However, to the Greeks in Asia Minor modern day Turkey she was a prominent deity. In Ephesus, a principal city of Asia Minor, a great temple was built in her honor, which became one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World".
But at Ephesus she was worshiped mainly as a fertility goddess, and was identified with Cybele the mother goddess of eastern lands. The cult statues of the Ephesian Artemis differ greatly from those of mainland Greece, whereas she is depicted as a huntress with her bow and arrows.
Those found at Ephesus show her in the eastern style, standing erect with numerous nodes on her chest. There have been many theories as to what they represent. Some say they are breasts, others that they are bulls testes which were sacrificed to her. So the true interpretation remains uncertain, we can say that each represents fertility. She carried to her own temple on her head as the protector of her own temple.
But on the very night Alexander the Great was born in in Macedonia, she could not keep her own temple in Ephesus. Because she was helping the birth of the important person. Later Ephesians understood it. When they told this Alexander the Great after his conquest of Anatolia, he gave the city special privileges.
Being associated with chastity, Artemis at an early age asked her father Zeus to grant her eternal virginity. Also, all her companions were virgins. Artemis was very protective of her purity, and gave grave punishment to any man who attempted to dishonor her in any form.
She was one of the three major Virgin Goddess of Greek mythology and there are several myths related to protection of her chastity.
Her other myths are often based on her supremacy as a huntress and any kind of threat to her beauty. Artemis also played a minor role in the Trojan War i n which she support ed the Trojans. Artemis was the daughter of Zeus, king of the gods , and the Titaness Leto.
When Hera , the sister-wife of Zeus discovered that Zeus had impregnated Leto, she c ursed Leto not to find a solid ground or island on e arth to give birth to her children. In labor and massive pain, Leto wandered all over Greece to find a place to give birth until she found Delos , a barren and floating island. According to myth, it w as Zeus who emerged Delos from the sea so that Leto would find a p lace to bring forth her off springs Artemis and Apollo. The delivery of Artemis was painless but the birth of h er younger twin Apollo was painful and treacherous because by then Hera had kidnapped Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth.
In the absence of Eileithyia, Artemis, having been born first, played the role of a midwife and assisted her mother with the birth of her twin brother Apollo. I t is due to this myth that Artemis was worshiped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia. Actaeon was the son of Aristaeus, a minor god , and Autono e , the daughter of Cadmus , the founder of the city of Thebes.
Actaeon was the hunting companion of Artemis. One day, after a tiring hunting session, Artemis was bathing in the waters of the spring Parthenius amid the woods on Mount Cithaeron. Actaeon happened to be wandering through the woods with his hounds and stumbled onto the goddess, thus seeing her naked.
Amazed at her ravishing beauty, he attempted to force himself on her. Being a virgin goddess, Artemis was outraged with his audacity and transformed Actaeon into a stag. Soon, he was spotted by his own hounds and was relentlessly chased by them. Unaware that the stag was their own master, the raging hounds cornered the animal and killed him by tearing him apart into pieces.
In ancient art as well as in Renaissance and post-Renaissance depictions, Actaeon is recognized by this iconic motif where the hunter became the hunted.
Being an astonishingly handsome young man, Adonis was considered the god of beauty and was also the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. Unfortunately, he died during a hunting spree when he was attacked by a wild boar that was sent by Artemis. According to o ne version of the myth , A donis was punished by Artemis because he had arrogantly boasted that he was a better hunter than her. There is also a different version of the myth. Hippolytus was the son of Theseus, the founder hero of Athens.
He refused to revere Aphrodite and instead became a devotee of Artemis by vowing chastity to her. However, Hippolytus rejected the advances of Phaedra and it caused her to commit suicide. On his way to exile, Hippolytus was killed by a sea monster sent by Poseidon on the request of Aphrodite.
Since Adonis had been dearest to Aphrodite and she was responsible for the death of Hippolytus, Artemis killed Adonis to avenge t he death of Hippolytus. Orion was a handsome huntsman born in the regional unit of ancient Greece called Boeotia. One day, while hunting in the forest, Orion saw the young and beautiful Artemis who was also out for a hunting session.
H unting together, they challenging each other to races and archery contests. When Hera , the sister-wife of Zeus discovered that Zeus had impregnated Leto, she c ursed Leto not to find a solid ground or island on e arth to give birth to her children. In labor and massive pain, Leto wandered all over Greece to find a place to give birth until she found Delos , a barren and floating island.
According to myth, it w as Zeus who emerged Delos from the sea so that Leto would find a p lace to bring forth her off springs Artemis and Apollo. The delivery of Artemis was painless but the birth of h er younger twin brother Apollo was painful and treacherous because by then Hera had kidnapped Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth.
In the absence of Eileithyia, Artemis, having been born first, played the role of a midwife and assisted her mother with the birth of Apollo. I t is due to this myth that Artemis was worshiped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia.
Artemis is one of the 12 Olympian Gods who resided atop Mount Olympus. The Olympians are a race of deities who are a third or fourth generation of immortal beings and they were worshiped as the principal deities of the Greek pantheon. The Olympians managed to become the supreme deities after a 10 year long struggle known as Titanomachy.
Although there are a number of immortal residents at Mount Olympus, o nly 12 of them are considered the most important ones. Being the daughter of Zeus, Artemis had a place of prominence among the 12 Olympian Gods.
In Greek Mythology, the virgin goddesses or maiden goddesses do not marry or bear any children , the usual way or not at all. Artemis was one of the three major Virgin Goddesses in Greek mythology; the others being Athena and Hestia.
A poem by ancient Greek poet Callimachus mentions how Artemis requested her father Zeus to grant her eternal virginity when she was just a young girl. Being a virgin, Artemis drew the attention and interest of many gods and men, but only her hunting companion, Orion , won her heart.
It is to be noted that the concept of Artemis as a virgin deity is contradictory to her role as a goddess associated with childbirth. It is speculated that her virginity is related to her being a goddess of the hunt as hunters traditionally abstained from sex before a hunt. It might also be that her virginity was seen as a concentration of fertility that could be spread among her followers.
I n Roma n mythology, Diana is considered as the a goddess of the countryside, hunters, crossroads and th e m oon. S he was also originally associated with wilderness and was a patroness of the hunters. She t oo was worshiped as a virgin goddess who was associated with fertility, childbirth and the protection of women during labor.
According to the Roman poet Nemesianus , Diana carried a bow and a quiver full of golden arrows , typically clad in a short tunic and was accompanied by a deer. Roman m ythology also says that Diana was the daughter of the Jupiter, the king of the Roman Gods ; and his mistress, Latona.
Moreover, she was born on the island of Delos along with her twin brother, Apollo. As Greek influence had a profound impact on Roman religion and Diana possessed many similar attributes of Artemis, she was fully conflated with the A rtemis by the 3rd century CE.
In Greek mythology, a huge female deer known as the Ceryneian Hind always accompanied Artemis. Although female, it had male-like antlers which were shiny and golden ; and hooves made of bronze or brass. The Ceryneian Hind i s also often referred to as the Golden Hind because of its golden antlers. Based on various Greek tales, the creature had the ability to outr un a flying arrow.
The Golden Hind was considered sacred and was used as a symbol to represent t he sanctity of Artemis.
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