One down, many to go! Next up is another Olympian, one of the twelve main rulers in ancient Greek culture, who has held a special place in my heart since I was a child (the PG rated version of her anyways). The lover and killer of animals, I present you the next goddess: Artemis!

Artemis

Possibly derived from the Greek word meaning: "safe" or "to fit"

ALSO: Cynthia, Diana (Roman)

Concepts/Perspectives belonging to Artemis include:

** Protector of wild animals

** Hunter of wild animals

** Midwifery (birthing of children)

** Fecundity

** Virginity

** The moon

The origins of Artemis are thought to come from Thrace, a place where the Amazons lived and were ruled by female queens. In early times only three main gods were worshiped there: Ares, Dionysus and Artemis. Artemis was the most prominent among these people as a hunting and fertility goddess. The word Amazon means literally “without a breast” to signify the ritual they practiced which involved cutting off one of their breasts. This is to show their ferocity and also to make them better archers (so the string didn’t bump into one and throw off their aim). It was common practice for them to ransack cities, rape and kill any man they found then return home with the rewards. If a male child was born they would either kill it outright or expose it to the elements so it would die on its own. This aggressive behavior is seen in later tales of Artemis (minus the rape).

But within Greece she was in somewhat lesser stature. Her iconography remains consistent throughout the ages; that of a young maiden with bound hair and a wearing a shift. In her hands she carries a bow and is usually accompanied by some forest or hunting creature (dogs, deer, etc.). As time progressed she slowly began to nudge aside the old moon goddess, Selene. She eventually took her place in the long line of generational moon goddesses starting from the titan Phoebe to Selene then Artemis.

The Olympian Zeus and the titan Leto (daughter of the titans Phoebe and Coeus), coupled and she conceived. Leto means both “bright one” (similar to her mother, the “shining one”) and “hidden one.” Both parents have an aspect of “illumination” which is passed on to their progeny. First, Leto births Artemis who then turns around and assists her in bringing her younger brother Apollo into the world. These were the famous twins of the Olympians. Not long after their birth, Tityos (another child of Zeus) pounced on Leto with the intent to have sex with her. Leto called for her children’s help and they raced to her rescue (almost newly out of the womb mind you), shooting Tityos down with their arrows. For punishment for his crimes he was thrown into Tartarus (an area below Hades) and was eternally punished by having vultures feed on his heart.

Among other stories, she is responsible for the death of Orion (she does a lot of killing, it seems). He was a man who was born of the earth (i.e. Gaia) and had a body of epic proportions (NOTE: In the Pherecydes tradition he is the son of Poseidon and Eurayle, my source is from Apollodorus). There are two accounts of how he died. The first is that he was bold enough to challenge Artemis to a discus throwing contest and lost. The other was that he had tried to rape the Hyperborean maiden Opis which didn’t sit well with the goddess who safeguarded virginity. In both cases, she shot him down and he spent his time in the Underworld hunting ghost animals.

One of the more popular myths is that of Actaion and Artemis. Actaion and his entourage had been hunting in the woods for deer with their dogs. At one point he gets separated from the group and is wandering aimlessly around the forest. He accidentally stumbles upon Artemis and her virgin handmaidens bathing in a lake. Before he can get away Artemis approaches and stares down at him, enraged: “No man may look upon my nakedness.” With that she transformed him into a stag. The dogs from the hunting party pick up his scent and they came racing into the clearing and ripped the shape-shifted Actaion to shreds.

In a last tale, we have the mortal Niobe who had birthed 14 children (7 boys, 7 girls). At this point her pride had soared to the point of hubris (excessive pride/thinking that you’re better than the gods/thinking you don’t need the gods) and she proclaimed that she was better at bearing children than Leto. Highly insulted, Leto sent in her two children who slew all of Niobe’s (Apollo for the boys, Artemis for the girls). In her grief, Niobe fled to Mt. Sipylus where she wept continuously until she turned into stone. She became a symbol for the punishment of hubris as well as of mourning. To this day there is a stone figure on Mt. Sipylus that weeps from seeping rain water.

Ok now to break things down a bit.

Artemis is a goddess of contradictions and paradoxes, much like her brother. She is the protector of wild animals yet she oversees the hunting of them as well. Her expertise is in the field of childbirth and midwifery but she herself is a virgin. This is made more puzzling when her aspect of fecundity is thrown into the picture.

What is fecundity? It is the idea of being fertile, producing offspring and nurturing them. Artemis represents it but she herself never partakes of these things. The Ephesian statue of Artemis shows her girdled with a belt of round objects, there is some debate whether these are breasts or eggs but both expound on her fertility aspects.

Artemis is most definitely a woman, a full grown, adult woman. Early on in her life she begged her father to let her remain eternally young and virgin, yet she has this expert knowledge of a woman’s body during childbirth. Nowadays when we think of the word “virgin” we (hopefully) think of a child. But when we think of an adult virgin (the movie “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” is a prime example) we get a weird sense that something isn’t right. The word reminds us of things like purity, innocence, youth and the sort. But it also makes one seem distant and untouchable, possibly a tad bit cold in dealing with personal relationships. This is reflected in the mythology surrounding Artemis. She shuns men (violently in cases like Actaion’s) and seeks the company of exclusively women. The only males Artemis is remotely close to are her father and brother, a reflection of the manners in the time period. This has lead to some speculation that she is an early example of lesbianism in Greek culture.

This distance makes her a stranger, unknowable and possibly dangerous, which her association with the wilderness embellishes. To early man, anything outside the walls of his home was considered threatening. A mountain lion could eat his child while she was climbing a hillside and there was nothing he could do about it. When a human can’t control something, they automatically begin to feel fear for it. This is probably why many of Artemis’ stories include her killing someone, she isn’t a goddess to cross. But on the other hand she the patroness of hunting. Worshipping and giving praise to her meant man could kill that mountain lion and bring food for his family. She balances out the fear aspect with something that people can get a handle on and feel they can take charge of situations.

Artemis’ prime weapon is the bow. It’s a fancy weapon, requiring skill and a good eye to make clean and efficient kills. But it is also known as the coward’s weapon in this time. In the middle of battle, the people with the big shields and spears went in and did all the dirty work. Man-to-man, muscle-to-muscle. While behind them (or behind the row of enemies right in front) were archers, lazily standing back and picking people off at their leisure. They were safe from harm (except from other archers) and hardly had to get their hands dirty in the process. This was looked down upon and not considered honorable fighting.

And finally, her connection with the moon. Within Greek myth there is a sense of generational lineage. The Titans, presumably the main gods of the culture before the Olympians gods appeared, were the “first” generation (I quote because the Titans could have come from another generation of gods). In this setting, the titan Phoebe was the goddess of the moon. Not much is know about her as she was ousted by another titan Selene, part of the next generation of gods. Selene was the sister of Helios, the god of the sun in his time, and they enjoyed the prestige of it. As time progressed Artemis took over (just as her brother took over the sun). Their grandmother "the shining one" and their mother "the bright one" passed on these traits of light to their children: the sun providing illumination during the day and the moon doing the same at night. The moon itself is a representation of the process of birth, life, death. Artemis assists in giving birth to women while on the other hand is known to deal death to them as well.