Artemis
("virtuous")Twin sister
of Apollo, born by Leto on the island Delos. Her father was Zeus.
Apart from being the goddess of hunting, she was also the protector of young
women, childbirth, harvest, nature and the moon. She was a virgin goddess,
and would bless women dying of childbirth by giving them a quick death.
Artemis was one of the most popular goddesses of ancient Greece, and she was
believed to wander around in the forests, surrounded by the nymphs. She was
a goddess of dancing, and very much a goddess especially for women. Pregnant
women would dedicate their clothes to her, and before a woman god married
she would offer her clothes to Artemis.
In Sparta, young boys also worhipped her. They would go through a trial of
being whipped without crying until they could not stand it any longer at her
altar. It was Artemis who demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia before the Greeks
could sail out for Troy, but some versions of the story actually makes the
goddess save the young girl before she is killed.
In some cases Artemis was a goddess of vengeance and death. She was the one
who killed Niobe's daughters with her arrows, and she killed the hunter Orion
and according to some versions also Ariadne.
In Roman mythology Artemis was called Diana.
Artemis also had many epithets:
Aegina, Aetole, Agrotera, Alphaea, Alpheionia, Amarysia, Amarynthia, Apanchomene,
Aptera, Aristo, Aristobule, Astrateia, Brauron, Britomartis, Calliste, Caryatis,
Cederatis, Chitone, Cnacalesia, Gnaceatis, Cnagia, Colaenis, Condyleatis,
Cordaca, Coryphaea, Corythallia, Cynthia, Daphnaea, Delia, Delphinia, Derchiatis,
Dictynia, Dictynnaea, Ennodia, Ephesia, Euclea, Eurynome, Gaeeochus, Hegemone,
Hemeresia, Heurippe, Hymnia, Iolcia, Iphigenia, Issoria, Laphria, Leucophryne,
Limnaea, Limnatides, Limnatis, Locheia, Loxo, Lyceia, Lycoatis, Lysizona,
Mesopolitis, Munychia, Mysia, Oenoatis, Orthia, Parthenos, Patroa, Pheraea,
Pitanatis, Propylaea, Proseoa, Pyrmia, Rhoccaea, Saronia, Sciatis, Selasia,
Selasphora, Soodina, Soteira, Stymphalia, Tauropolis, Triclaria, Zea.