Artemis

**Artemis** is the Greek virgin goddess of the hunt, archery, wilderness, animals, forests, the Moon, radiance, maidenhood, and childbirth. She and her twin brother Apollo are known as the "Twin Archers." Artemis drives the moon chariot across the sky at night, a role she received when Selene, the original moon deity, stepped down. Her Roman counterpart is **Diana.**

## History

### Birth and Travel to Olympus

Artemis was conceived by Zeus and the Titaness Leto. After her mother got pregnant, Hera got infuriated for her husband's constant cheating and cursed Leto to wander the earth without finding a place with roots to give birth. After traveling for a long time, the floating island of Delos gave sanctuary to Leto as the nature spirits there welcomed her. All the goddesses begged Hera to allow her daughter Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, to come to Leto, who finally gave birth to a daughter named Artemis on the seventh day of the seventh month.

Almost immediately, Artemis grew to the size of a six-year-old girl and helped deliver her twin brother, Apollo, nine days later.​​​​​​ Seeing that it took days and nights to help her mother give birth to Apollo, the young Artemis swore to be a virgin and that she didn't like men after that. However, this event also influenced her to become the protector and nurturer of the young.

Four days later, Artemis asked her aunt Hestia to take her to Mount Olympus so she could meet with her father. After Artemis lovingly embraced Zeus with open arms, he swore on the River Styx to grant his daughter anything as a birthday present. Artemis requested to be an eternal maiden, the goddess of the wilderness, and wanted a band of eighty maiden followers who varied from mortals or nymphs, twenty of whom hunted with the goddess personally. The Elder Cyclopes forged Artemis' Silver Bow and arrows, while Pan provided her with hunting dogs. Her followers consisted of about eighty maiden girls who varied from mortals or nymphs,

### Capture of the Golden Deer

Needing wild animals to pull her chariot, Artemis and her Hunters decided to capture a herd of five golden deer. Britomartis was her most skilled trapper, using a set snares and concealed nets. The Hunters made noise to scare off the regular deer, while four of the five golden ones charged straight into the traps and were harnessed for Artemis' chariot. The fifth and smartest golden deer escaped, later becoming known as the Ceryneian Hind. She was given Artemis' blessing and protection from other hunters.

### First Giant War

During the First Giant War, Artemis was notable for fighting against Otis and Ephialtes, known as the Alodai twins. The giants captured Ares and planned on attacking Olympus by stacking their makeshift mountains on top of each other.

After hearing Ephialtes and Otis intended to seize Hera and Artemis as their wives, Artemis charged down the mountain and struck the Alodai twins with arrows. They tried impaling her with their spears, but she was too fast for either of them. She tricked the giants into killing each other by running between them and dodging at the last moment just as they stabbed at her, causing the twins to kill each other instead.

### Kalydonian Boar Hunt

When King Oineus of Kalydon forgot to honour Artemis at harvest time, the enraged goddess summoned a monstrous boar which she unleashed upon the fields of Kalydon, killing many animals and people in the process. Oineus consulted his son Meleager, who suggested launching a great hunt to appease Artemis. All the best hunters in Greece were summoned to participate in the Kalydonian Boar Hunt, but Artemis sabotaged them.

Mopsos, the strongest spear-thrower in Greece, tried killing the monster by launching his spear at it, but Artemis made it bounce harmlessly off the boar. Another hunter named Ankaios charged at it with a double-bladed ax, but died when the boar rammed his tusk straight into Ankaios' crotch. It was Prince Meleager who finally managed to kill the monster with help from the heroine Atalanta, who paralyzed the boar, but it wasn't enough to please Artemis. She made the other hunters envious and a full-scale civil war erupted when fighting broke out over who really deserved credit for killing the Kalydonian Boar.

### Punishing Niobe

When Queen Niobe of Thebes insulted Leto by saying her own children were more numerous and better overall, an enraged Artemis shot arrows at Niobe's seven daughters, while her brother Apollo shot arrows at Niobe's seven sons. In an act of mercy, the gods only left alive to the Queen's youngest daughter and turned Niobe into stone.

### Punishing Actaeon

One night, a prince named Actaeon hunted with his dogs until he stumbled upon Artemis and her Hunters bathing. At the sight of the naked goddess, he immediately fell in love with Artemis and revealed his presence to her. He declared his desire to marry her, though this incited her rage when Actaeon said *"[he] must have [her]"*. As punishment, Artemis transformed Actaeon into a deer and had him killed by his own hunting dogs when she stirred them from sleep.

### Encounter with Sipriotes

Sipriotes was an unfortunate boy who spotted Artemis bathing. Unlike Actaeon, Sipriotes fell to his knees and begged Artemis for mercy. Having gazed upon her naked form, she would have killed Sipriotes, but she decided to give him the option of becoming female to live due to her position as the protector of young children. Left with no other choice, Sipriotes was changed into a girl by Artemis and joined the Hunters.

### Seduction of Kallisto

Artemis' lieutenant and best friend was Kallisto, a beautiful nymph who caught her father's attention. Zeus appeared to Kallisto in his daughter's form and tried seduce her, but a confused Kallisto rejected his advances. He decided to reveal his true self and had his way with her, fathering a child in the process.

Many months later, after a long hunt, Artemis and the Hunters decide to go swimming. When Kallisto was reluctant to join them, Artemis discovered the pregnancy and demanded to know who took her maidenhood. When Kallisto told her it was Zeus disguised as Artemis herself, the goddess was unable to do much because of her father's power. Declaring that she would have allowed Kallisto to go peacefully and settle into a new life, a saddened Artemis followed her rules and transformed the sobbing girl into a bear, telling her former best friend to leave or face death. Kallisto eventually gave birth to a human son by the name of Arkas, but was later killed by hunters. Upon death, Zeus, who possibly felt guilty for his actions, honoured Kallisto in the stars by making her the constellation Ursa Major.

### Death of Orion

Following the incident with Kallisto, Artemis befriended the giant Orion, former royal hunter of the King of Chios. After he had his sight restored by Hephaestus with mechanical eyes, Orion settled on Delos, where Artemis allowed him to join her Hunters as the first ever male due to his impressive hunting abilities and archery. He respected all the Hunters and gave them their space when they were bathing.

However, Apollo drove Orion crazy for being close to his sister, fearing she would break her vows of maidenhood. One day, the giant got carried away with hunting so much that he began killing harmless animals, declaring that *"[he] will kill all the animals in the world"*. This didn't sit well with the Hunters' way of life, nor with the Earth Mother Gaea. His claims stirred the latter from slumber, sending a massive scorpion that killed Orion with its poisonous stinger. Artemis found his body shortly thereafter. Saddened by the death of yet another friend, she made Orion into a constellation with a scorpion to immortalize his story.

### Befriending Hippolytus

Hippolytus was a charming, handsome prince and legacy who had no interest in romance whatsoever. His passion for hunting made Artemis accept him into the Hunt, though her followers were rather hesitant at the thought of having an attractive male among their ranks. However, Hippolytus never tried anything romantic with the Hunters. His asexuality and aromanticism greatly enraged the love goddess Aphrodite, who manipulated his father Theseus's emotions when he returned home to visit his family. The two got into an argument about Hippolytus marrying and having children, despite the latter insisting to remain at Artemis' Hunt, which resulted in Theseus drawing a sword and striking Hippolytus dead.

Upon hearing of her friend's death, a devastated Artemis promptly rushed to Hippolytus' tomb and carried his deceased body to her nephew Asclepius, the best physician in all of Greece. She requested that Asclepius revive him from the dead, which he did with the Physician's Cure. However, this had immediate repercussions: Aphrodite complained to Zeus about Hippolytus' revival along with Hades, as it could possibly cause chaos in both the mortal world and the Underworld. Zeus appeased his aunt and brother by personally striking down Asclepius with a thunderbolt, but Apollo was angered and devastated by the death of his favourite son and killed one of the younger Cyclopes who forged Zeus' thunderbolts in retaliation. To prevent a feud, Asclepius was resurrected and made into a god, but Hades forbid him from ever resurrecting the dead again. Fortunately, Artemis protected Hippolytus and had him sent off to Italy, where he lived to an old age as a priest to one of her sacred shrines.

## Appearance

As shown in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, Artemis is tall and possesses a well-built body. She has shoulder-length raven-black hair and striking silver-grey eyes that can easily intimidate when she is angry. Artemis is extremely beautiful and lovelier than all her attendants.

The other novels depict Artemis as a beauty, though there are some inconsistencies with this description of her. In *The Titan's Curse*, she was portrayed as a girl of the average age of her Hunters - around twelve or thirteen. She had a face of such beauty that it made Percy catch his breath, cold and bright eyes as silvery yellow as the winter, and auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail. In *The Blood of Olympus*, Artemis was depicted as a young girl of the same age and dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore black leggings and a silver tunic. In *The Dark Prophecy*, Apollo notes that Artemis never seems to assume a form any older than twenty years old. The differences in Artemis's physical description throughout the novels could be attributed to the fact that as a goddess she has the ability to assume any shape she desired, though it must be noted that she retains her incredible beauty and grace no matter what physical manifestation she adopts.

## Personality

Artemis is a focused, reserved and reasonable woman, but also extremely stoic and pragmatic. She doesn't frequently lose her temper and speaks calmly with others, even male demigods. She prefers the company of her followers and animals to even that of other gods, passing most of her time hunting in the wilderness. She possesses a deep caring for maidens, especially for the ones whom she presides over.

Unlike her twin brother Apollo, Artemis is less "easy-going" and has a much greater understanding of mortals than most of the other Olympians, much like her half-brother Hermes. She is among the more sympathetic and selfless Olympians, weighting individuals by their actions and choices as opposed to their potential as shown when she defends Percy from the Olympian Council for saving her and putting his life on the line for them all. She doesn't discriminate when selecting girls to join her ranks, allowing mortals, demigods, and nymphs to become Hunters, including her former lieutenant Zoë Nightshade, a daughter of the Titan Atlas.

However, she is known to be quite sneaky and sometimes pranks her brother. In the Hidden Oracle, Apollo mentions that on festival days Artemis tapes "kick me" signs on Apollo's toga.

Though rarely, Artemis acts out in anger whenever her wishes were disobeyed, especially if anyone transgressed against the animals that were sacred to her. Her dark side is mostly shown in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*: she banished her best friend Kallisto from among her Huntresses and transformed her into a large bear for not tell her about Zeus' assault, ruthlessly killed Queen Niobe's seven daughters after she insulted her mother (sparing only the youngest one), and unleashed a huge boar on the fields of Kalydon because King Oineus forgot to honor her at harvest time, which induced a subsequent full-scale civil war after the boar's death. All these actions shows a formidable capacity for carrying grudges, much like her uncle Hades.

Although she is mostly reasonable, Artemis holds a general dislike and distrust towards men, though she has a softer side towards children and hunters. She doesn't marry or have children because she was very affected with helping her mother to give birth to her twin brother for entire days. However, she does acknowledge and respect those who prove themselves to her, including Orion, Hippolytus, and Percy. The ones that Artemis doesn't respect (and neither respect her) suffer horrible consequences. In *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, she transformed Actaeon into a stag after he saw her naked, though many people in that situation would have assumed that Actaeon planned to rape her and she defended herself accordingly. She was far more merciful to an apologetic Sipriotes, though she permanently changed the young man's gender. In *The Titan's Curse*, it is said she likes to turn boys who see the Hunters' camp into jackalopes.

## Abilities

As a daughter of Zeus, Artemis is an extremely powerful goddess. Due to her considerable influence and followers, she bears a greater level of worship than most of the Olympians, contributing to her powers greatly. The elder Olympians (the Big Three, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia) are the only gods who surpass her. She is equal to Apollo and rivalled by Athena.

* **Enhanced Hunting**: As the Goddess of Hunting, Artemis is an unrivalled master of hunting and tracking, having the same advanced hunting powers her hunters have, but extremely increased. She can help heroes more directly since wild animals and monsters are in her domain.
	+ **Archery**: As the Goddess of Archery, Artemis is an extremely skilled archer only rivalled by Apollo and Orion. She inherited her skill from her mother. As revealed in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, her arrows strike her target no matter how far they are though it might be magic. Her aim was so incredibly precise and fast that she was able to split the Manticore's spikes mid-air with her arrows in *The Titan's Curse.*
	+ **Knifemanship**: Artemis has amazing agility and impeccable expertise at using long hunting knives in close combat.
* **Prowess in Battle**: Artemis is shown to be extremely formidable in battle. In *Percy Jackson Greek Gods*, she defeated the powerful giants Otis and Ephialtes (who previously kidnapped Ares). She was trusted by Zeus to kill any powerful monsters Kronos would try to recruit in *The Titan's Curse*. She held her own and ultimately prevailed against the stronger Titan General Atlas, even though she was exhausted due to having held up the sky and he had a greater weapon - an amazing feat considering that he overpowered the combined might of Percy and Zoë. However, it should be noted that Atlas initially had the upper hand and was only through a sneak attack. Alongside the other gods, Artemis fought against Typhon for several days in *The Last Olympian*.
	+ **Hunting Transfiguration**: Artemis can transform ordinary objects and creatures into things associated with hunting. In *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, she transformed Actaeon into a stag and Kallisto into a brown bear. In *The Titan's Curse*, she transformed a helicopter and the mortals piloting it into a flock of ravens.
	+ **Strategic Skill**: Although not on par with her half-sister Athena, Artemis is very tactical in combat. She effectively utilizes certain advantages that she possesses against enemies, such as running fast between Otis and Ephialtes to change their target and transforming into a number of animals to elude Atlas.
* **Wilderness Manipulation**: As the Goddess of the Wilderness, Artemis has divine authority and absolute control over the forests, including its inhabitants and surroundings.
	+ **Animal Authority**: Artemis has divine authority over wild animals, primarily over wolves, hawks, and stags. In *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods*, she unleashed a huge and fierce boar upon the fields of Kalydonia.
		- **Animal Replenishing**: She can replenish the animals she kills, thus balancing the fauna.
		- **Zoolingualism**: She can communicate with wild animals.
	+ **Atmokinesis**: Artemis has absolute control over the elements surrounding her domain, though to a lesser extent than her father. In *The Titan's Curse*, Percy observed that "the weather seemed to bend to [her] will."
		- **Aerokinesis** (limited): Artemis can control and manipulate air. She can halt the wind at least in the immediate vicinity of the Hunt, even in a snowy day.
	+ **Chlorokinesis** (limited): Although she isn't quite as powerful in this regard as her aunt Demeter or her half-brother Dionysus, Artemis has control over the plants over any forest and its surroundings. She controls every aspect from its trees to the ground, as shown in *The Titan's Curse*.
* **Lunakinesis**: As the Goddess of the Moon, Artemis has absolute control and divine authority over the Moon.
	+ **Photokinesis**: Artemis has absolute control and divine authority over the moonlight.
		- **Moonlight Rays**: She can shoot lasers of concentrated moonlight. This is shown in the gods' battle against Typhon.
		- **Enhanced Vision**: She can see clearly in the dark.
* **Teleportation**: She travels through waves of light, which can blind people.
	+ **Constellations Creation:** Artemis can transform people into groups of stars once they have died. Some constellations include *Orion* in *Percy Jackson's Greek Gods* and *the Huntress* in *The Titan's Curse*.
* **Artemis' Blessing**: As the Goddess of Hunting and Maidenhood, Artemis is capable of granting eternal youth, immunity to illness, enhanced hunting skills, and superhuman physical abilities greater than that of a demigod. Should her chosens break their vow, she can strip them of the powers she grants.
	+ **Immortality Reversal** (possibly): She is apparently able to take away a goddess' eternal youth, such as Hemithea, who became a minor goddess before joining the Hunters. However, her former immortality may only be a condition of her vow.
* **Reproduction Manipulation**: As the Goddess of Childbirth, Artemis has absolute control and divine authority over reproduction. As shown in *Percy Jackson Greek Gods*, she helped her mother's delivery of Apollo as soon as she was born.
	+ **Gender Reassignment**: As seen in *Percy Jackson Greek Gods*, she permanently transformed the young Sipriotes into a maiden after he accidentally witnessed the virgin goddess bathing.
* **Shapeshifting**: As a goddess, Artemis has the power of shapeshifting, which allows to turn herself into any animal. This is shown in her duel with Atlas when she fluidly transforms into a tiger, a gazelle, a bear, and a falcon.
* **Vitakinesis**: As a goddess, Artemis has the power of healing despite it not being her specialty. In *The Titan's Curse*, she attempts to heal Zoë Nightshade's poisoned wound, but is stopped by Zoë herself who knows that it's no use. As Diana, Artemis was able to heal her brother's zombie infection.

## Attributes

* Her attributes are a silver bow, arrows, and the crescent moon (or the full moon).
* Her sacred animals are the deer, stags, bears, guinea fowl, bee, snakes and hunting dogs.
* Her sacred plants are the flowering almond, hazel, ranunculus, honeysuckle, thistle, the fir tree and the cypress tree (the last symbol represents grief and mourning because Artemis could bring terrible diseases such as leprosy, although she also was associated with healing).
* Her sacred colours are silver (which represents the moon), white (which represents purity) and green (which represents the forests).
* Her sacred gems and metals are moonstone, quartz, crystal, silver, turquoise, iron, aluminium, and diamonds.

## Attendants

Artemis' attendants include a group of young women that have pledged themselves to her Hunt, large hunting dogs and wolves, and the reindeer of her chariot.

## Trivia

* In Homer's *Iliad*, Artemis is referred to as *potnia thērōn* (in Greek πότνια θηρῶν, “mistress of beasts”), referring to her role as a hunter and protector of wild creatures.
* She has a collection of furs belonging to many creatures, some of which may be extinct as Percy knows some of them that were hanging in her tent.
* Artemis shares jurisdiction over childbirth and midwifery with her half-sister Eileithyia.
* Though she is said to be the protector of young women, Artemis is said to have been appeased of crimes by the sacrifice of young women, such as Agamemnon's daughter, Iphigenia.
	+ However, some versions say Artemis took Iphigenia from the pyre seconds before it was lit without Agamemnon or his men being aware. In the series, Iphigenia appears among the Hunters in *The Dark Prophecy*. Artemis could have only pretended to want young women sacrificed while secretly rescuing them, not just from the pyres but from whatever society they lived in.
* Artemis has temples and shrines in Olympus, as seen in *The Last Olympian* when Thalia stated this after seeing Kronos destroy a shrine to Artemis.
* The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
* A minor planet, (105) Artemis, a lunar crater, the Artemis Chasma and the Artemis Corona (both on Venus) have all been named after her.
* NASA announced that their mission to the moon in 2024 would be named after Artemis.
* Artemis is one of only three current Olympians who is a virgin.
* According to one source, Artemis was born a day before Apollo and then served as a guardian to him, which provided a context for her desire to protect and nurture.
* Ancient Greek tradition held that Artemis and Apollo were born on the sixth and seventh day of Thargelion, the eleventh month in the Athenian calendar, and the Thargelia festival was held every year to commemorate the occasion.
* In myth, Artemis armed herself with a silver bow and silver arrows made by either Hephaestus or the Cyclopes.
* According to many myths, the Hunters of Artemis are nymphs and Artemis is the source of their lifeforce.
* In late Ancient Greece, Artemis came to be part of a triad with Selene and Hecate. Three goddesses that had so much in common they were often conflated with each other. This is how she became known as a moon goddess.
* In myth, Artemis has a cruel side: When Niobe boasted that her childbearing was better than Leto's (Artemis' mother), Artemis killed all six of Niobe's children.
* One source says Zeus put Orion in the stars at Artemis' request.
* Diana, a crater on the moon, is named after her Roman counterpart.
* 78 Diana, an asteroid, is named after her Roman counterpart.
* Her Norse equivalents are Skaði and Ullr.
* Her Egyptian equivalents (in terms of attributes) are Khonsu, Pakhet, Thoth and Neith.
* While not the first to appear, Artemis was the first character to both physically appear and be identified as LGBTQ+.