Artemis - Goddess of the Hunt From Patti Wigington, Daughter of Zeus and the Titan Leto, Artemis was the Greek goddess of both hunting and childbirth. Her twin brother was Apollo, and like him, Artemis was associated with a wide variety of divine attributes. As a divine huntress, she is often depicted carrying a bow and wearing a quiver full of arrows. In an interesting paradox, although she hunts animals, she is also a protector of the forest and its young creatures. Artemis was known as a goddess who valued her chastity, and was fiercely protective of her status as divine virgin. If she was seen by mortals -- or if one attempted to relieve her of her virginity -- her wrath was impressive. The Theban hunter Actaeon spied on her once as she bathed, and Artemis turned him into a stag, at which point he was felled by his own hounds. Despite her own lack of children, Artemis was known as a goddess of childbirth, possibly because she assisted her own mother in the delivery of her twin, Apollo. She protected women in labor, but also brought them death and sickness. Numerous cults dedicated to Artemis sprouted up around the Greek world, most of which were connected to women's mysteries and transitional phases, such as childbirth, puberty, and motherhood. Artemis had many names in the Greek world. She was Agrotera, a goddess of hunters; as Potnia Theron she became known as the guardian of young wild creatures. When she was being honored as the goddess of childbirth, she was sometimes known as Locheia. Occasionally she is referred to as as Phoebe, the feminine variant of Apollo's nickname, Phoebus. Because her twin brother, Apollo, was associated with the Sun, Artemis gradually became connected to the Moon and the Roman Diana in the post-Classical world. During the ancient Greek period, although Artemis was represented as a lunar goddess, she was never portrayed as the moon itself. Typically, in post-Classical artwork, she is depicted beside a crescent moon. http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/godsandgoddesses/p/Artemis_Profile.htm Assembly by DiamondGirl HTML By FoxyG.@DiamondGirls. Tiles byGRSites |