Artemis


 * Artemis**



Artemis is the goddess of hunting, wilderness, wild animals, childbirth, and the protector of the girl child up to the age of marriage. She is also the bringer of death and disease to females along with her brother Apollo who brought death and disease to males. She specifically holds great power over women.
 * Title/Role**

Greek Name: ArtemiV Translation: Artemis Latin Spelling: Artemis Latin Name: Diana
 * Name**

Leto made love with Zeus and had Apollo and Artemis Iokheaira. Iokheaira stands for delighting in arrows. Hera, the wife of Zeus, was jealously spying on Leto giving birth. She was born first, and right after, she helped her mother delivers Apollo. When Artemis was a little girl, she sat on her father’s lap and asked for a list of things. She asked to keep her maidenhood forever, a well made bow, quiver full of arrows and a tunic reaching the knee in order to help slay beasts. She also asked for sixty daughters of Okeanos for her choir, all being nine-years old along with any town to be assigned to. She plans to only visit the men when the women are going through child labor so she could help deliver the baby. Zeus was happy to have Artemis and was delighted to fulfill all of her wishes. Once she got all she wanted, she went to Mysian Olympus to practice her powers. She shot her arrow at an elm tree first, then an oak tree, followed by a beast and then she shot a stranger with many sins and unjust to her. She spread plagues on fields of crops and damaged them with frost. She even killed children during childbirth.
 * Birth & Childhood**

**Children** Artemis was a pure goddess being a virgin and not having any children. Many gods and mortal men are under a trance of Artemis’ beauty. She was very strict with remaining a virgin and pure. There is an example of her wrath on Aktaion concerning her pureness. A hunter named Aktaion was the son of Autonoe and Aristaios and grew up under Kheiron trained as a huntsman. He went hunting with fifty of his dogs in Mount Kithairon, Boiotia (Central Greece). Here, he mistakenly saw Artemis naked and bathing in a spring. Once she found out, she was so angry with him, and turned him into a male deer. Other versions of this story is that she made Aktaion's skin made of deer skin. By doing this, the fifty dogs became frenzied and attack him who was a deer and ate him.



**Symbols** Her bow and arrows shows her powers in hunting and control over wild beasts and animals.

**Physical Characteristics** Artemis was portrayed as wearing a short knee-length chiton (a long woolen tunic) with a quiver full of bows around her back and a bow in her hand. The quiver and bow shows the hunting part of her godly figure.

An enemy of Artemis was Hera during the Trojan War.
 * Enemies**

**Significant Story** During the Trojan War, Artemis heals the wounded. Meanwhile, Zeus tells all of the gods that they could go down and fight for either side they prefer. So Hera came down and stood in the path of Artemis. Hera spoke high against Artemis saying Artemis is no match for her and that she is much stronger than her. So Hera defeats Artemis, and Artemis flies away weeping in tears leaving behind her bow and arrows to her father Zeus. Artemis also defended Olympos from the sons of Poseidon, Otos and Ephialtes, who were Gigantes. They grew two feet in width and six feet in length. So when they were nine, they were huge and decided to fight against the gods. When they approached the Gods, Artemis tricked them both into killing themselves. She did this by darting between the two like a deer, having them miss her and spear each other until death.

Author: Matthew "Maow" Pereira