians|title=Artemis's family tree|collapsed=no|cap_arte=y}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths|Religion}}
*[[Bendis]]
*[[Dali (goddess)]]
*[[Janus]]
*[[Lunar deity]]
*[[Palermo Fragment]]
*Regarding Tauropolos:
**[[Bull (mythology)]]
**[[Iphigenia in Tauris]]
**[[Taurus (constellation)#History and mythology|Taurus (Mythology)]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="Lane91">Lane Fox, Robin. ''Pagan and Christians''. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1989. p.90-91</ref>

}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|30em}}
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*Pannen, Imke, ''When the Bad Bleeds: Mantic Elements in English Renaissance Revenge Tragedy'', Volume 3 of Representations & Reflections; V&R unipress GmbH, 2010. {{ISBN|9783899716405}}.
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*{{cite book |last1=Shen |first1=Ann |title=Legendary Ladies: 50 Goddesses to Empower and Inspire You |date=April 3, 2018 |publisher=[[Chronicle Books]] |location=[[San Francisco]], [[United States]] |isbn=978-1452163413 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tpNFDwAAQBAJ |access-date=August 14, 2019 |ref=Shen}}
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{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*[http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Artemis.html Theoi Project, Artemis, information on Artemis from original Greek and Roman sources, images from classical art].
*Marindin, G. E., [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William, LLD]], & [[William Wayte|Wayte, William]], eds., [https://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''] (London: [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]], 1890).
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=2garBSREfywC&dq=eileithyia&pg=PA27 Fischer-Hansen T., Poulsen B. (eds.) ''From Artemis to Diana: the goddess of man and beast''. Collegium Hyperboreum and Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, 2009]
*[https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000101 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 1,150 images of Artemis)]

{{Twelve Olympians}}
{{Greek religion}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Hunting topics}}

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[[Category:Artemis| ]]
[[Category:Animal goddesses]]
[[Category:Childhood goddesses]]
[[Category:Hunting goddesses]]
[[Category:Lunar goddesses]]
[[Category:Nature goddesses]]
[[Category:Night goddesses]]
[[Category:Greek virgin goddesses]]
[[Category:Mythological Greek archers]]
[[Category:Daughters of Zeus]]
[[Category:Divine twins]]
[[Category:Deities in the Iliad]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Dog goddesses]]
[[Category:Deities in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Light goddesses]]
[[Category:Bear deities]]
[[Category:Mountain goddesses]]
[[Category:Dance goddesses]]
[[Category:Tree goddesses]]
[[Category:Health goddesses]]
[[Category:Women of the Trojan war]]
[[Category:Fertility goddesses]]
[[Category:Twelve Olympians]]
[[Category:Plague goddesses]]
[[Category:Music and singing goddesses]]
[[Category:Kourotrophoi]]
[[Category:Shapeshifters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Wolf deities]]
[[Category:Cat goddesses]]
[[Category:Delian mythology]]
[[Category:Dance in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Music in Greek mythology]]