Artemis
ARTEMIS (DIANA)

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      Artemis was also called Cynthia, from her birth place, Mount Cynthus in Delos. She was Apollo's twin sister, daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was one of the three maiden goddesses of Olympus: the pure maiden Vesta, gray-eyed Athena who cares but for war and the arts of the craftsmen, and Artemis, lover of woods and the wild chase over the mountain.

     She was the Lady of Wild Things, Huntsman-in-chief to the gods, an odd office for a woman. As a huntress her favorite animal was the stag, because its swiftness gave the best opportunity for her method of capture, which was by her silver bow and arrows and speed of foot.

     As Phoebus was the Sun, she was the Moon called Phoebe and Selene (Luna) representing the evening and night, carrying a torch, and clad in long heavy robes, with a veil covering the back of her head. Neither name originally belonged to her. Phoebe was a Titan, one of the older gods. So too was Selene, a moon-goddess, indeed, but not connected with Apollo. She was the sister of Helios, the sun-god with whom Apollo was confused.

     She was worshipped in Athens, Corinth, and Thebes as goddess of strict upbringing, of good fame, of upright mind, and of sensibility in the affairs of ordinary life. She chased and fired her arrows at all wild and unchecked creatures and actions.

     In the later poets, Artemis is identified with Hecate. She is "the goddess with three forms," Selene in the sky, Artemis on earth, Hecate in the lower world and in the world above when it is wrapped in darkness. Hecate was the Goddess of the dark of the Moon, the black nights when the moon is hidden. She was associated with deeds of darkness, the Goddess of the Crossways, which were held to be ghostly places of evil magic.

The Olympians main page Final Olympians Assignment

ACTIVITIES:
ActivityArtemis activity

KEY TEST WORDS: (Know the material behind these items.)
Artemis, Diana, Cynthia, Delos, Apollo, Vesta, Athena, stag, silver bow and arrows, Phoebe, Selene, Corinth, Thebes, Hecate, Goddess of the Crossways.

RedïThe Olympians The Lesser Deities   Perge

Footnotes:
At Ephesus, where her great temple was one of the seven wonders of the world, Artemis was represented with a mural crown, with a disc behind the crown; on her breast, a garland of flowers, as a sign of her influence in spring time. Lions cling to her arms; as mother of wild beasts, she has many breasts; her legs are closely bandaged and ornamented with figures of bulls, stags, lions, and griffins; at the sides are flowers and bees. This figures may have resembled the original image of the goddess which had fallen from heaven. Selene, (Luna) is represented as riding on a mule or a horse; on the pediment of the Parthenon it is a horse.

SOURCES:
Jane Smith
Edith Hamilton's Mythology
Bulfinch's Mythology


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