Artemis

* Main design
* Twin design
* Shaded

**Artemis** (Ancient Greek Ἄρτεμις, *Ártemis*) is the Greek goddess of the hunt, the wild, the Moon, forests, animals, nature, archery, chastity, childbirth and protection of young girls.

Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Diana, and her Egyptian the goddess Bastet.

## Overview

Artemis is the twin sister of the god Apollo, the daughter of Leto and Zeus, and one of the three maiden goddesses over which Aphrodite has no power whatsoever, the others being Athena and Hestia. Artemis is featured in a great number of myths, and thus appears in many videos about Greek mythology.

## Miscellaneous Myths

### Niobe

In the video of *Niobe*, it's explained how the goddess Leto, after a short fling with Zeus, fell pregnant and was forbidden by Hera to give birth, who additionally kidnapped Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. Leto eventually gave birth on Delos, to twins; Artemis was the oldest, followed by Apollo nine days later.

Later, when Niobe, Queen of Thebes, insulted Leto by claiming to be better than her, as she had fourteen children to Leto's two, Leto summoned her twins and asked them to avenge her. Apollo and Artemis answered by shooting Niobe's all of sons and daughters dead.

### Hippolytus

Hippolytus was the son of Theseus and Hippolyta, who just like Artemis rejected relationship in favour of hunting in the woods, making him Artemis' favoured, but hated by Aphrodite, who represents the exact opposite of what Artemis does. Aphrodite, furious, indirectly caused Hippolytus death after making his step-mother Phaedra fall in love with him (Phaedra accused Hippolytus of forcing himself on her, and thus Theseus asked Poseidon to kill Hippolytus). In one version, Artemis wouldn't let her follower stay dead like that, and took Hippolytus' body to her nephew, Asclepius, who restored him back to life.

### The Theogony

Artemis appears as a baby, along with her twin brother Apollo, in their father Zeus’ arms, products of his affair with Leto, their mother.

### Heracles

One of Heracles’ labours included the capture of the Ceryneian Hind, Artemis’ sacred deer. Eurystheus hoped that Heracles trying to catch Artemis' sacred deer would enrage the goddess enough to kill him, but Artemis allowed him to take the deer after he explained the situation to her.

### Endymion

In the myth of Endymion, it's mentioned how the romance of Endymion and Selene was the main difference (and contrasting point) between the two lunar goddesses, as Artemis was a sworn virgin who forsook relationships, with the exception of the hunter Orion, whereas Selene fell in love and had children with Endymion. This difference helped Selene maintain her autonomy to some degree as the two were conflated together.

Additionally, the video touches on Artemis' sexuality. Artemis forsook all kind of relations, having never fallen in love with a man, with also zero evidence that she liked girls either ("sorry, Internet"). Red notes that that basically there was only one exception to that rule, the hunter Orion, for whom she harbored no sexual, but rather romantic feelings. Red theorizes that what might describe Artemis best, who experienced no sexual attraction but rather only romantic attraction that bloomed after an already intimate relationship, is "demiromantic asexual", though she adds that "[she is] not here to speculate about the hypothetical orientations of ancient goddesses, no matter how fun it might be".

### Orion

In the *Orion* video, several versions of the myth of the giant Orion are presented, many featuring Artemis.

In the *Odyssey*, the reader is informed that Artemis herself killed Orion, to the dismay of Orion's lover, the dawn goddess Eos.

In one version, after not finding King Oenopion to avenge himself, Orion travels to Delos where he befriends Artemis and her mother Leto. Orion, an excellent hunter, boasts that he can hunt down and kill every single beast, which Gaia, the earth, doesn't take too well. She sends a scorpion to kill Orion. Afterwards, Artemis turns her slain friend into a constellation.

In another, Orion wouldn't stop harassing Artemis' friends and hunting companions, the Pleiades, so Artemis has Zeus turn them into stars. Then Artemis has Apollo send a scorpion to kill Orion, who is then also turned into a constellation by Zeus.

In yet another version, Apollo feared that the nature of Artemis and Orion's relationship was a romantic one, and disapproving, he tricked Artemis into killing him; he bet that Artemis couldn't hit a spot in the distance with her bow and arrow. Artemis proved she could, but that spot was Orion, who was now dead. Artemis then turned him into a constellation, and threatened Apollo to expose him to their mother if he kills a friend of hers again.

Although in modern times Orion is best known as the only man Artemis ever loved, it's noted that this version is a rare one, and in ancient texts it's overshadowed by the many more versions where there's nothing romantic going between them, and in fact Artemis is the one to cause his death in so many of them.

### Ares' Abduction

Once, the giants Ephialtes and Otus decided to storm Olympus and kidnap the goddesses Hera and Artemis, wishing to make them their wives, despite Hera being the goddess of marriage and Artemis a sworn virgin. Artemis is seen fighting the giants, whose plan fail. However, they did manage to capture Ares, and put him in a jar. Thirteen months later, Artemis and Hermes decided to rescue Ares; Artemis awkwardly flirted with the giants in order to distract them as Hermes freed Ares. The brothers tried to capture her, but she turned into a deer and jumped between them. Both brothers threw their spears at her, impaling and killing each other.

### Atalanta

When the king of Calydon made sacrifices to all Olympians but forgot to honour Artemis, she punished him by sending a giant boar to wreck havoc in Calydon.

### Typhon

When the monstrous Typhon attacked Olympus, all the gods changed into animals and fled; Artemis changed into a cat. This was the Greek explanation for the Egyptian animal-gods; Artemis was equated to the Egyptian goddess Bastet.

### Hermes

Although Apollo and Hermes’ relationship was stormy at first, Apollo came to dote on their new brother, prompting Artemis to tell Apollo that he is spoiling him (Apollo disagreed). Artemis was said to have been given her hunting dogs by Pan.

### Pride Tales

Artemis, along with Athena and Hestia, was one of the three beings that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, had no influence over. Red remarks that Athena is pretty straight-forward in her lack of interest in sex, though Artemis could be interpreted a few different ways. Artemis is then shown hanging out with her nymph companions and turning Actaeon into a stag when he asks whether they'll start kissing.

### Actaeon

The story of Actaeon is one with many variations. According to Euripides, Actaeon was devoured by his hounds when he claimed to be a better hunter than Artemis. Callimachus and Apollodorus both mention Actaeon seeing Artemis bathing naked, thereupon he was killed by his hounds, while shaped like a deer according to the later.

According to Ovid, who delivers the most extensive account of the story, Actaeon was a young hunter who while returning home, stumbled upon Artemis and her nymphs bathing naked in her sacred grotto. The nymphs, panicking, rushed to cover Artemis' naked body with their own. Artemis then took the situation in her hands and splattered some water onto Actaeon, transforming him into a deer, an animal that cannot speak with human speech and thus could never reveal to anyone what he had seen. Like the other versions, Actaeon ran but was caught and killed by his own hunting dogs.

Many ancient works of art feature a fully-clothed Artemis standing next to Actaeon being devoured by his dogs.

### Aphrodite's Affair

After Hephaestus trapped Ares and Aphrodite, Artemis, who was playing cards with Athena, refused to take a look, making a snarky comment about the supposed marital bliss she was missing out on.

## Legends Summarized

### The Trojan War

During the gathering of Greek armies for the Trojan War, Agamemnon angered Artemis, causing her to turn the winds against the Achaeans' ships to keep them at port. The soldiers soon found out, stating that the only way to appease Artemis was for Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, which he does quickly.

However, in the *Cypria*, Artemis arrives in time to save Iphgenia, saving her from her sacrifice and making her immortal. She then replaced Iphigenia with a deer on the altar. Seemingly appeased, Artemis set the winds back to their original course, allowing the Achaeans to sail to Troy.

## Classis Summarized

### The Iliad

Artemis doesn't have much of a role in the Iliad, but she does have cameo appearances, appearing with the other gods on Olympus.

## Physical appearance

Artemis is blue-coloured (in earlier videos it was a light blue, but in more recent ones it has shifted to a much darker shade). She wears her hair in a braid, and her short chiton has a brooch with a moon symbol on it.

She sometimes carries a bow the same colour as herself.

## Appearances

The Iliad (cameo)

Niobe

Endymion

Atalanta

Heracles

Dionysus (cameo)

Narcissus

Aphrodite

The Theogony

Hippolytus

Hermes

Tantalus (cameo)

Typhon

Pride Tales

Orion

Ares' Abduction

Actaeon

Aphrodite's Affair

The Trojan War

Artemis and Apollo

## Gallery

Artemis being described as one of the Demons in *Paradise Lost*.Artemis and Acteon.Artemis saves Iphigenia.Old Artemis dark design.Old Artemis original light design.Artemis as a deer.Artemis as a baby with Apollo.
## Notes

1. ↑ Though in the *Miscellaneous Myths: Orion* video it's explained that neither Orion was really an exception.
2. ↑ No myth has Artemis join Hermes in his rescue mission (he goes alone to save Ares in every version), let alone flirt with Otus and Ephialtes, or Ephialtes getting angry about not getting his wife. While she did kill the giants the way described (though sometimes it's Apollo instead) this event is separate from Hermes' rescue.