Artemis was born first, before her twin brother Apollo, emerging into a world that would later be dominated by the sun. In the earliest accounts of her birth, she was not merely a goddess but a midwife who assisted her mother, Leto, in delivering the sun god himself. This paradoxical beginning established her as a deity of transitions, existing between the darkness of the night and the light of the day. Her birthplace, the floating island of Delos, was the only refuge allowed to Leto after Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, forbade the mother from giving birth on any solid ground. The island of Delos, once drifting freely across the Aegean, was anchored to the sea floor by the weight of the newborn twins, a mythological event that transformed the geography of the ancient world. Artemis, the firstborn, represents the moon and the night, while Apollo, the second, represents the sun and the day, creating a cosmic duality that defined their roles for millennia. Her early life was marked by a fierce independence, as she roamed the forests and mountains attended by a retinue of nymphs, rejecting the domestic sphere that defined most other goddesses. She was a kourotrophic deity, a protector of young children, particularly girls, and a patron of childbirth and midwifery, yet she was also a bringer of disease and death to those who crossed her. Her wrath was proverbial, a reflection of the hostility of wild nature toward humans who dared to intrude upon her sacred spaces. The goddess was one of the three major virgin goddesses, alongside Athena and Hestia, and she was one of the few Greek deities over whom Aphrodite held no power. Her preference for remaining an unmarried maiden was absolute, and she was often depicted as a huntress of the woods, surrounded by her chaste band of nymphs. The goddess was worshipped as one of the primary deities of childbirth and midwifery, yet she was also believed to send both good health and illness upon women and children. Her symbols included a bow and arrow, a quiver, and hunting knives, and the deer and the cypress were sacred to her. The goddess was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities, with her worship spreading throughout ancient Greece, with multiple temples, altars, shrines, and local veneration found everywhere in the ancient world. Her great temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, before it was burnt to the ground. The goddess was often identified with Selene, the personification of the Moon, and in later times, she was equated with Diana, her Roman equivalent. The etymology of the name Artemis remains uncertain, though various origins have been proposed, including a Pre-Greek origin, a Phrygian root, or a Persian origin meaning great, excellent, or holy. The name may be related to Greek arktos, bear, supported by the bear cult the goddess had in Attica, and the Neolithic remains at the Arkoudiotissa Cave. The goddess was worshipped in festivals during spring, and in some cults she retains the theriomorphic form of a Pre-Greek goddess who was conceived with the shape of a bear. The ancient Greeks called Potnia Theron the representation of the goddess between animals, and on a Greek vase from circa 570 BCE, a winged Artemis stands between a spotted panther and a deer. The goddess was worshipped as Tauria, Aricina, and Anaitis, and in the bucolic songs the image of the goddess was discovered in bundles of leaves or dry sticks. The goddess was worshipped as Saronia and Stymphalia, and in relation to these myths, she was worshipped as Aphaea and Diktynna. Artemis carrying torches was identified with Hecate, and she had the surnames Phosphoros and Selasphoros. In Athens and Tegea, she was worshipped as Artemis Kalliste, the most beautiful. Sometimes the goddess had the name of an Amazon like Lyceia with a helmet of a wolf-skin and Molpadia. The female warriors Amazons embody the idea of freedom and women's independence. In spite of her status as a virgin who avoided potential lovers, there are multiple references to Artemis's beauty and erotic aspect. Ancient poets note Artemis's height and imposing stature, as she stands taller and more impressive than all the nymphs accompanying her. The goddess was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia and Hera. She was also a patron of healing and disease, particularly among women and children, and was believed to send both good health and illness upon women and children. The goddess was one of the three major virgin goddesses, alongside Athena and Hestia. Artemis preferred to remain an unmarried maiden and was one of the three Greek goddesses over whom Aphrodite had no power. In myth and literature, Artemis was presented as a hunting goddess of the woods, surrounded by her chaste band of nymphs. In the myth of Actaeon, when the young hunter sees her bathing naked, he is transformed into a deer by the angered goddess and is then devoured by his own hunting dogs, who do not recognize their master. In the story of Callisto, the girl is driven away from Artemis's company after breaking her vow of virginity, having lain with and been impregnated by Zeus. In the Epic tradition, Artemis halted the winds blowing the Greek ships during the Trojan War, stranding the Greek fleet in Aulis, after King Agamemnon, the leader of the expedition, shot and killed her sacred deer. Artemis demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia, Agamemnon's young daughter, as compensation for her slain deer. In most versions, when Iphigenia is led to the altar to be offered as a sacrifice, Artemis pities her and takes her away, leaving a deer in her place. In the war that followed, Artemis supported the Trojans against the Greeks, and she challenged Hera in battle. Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities; her worship spread throughout ancient Greece, with her multiple temples, altars, shrines, and local veneration found everywhere in the ancient world. Her great temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, before it was burnt to the ground. Artemis's symbols included a bow and arrow, a quiver, and hunting knives, and the deer and the cypress were sacred to her. Diana, her Roman equivalent, was especially worshipped on the Aventine Hill in Rome, near Lake Nemi in the Alban Hills, and in Campania. The etymology of the name Artemis remains uncertain, though various origins have been proposed. R.S.P. Beekes suggested the e/i interchange indicates a Pre-Greek origin, a view supported by the Lydian variant Artimus, and by Georgios Babiniotis, who notes the name's Mycenaean attestation and possible pre-Greek roots. The name may be related to Greek arktos bear, from PIE h2rktos, supported by the bear cult the goddess had in Attica, and the Neolithic remains at the Arkoudiotissa Cave, as well as the story of Callisto, which was originally about Artemis. The cult was a survival of very old totemic and shamanistic rituals and formed part of a larger bear cult found further afield in other Indo-European cultures, such as the Gaulish Artio. It is believed that a precursor of Artemis was worshipped in Minoan Crete as the goddess of mountains and hunting, Britomartis. While connection with Anatolian names has been suggested, Artemis, as Apollo's inseparable twin, is discussed at the earliest attested forms of the name Artemis are the Mycenaean Greek, a-te-mi-to, and a-ti-mi-te, written in Linear B at Pylos. According to J. T. Jablonski, the name is also Phrygian and could be compared with the royal appellation Artemas of Xenophon. Charles Anthon argued that the primitive root of the name is probably of Persian origin from arta, art, arte, all meaning great, excellent, holy, thus Artemis becomes identical with the great mother of Nature, even as she was worshiped at Ephesus. Anton Goebel suggests the root or, to shake, and makes Artemis mean the thrower of the dart or the shooter. Ancient Greek writers, by way of folk etymology, and some modern scholars, have linked Artemis to artamos, i.e., butcher, or, like Plato did in Cratylus, to artemes, i.e., safe, unharmed, uninjured, pure, the stainless maiden. A. J. van Windekens tried to explain both and Artemis from atremes, meaning unmoved, calm; stable, firm, via metathesis. Artemis is presented as a goddess who delights in hunting and punishes harshly those who cross her. Artemis's wrath is proverbial and represents the hostility of wild nature to humans. Homer calls her Potnia Theron, lit. the mistress of animals, a title associated with representations in art going back as far as the Bronze Age, showing a woman between a pair of animals. Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths. Artemis was one of the most popular goddesses in Ancient Greece. The most frequent name of a month in the Greek calendars was Artemision in Ionic, territories Artemisios or Artamitios in the Doric and Aeolic territories and in Macedonia. Also Elaphios in Elis, Elaphebolion in Athens, Iasos, Apollonia of Chalkidice and Munichion in Attica. In the calendars of Aetolia, Phocis and Gytheion there was the month Laphrios and in Thebes, Corcyra, and Byzantion the month Eucleios. The goddess was venerated in festivals during spring. In some cults she retains the theriomorphic form of a Pre-Greek goddess who was conceived with the shape of a bear. Kallisto in Arcadia is a hypostasis of Artemis with the shape of a bear, and her cults at Brauron and at Piraeus are remarkable for the arkteia where virgin girls before marriage were disguised as she-bears. The ancient Greeks called Potnia Theron the representation of the goddess between animals; on a Greek vase from circa 570 BCE, a winged Artemis stands between a spotted panther and a deer. Potnia theron is very close to the daimons and this differentiates her from the other Greek divinities. This is the reason that Artemis was later identified with Hecate, since the daimons were tutelary deities. Hecate was the goddess of crossroads and she was the queen of the witches. Laphria is the Pre-Greek mistress of the animals at Delphi and Patras. There was a custom to throw live animals into the annual fire of the fest. The festival at Patras was introduced from Calydon and this relates Artemis to the Greek heroine Atalanta who symbolizes freedom and independence. Other epithets that relate Artemis to the animals are Amarynthia and Kolainis. In the Homeric poems Artemis is mainly the goddess of hunting, because it was the most important sport in Mycenean Greece. An almost formulaic epithet used in the Iliad and Odyssey to describe her is iocheaira, she who shoots arrows, often translated as she who delights in arrows or she who showers arrows. She is called Artemis Chrysilakatos, of the golden shafts, or Chrysinios, of the golden reins, as a goddess of hunting in her chariot. The Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis paints this picture of the goddess: According to the beliefs of the first Greeks in Arcadia Artemis is the first nymph, a goddess of free nature. She is an independent free woman, and she does not need any partner. She is hunting surrounded by her nymphs. This idea of freedom and women's skill is expressed in many Greek myths. In Peloponnese the temples of Artemis were built near springs, rivers and marshes. Artemis was closely related to the waters and especially to Poseidon, the god of the waters. Her common epithets are Limnnaia, Limnatis relation to waters and Potamia and Alphaea relation to rivers. In some cults she is the healer goddess of women, with the surnames Lousia and Thermia. Artemis is the leader of the nymphs Hegemone and she is hunting surrounded by them. The nymphs appear during the festival of the marriage, and they are appealed by the pregnant women. Artemis became goddess of marriage and childbirth. She was worshipped with the surname Eucleia in several cities. Women consecrated clothes to Artemis for a happy childbirth and she had the epithets Lochia and Lecho. The Dorians interpreted Artemis mainly as goddess of vegetation who was worshipped in an orgiastic cult with lascivious dances, with the common epithets Orthia, Korythalia and Dereatis. The female dancers wore masks and were famous in antiquity. The goddess of vegetation was also related to the tree-cult with temples near the holy trees and the surnames Apanchomene, Caryatis and Cedreatis. According to Greek beliefs the image of a god or a goddess gave signs or tokens and had divine and magic powers. With these conceptions she was worshipped as Tauria the Tauric goddess, Aricina Italy and Anaitis Lydia. In the bucolic pastoral songs the image of the goddess was discovered in bundles of leaves or dry sticks and she had the surnames Lygodesma and Phakelitis. In the European folklore, a wild hunter is chasing an elfish woman who falls in the water. In the Greek myths the hunter is chasing a female deer doe and both disappear into the waters. In relation to these myths Artemis was worshipped as Saronia and Stymphalia. The myth of a goddess who is chased and then falls in the sea is related to the cults of Aphaea and Diktynna. Artemis carrying torches was identified with Hecate and she had the surnames Phosphoros and Selasphoros. In Athens and Tegea, she was worshipped as Artemis Kalliste, the most beautiful. Sometimes the goddess had the name of an Amazon like Lyceia with a helmet of a wolf-skin and Molpadia. The female warriors Amazons embody the idea of freedom and women's independence. In spite of her status as a virgin who avoided potential lovers, there are multiple references to Artemis's beauty and erotic aspect; in the Odyssey, Odysseus compares Nausicaa to Artemis in terms of appearance when trying to win her favor, Libanius, when praising the city of Antioch, wrote that Ptolemy was smitten by the beauty of the statue of Artemis; whereas her mother Leto often took pride in her daughter's beauty. Hera and Leto. She has several stories surrounding her where men such as Actaeon, Orion, and Alpheus tried to couple with her forcibly, only to be thwarted or killed. Ancient poets note Artemis's height and imposing stature, as she stands taller and more impressive than all the nymphs accompanying her. Homer, Odyssey 6.102 ff Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.138 ff. Epithets and functions. Artemis is rooted to the less developed personality of the Mycenean goddess of nature. The goddess of nature was concerned with birth and vegetation and had certain chthonic aspects. The Mycenean goddess was related to the Minoan mistress of the animals, who can be traced later in local cults, however we do not know to what extent we can differentiate the Minoan from the Mycenean religion. Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths. According to the beliefs of the first Greeks in Arcadia, Artemis is the first nymph, a divinity of free nature. She was a great goddess and her temples were built near springs marshes and rivers where the nymphs live, and they are appealed by the pregnant women. In Greek religion we must see less tractable elements which have nothing to do with the Olympians, but come from an old, less organized world-exorcisms, rituals to raise crops, gods and goddesses conceived not quite in human shape. Some cults of Artemis retained the pre-Greek features which were consecrated by immemorial practices and connected with daily tasks. Artemis shows sometimes the wild and darker side of her character and can bring immediate death with her arrows, however she embodies the idea of the free nature which was introduced by the first Greeks. The Dorians came later in the area, probably from Epirus and the goddess of nature was mostly interpreted as a vegetation goddess who was related to the ecstatic Minoan tree-cult. She was worshipped in orgiastic cults with lascivious and sometimes obscene dances, which have pure Greek elements introduced by the Dorians. A not localized phallic dance of women is connected with the boisterous and nudge dances of the cult of Artemis, as a goddess of vegetation. The feminine sometimes male dancers wore usually masks, and they were famous in the antiquity. The great popularity of Artemis corresponds to the Greek belief in freedom Hospitality to the strangers and freedom for all, and she is mainly the goddess of women and children. The goddess of free nature is independent and celibate. Artemis is frequently depicted carrying a torch and she was occasionally identified with Hecate. Like other Greek deities, she had a number of other names applied to her, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the goddess. Dictynna or Dictyna, from diktyon, a hunting-net. The festival Dictynnia celebrated at Kydonia. Mythology Birth. Various conflicting accounts are given in Greek mythology regarding the birth of Artemis and Apollo, her twin brother. In terms of parentage, though, all accounts agree that she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and that she was the twin sister of Apollo. In some sources, she is born at the same time as Apollo; but in others, earlier or later. Although traditionally stated to be twins, the author of The Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo the oldest extant account of Leto's wandering and birth of her children is only concerned with the birth of Apollo, and sidelines Artemis; in fact in the Homeric Hymn they are not stated to be twins at all. It is a slightly later poet, Pindar, who speaks of a single pregnancy. The two earliest poets, Homer and Hesiod, confirm Artemis and Apollo's status as full siblings born to the same mother and father, but neither explicitly makes them twins. According to Callimachus, Hera, who was angry with her husband Zeus for impregnating Leto, forbade her from giving birth on either terra firma the mainland or on an island, but the island of Delos disobeyed and allowed Leto to give birth there; this rooted the once freely floating island to one place. According to the Homeric Hymn to Artemis, however, the island where she and her twin were born was Ortygia. In ancient Cretan history, Leto was worshipped at Phaistos, and in Cretan mythology, Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis on the islands known today as Paximadia. A scholium of Servius on Aeneid iii. 72 accounts for the island's archaic name Ortygia Or as a separate island birthplace of Artemis: Rejoice, blessed Leto, for you bear glorious children, the lord Apollon and Artemis who delights in arrows; her in Ortygia, and him in rocky Delos, says the Homeric Hymn; the etymology Ortygia, Isle of Quail, is not supported by modern scholars by asserting that Zeus transformed Leto into a quail ortux to prevent Hera from finding out about his infidelity, and Kenneth McLeish suggested further that in quail form, Leto would have given birth with as few birth-pains as a mother quail suffers when she lays an egg. McLeish, Kenneth. Children of the Gods pp 33f; Leto's birth-pangs, however, are graphically depicted by ancient sources. The myths also differ as to whether Artemis was born first, or Apollo. Most stories depict Artemis as firstborn, becoming her mother's midwife upon the birth of her brother Apollo. Servius, a late fourth/early fifth-century grammarian, wrote that Artemis was born first because at first it was night, whose instrument is the Moon, which Artemis represents, and then day, whose instrument is the Sun, which Apollo represents. Pindar however writes that both twins shone like the Sun when they came into the bright light. After their troubling childbirth, Leto took the twin infants and crossed over to Lycia, in the southwest corner of Asia Minor, where she tried to drink from and bathe the babies in a spring she found there. However, the local Lycian peasants tried to prevent the twins and their mother from making use of the water by stirring up the muddy bottom of the spring, so the three of them could not drink it. Leto, in her anger that the impious Lycians had refused to offer hospitality to a fatigued mother and her thirsty infants, transformed them all into frogs, forever doomed to swim and hop around the spring. Relations with men. The invention of archery itself is credited to Artemis and Apollo. When the giant Tityos tried to rape Leto, she called out to her children, who were still young, for help. The twins were quick to respond by raining down their arrows on Tityos, killing him. Homer, Odyssey 11.580 ff; Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.161, 165; Apollodorus 1.4.1; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 3.390 ff; Hard, p. 147, 148. For his actions against Leto, Tityos was banished to Tartarus, where he was pegged to the rock floor and stretched on an area of, while a pair of vultures feasted daily on his liver or his heart. The twin sons of Poseidon and Iphimedeia, Otos and Ephialtes, grew enormously at a young age. They were aggressive and skilled hunters who could not be killed except by each other. The growth of the Aloadae never stopped, and they boasted that as soon as they could reach heaven, they would kidnap Artemis and Hera and take them as wives. The gods were afraid of them, except for Artemis who captured a fine deer that jumped out between them. In another version of the story, she changed herself into a doe and jumped between them. The Aloadae threw their spears and so mistakenly killed one another. In another version, Apollo sent the deer into the Aloadae's midst, causing their accidental killing of each other. In another version, the Aloadae start pilling up mountains to reach Mount Olympus to catch Hera and Artemis, but the gods spot them and attack. When the twins had retreated the gods learnt that Ares had been captured. The Aloadae, not sure about what to do with Ares, lock him up in a pot. Artemis then turns into a deer and causes them to kill each other. According to Diodorus, Britomartis was a nymph and a huntress known for her use of nets, for which she became a beloved companion of Artemis. Minos, king of Crete and a half-brother of Artemis, took interest in Britomartis and pursued her for nine months. Britomartis continually fled his advances, and to escape, she at last leapt into the sea possibly from Mount Dikte and landed in fishermen's nets. She became entangled but was rescued by Artemis, who then made her a goddess. Diodorus Siculus, 5.76.3. Eurystheus commanded Heracles to catch the Ceryneian Hind in the hope that it would enrage Artemis and lead her to punish the hero for his desecration of her sacred animal. The Cerynian hind used to be the Pleiad Taygete, known as the Mistress of Animals and a dear companion of Artemis. One day, Zeus pursued Taygete, who invoked her protectress, who in turn saved her from her father by turning her into the hind. Biogeographically speaking, in Greece the nearest species of deer in which females carry horns was and is the reindeer, a fact which has occasioned various speculations: see also Deer mythology. As Heracles was returning with the hind to present it to Eurystheus, he encountered Artemis and her brother Apollo. He begged the goddess for forgiveness, explaining that he had snared the hind as part of his penance, but promised to return it to the wild soon thereafter. Convinced by Heracles's earnestness, she forgave him, foiling Eurystheus's plan. The river god Alpheus was in love with Artemis, but as he realized he could do nothing to win her heart, he decided to capture her. When Artemis and her companions at Letrenoi go to Alpheus, she becomes suspicious of his motives and covers her face with mud so he does not recognize her. In another story, Alphaeus tries to rape Artemis's attendant Arethusa. Artemis pities the girl and saves her, transforming her into a spring in the temple Artemis Alphaea in Letrini, where the goddess and her attendants drink. According to Antoninus Liberalis, Siproites was a Cretan who was metamorphized into a woman by Artemis for having seen the goddess bathing while he was hunting. Forbes Irving, p.89, 149 n. 1, 166; Fontenrose, p. 125; Antoninus Liberalis, 17 Celoria, p.71; Papathomopoulos, p.31. Artemis similarly changed a Calydonian man named Calydon, the son of Ares and Astynome, into a stone when he accidentally saw the goddess bathing naked. Pseudo-Plutarch, De fluviis, XXII. Achelous. Daphnis was a young boy, a son of Hermes, who was accepted by and became a follower of the goddess Artemis; Daphnis would often accompany her in hunting and entertain her with his singing of pastoral songs and playing of the panpipes. Diodorus Siculus, Historic Library 4.84.1. Artemis taught a man, Scamandrius, how to be a great archer, and he excelled in the use of a bow and arrow with her guidance. Homer, Iliad 5.50. Bouphagos, son of the Titan Iapetus, sees Artemis and thinks about raping her. Reading his sinful thoughts, Artemis strikes him down at Mount Pholoe. Broteas was a famous hunter who refused to honour Artemis, and boasted that nothing could harm him, not even fire. Artemis then drove him mad, causing him to walk into fire, ending his life. I think that this is a aetiological myth, intended to explain the rite in which a human effigy was burnt upon a pyre in the festival of the hunters' goddess, observes Martin P. Nilsson, Fire-Festivals in Ancient Greece, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 43.2 1923:144, 148 p. 144 note 2; Pseudo-Apollodorus, Epitome 2.2. Divine retribution. Actaeon. Multiple versions of the Actaeon myth survive, though many are fragmentary. The details vary but at the core, they involve the great hunter Actaeon whom Artemis turns into a stag for a transgression, and who is then killed by hunting dogs. Heath, The Failure of Orpheus, Transactions of the American Philological Association 124 1994:163, 196 p. 196. Walter Burkert, Homo Necans 1972, translated by Peter Bing University of California Press 1983, p. 111. Usually, the dogs are his own, but no longer recognize their master. Occasionally they are said to be the hounds of Artemis. Various tellings diverge in terms of the hunter's transgression: sometimes merely seeing the virgin goddess naked, sometimes boasting he is a better hunter than she, Lacy, Aktaion and a Lost Bath of Artemis The Journal of Hellenic Studies 110 1990:26, 42 or even merely being a rival of Zeus for the affections of Semele. Apollodorus, who records the Semele version, notes that the ones with Artemis are more common. Apollodorus, 3.4.4. According to Lamar Ronald Lacey's The Myth of Aktaion: Literary and Iconographic Studies, the standard modern text on the work, the most likely original version of the myth portrays Actaeon as the hunting companion of the goddess who, seeing her naked in her sacred spring, attempts to force himself on her. For this hubris, he is turned into a stag and devoured by his own hounds. However, in some surviving versions, Actaeon is a stranger who happens upon Artemis. A single line from Aeschylus's now lost play Toxotides female archers is among the earlier attestations of Actaeon's myth, stating that the dogs destroyed their master utterly, with no confirmation of Actaeon's metamorphosis or the god he offended but it is heavily implied to be Artemis, due to the title. Aeschylus fr 135 244, Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Fragments. Translated by Smyth, Herbert Weir. Loeb Classical Library Volume 146. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926, p.464. Ancient artwork depicting the myth of Actaeon predate Aeschylus. Matheson, S. B., Polygnotos and Vase Painting in Classical Athens Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995, p. 264. Euripides, coming in a bit later, wrote in the Bacchae that Actaeon was torn to shreds and perhaps devoured by his flesh-eating hunting dogs when he claimed to be a better hunter than Artemis. Euripides, Bacchae 330, 342. Like Aeschylus, he does not mention Actaeon being deer-shaped when that happens. Callimachus writes that Actaeon chanced upon Artemis bathing in the woods, and she caused him to be devoured by his own hounds for the sacrilege, and he makes no mention of transformation into a deer either. Callimachus, Hymn 5 On the Bath of Pallas 109, 115. Diodorus Siculus wrote that Actaeon dedicated his prizes in hunting to Artemis, proposed marriage to her, and even tried to forcefully consummate said marriage inside the very sacred temple of the goddess; for this he was given the form of one of the animals which he was wont to hunt, and then torn to shreds by his hunting dogs. Diodorus also mentioned the alternative of Actaeon claiming to be a better hunter than the goddess of the hunt. Diodorus Siculus, Historic Library 4.81.3, 5. Hyginus also mentions Actaeon attempting to rape Artemis when he finds her bathing naked, and her transforming him into the doomed deer. Hyginus, Fabulae 181. Apollodorus wrote that when Actaeon saw Artemis bathing, she turned him into a deer on the spot, and intentionally drove his dogs into a frenzy so that they would kill and devour him. Afterward, Chiron built a sculpture of Actaeon to comfort his dogs in their grief, as they could not find their master no matter how much they looked for him. According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman Ovid, Actaeon was a hunter who after returning home from a long day's hunting in the woods, he stumbled upon Artemis and her retinue of nymphs bathing in her sacred grotto. The nymphs, panicking, rushed to cover Artemis's naked body with their own, as Artemis splashed some water on Actaeon, saying he was welcome to share with everyone the tale of seeing her without any clothes as long as he could share it at all. Immediately, he was transformed into a deer, and in panic ran away. But he did not go far, as he was hunted down and eventually caught and devoured by his own fifty hunting dogs, who could not recognize their own master. Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.138 ff.; Grimal, s.v. Actaeon, p. 10. Pausanias says that Actaeon saw Artemis naked and that she threw a deerskin on him so that his hounds would kill him, to prevent him from marrying Semele. Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.2.3. Niobe. Niobe, queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion, blasphemously boasted of being superior to Leto. This myth is very old; Homer knew of it and wrote that Niobe had given birth to twelve children, equally divided in six sons and six daughters the Niobids. Other sources speak of fourteen children, seven sons, and seven daughters. Niobe claimed of being a better mother than Leto, for having more children than Leto's own two, but the two, though they were only two, destroyed all those others. Homer, Iliad 24.602 ff, trans. Lattimore. She also mocked Apollo's effeminate appearance and Artemis's manly appearance. Leto was not slow to catch up on that and grew angry at the queen's hubris. She summoned her children and commanded them to avenge the slight. Swiftly Apollo and Artemis descended on Thebes. While the sons were hunting in the woods, Apollo crept up on them and slew all seven with his silver bow. The dead bodies were brought to the palace. Niobe wept for them, but did not relent, saying that even now she was better than Leto, for she still had seven children, her daughters. Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.146 ff. On cue, Artemis then started shooting the daughters one by one. Right as Niobe begged for her youngest one to be spared, Artemis killed that last one. Niobe cried bitter tears, and was turned into a rock. Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, killed himself. The gods themselves entombed them. In some versions, Apollo and Artemis spared a single son and daughter each, for they prayed to Leto for help; thus Niobe had as many children as Leto did, but no more. Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.21.9. Orion. Orion was Artemis's hunting companion; after giving up on trying to find Oenopion, Orion met Artemis and her mother Leto, and joined the goddesses in hunting. A great hunter himself, he bragged that he would kill every beast on earth. Gaia, the earth, was not too pleased to hear that, and sent a giant scorpion to sting him. Artemis then transferred him into the stars as the constellation Orion. Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 32. Hesiod, Astronomia fr. 4. Evelyn-White, p.70, 73 = fr. 7. Freeman, p. 12, 13; Hyginus, De astronomia 2.26.2; Hard, p.564; cf. Hyginus, Fabulae 195. In one version Orion died after pushing Leto out of the scorpion's way. Ovid, Fasti 5.539. In another version, Orion tries to violate Opis, Kerenyi 1951 p.204 says that this is Another name for Artemis herself, one of Artemis's followers from Hyperborea, and Artemis kills him. Apollodorus 1.4.5. In a version by Aratus, Orion grabs Artemis's robe and she kills him in self-defense. Aratus, Phaenomena 638. Other writers have Artemis kill him for trying to rape her or one of her attendants. Callimachus, Hymn III to Artemis 265; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48.395. Istrus wrote a version in which Artemis fell in love with Orion, apparently the only time Artemis ever fell in love. She meant to marry him, and no talk from her brother Apollo would change her mind. Apollo then decided to trick Artemis, and while Orion was off swimming in the sea, he pointed at him barely a spot in the horizon and wagered that Artemis could not hit that small dot. Artemis, ever eager to prove she was the better archer, unwittingly shot Orion, killing him. The waves then brought his body to the shore, and Artemis mourned his death. Afterwards, she placed him among the stars. Hyginus, De astronomia 2.34.4. In Homer's Iliad, the goddess of the dawn Eos seduces Orion, angering the gods who did not approve of immortal goddesses taking mortal men for lovers, causing Artemis to shoot and kill him on the island of Ortygia. Homer, Iliad 5.121, 124; Gantz, p.97; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Orion; Hansen, p. 118. Callisto. Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon, King of Arcadia, Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 1 = Hesiod, Astronomia fr. 3. Evelyn-White, p.68, 71 = fr. 6. Freeman, p. 12, 13; Gantz, p.725; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Callisto; Pausanias, 1.25.1, 8.2.6; Hyginus, Fabulae 176, 177. According to the Bibliotheca, Eumelos and some others called Callisto the daughter of Lycaon, Asius called her the daughter of Nycteus, Pherecydes called her the daughter of Ceteus, and Hesiod called her a nymph. Apollodorus, 3.8.2 = Eumelos, fr. 32 West 2003, p.248, 249 = Asius fr. 9 West 2003, p.258, 259 = Pherecydes FGrHist 3 F86 = Hesiod, fr. 163 Merkelbach-West. was one of Artemis's hunting attendants, and, as a companion of Artemis, took a vow of chastity. Apollodorus, 3.8.2; Gantz, p.98; Tripp, s.v. Callisto, p. 145, 146; cf. Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 1 = Hesiod, Astronomia fr. 4. Evelyn-White, p.70, 73 = fr. 7. Freeman, p. 12, 13. According to Hesiod in his lost poem Astronomia, Zeus appeared to Callisto, and seduced her, resulting in her becoming pregnant. Though she was able to hide her pregnancy for a time, she was soon found out while bathing. Enraged, Artemis transformed Callisto into a bear, and in this form she gave birth to her son Arcas. Both of them were then captured by shepherds and given to Lycaon, and Callisto thus lost her child. Sometime later, Callisto thought fit to go into a forbidden sanctuary of Zeus, and was hunted by the Arcadians, her son among them. Gantz p.275 notes that The text here seems to indicate that Arkas and others pursued Callisto only after she had entered the sanctuary, and only because she had done so. When she was about to be killed, Zeus saved her by placing her in the heavens as a constellation of a bear. Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 1 = Hesiod, Astronomia fr. 3. Evelyn-White, p.68, 71 = fr. 6. Freeman, p. 12, 13; Gantz, p. 98, 725, 726; cf. Hesiod, Astronomia fr. 3. Evelyn-White, p.68, 71. In his De astronomia, Hyginus, after recounting the version from Hesiod, Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.1 presents several other alternative versions. The first, which he attributes to Amphis, says that Zeus seduced Callisto by disguising himself as Artemis during a hunting session, and that when Artemis found out that Callisto was pregnant, she replied saying that it was the goddess's fault, causing Artemis to transform her into a bear. This version also has both Callisto and Arcas placed in the heavens, as the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.2. Hyginus then presents another version in which, after Zeus lay with Callisto, it was Hera who transformed her into a bear. Artemis later, while hunting, kills the bear, and later, on being recognized, Callisto was placed among the stars. Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.3; Gantz, p.727. Compare with Hyginus, Fabulae p. 177 and Pausanias, 8.2.6. Hyginus also gives another version, in which Hera tries to catch Zeus and Callisto in the act, causing Zeus to transform her into a bear. Hera, finding the bear, points it out to Artemis, who is hunting; Zeus, in panic, places Callisto in the heavens as a constellation. Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.4; Gantz, p.727; cf. Apollodorus, 3.8.2. Ovid gives a somewhat different version: Zeus seduced Callisto once again disguised as Artemis, but she seems to realise that it is not the real Artemis, Gantz p.726 says that Kallisto realizes the identity or at least the gender of her seducer and she thus does not blame Artemis when, during bathing, she is found out. Callisto is, rather than being transformed, simply ousted from the company of the huntresses, and she thus gives birth to Arcas as a human. Only later is she transformed into a bear, this time by Hera. When Arcas, fully grown, is out hunting, he nearly kills his mother, who is saved only by Zeus placing her in the heavens. Ovid, Metamorphoses 401, 530; Gantz, p.726. In the Bibliotheca, a version is presented in which Zeus raped Callisto, having assumed the likeness, as some say, of Artemis, or, as others say, of Apollo. He then turned her into a bear himself so as to hide the event from Hera. Artemis then shot the bear, either upon the persuasion of Hera, or out of anger at Callisto for breaking her virginity. In the first version, Artemis was not aware the bear was Callisto. Gantz p. 727 says that Quite probably implies a variant in which Kallisto does not become a bear at all, as Artemis is not likely to transform her and shoot her, or to slay her for her own reasons after Hera has accomplished the transformation. Once Callisto was dead, Zeus made her into a constellation, took the child, named him Arcas, and gave him to Maia, who raised him. Apollodorus, 3.8.2; Gantz, p.727; Tripp, s.v. Callisto, p. 145, 146; cf. Eumelos, fr. 32 West 2003, p.248, 249 = Apollodorus, 3.8.2. Gantz p.727 suggests that this version may have come from Pherecydes, while West 2003 says that Eumelos must have told the story of how Zeus made love to Callisto and changed her into a bear. Artemis killed her, but Zeus saved her child, who was Arcas. West 2003, p.249, note 26 to fr. 32. Pausanias, in his Description of Greece, presents another version, in which, after Zeus seduced Callisto, Hera turned her into a bear, which Artemis killed to please Hera. Pausanias, 8.2.6; Gantz, p.727. Compare with Hyginus, De astronomia 2.1.3 and Pausanias, 1.25.1. Hermes was then sent by Zeus to take Arcas, and Zeus himself placed Callisto in the heavens. Pausanias, 8.2.6, 7; Gantz, p.727; cf. Apollodorus, 3.8.2. Minor myths. According to Apollodorus, Artemis joined to Gigantomachy and killed Gration with the help of Heracles. Apollodorus, 1.6.2. Grimal, s.v. Artemis, p. 61. When the monstrous Typhon attacked Olympus, all the terrified gods except for Zeus transformed into various animals and fled to Egypt. Artemis became a cat, Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.319; Antoninus Liberalis, Collection of Transformations 28, as she was identified by the Greeks with the Egyptian feline goddess Bastet. Artemis saved the infant Atalanta from dying of exposure after her father abandoned her. She sent a female bear to nurse the baby, who was then raised by hunters and grew to model herself after the goddess. In some stories, Artemis later sent a bear to attack Atalanta because others claimed Atalanta was a superior hunter. Among other adventures, Atalanta participated in the Calydonian boar hunt, which Artemis had sent to destroy Calydon because King Oeneus had forgotten her at the harvest sacrifices. In the hunt, Atalanta drew the first blood and was awarded the prize of the boar's hide. She hung it in a sacred grove at Tegea as a dedication to Artemis. After the death of Meleager, Oeneus's son who awarded Atalanta with the hide, Artemis turned his grieving sisters, the Meleagrids, into guineafowl she favours. Cyrene was a fierce Thessalian huntress and companion of Artemis, who had given her two hunting dogs. With the help of these dogs, Cyrene had been able to win the prize in the funeral games of Pelias. Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 208. When King Eurypylus was still ruling Libya, a monstrous lion had terrorized the citizens greatly, so Apollo brought Cyrene to get rid of it. After she killed the lion, he made her the new ruler of the lands, renamed Cyrene in her honor. Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo 85. Susan A. Stephens, Callimachus: The Hymns. In some versions, she was transformed into a nymph so that she could have a long life and keep hunting with Artemis as much as she desired. In one version, Artemis, along with her mother Leto, stood before Zeus with tearful eyes while Apollo pleaded with him to release Prometheus the god who had stolen fire from the gods, give them to humans, and was subsequently chained in the Caucasus with an eagle feasting on his liver each day for punishment from his eternal torment. Moved, Zeus agreed instantly and commanded Heracles to free Prometheus. Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 4.60. In some versions of the story of Adonis, Artemis sent a wild boar to kill him as punishment for boasting that he was a better hunter than her. Apollodorus, 3.14.4; cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.652; Hyginus, Fabulae 248; Plutarch, Quaestiones Convivales 4.5.3; Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists 2.80. In other versions, Artemis killed Adonis for revenge. In later myths, Adonis is a favorite of Aphrodite, who was responsible for the death of Hippolytus, who had been a hunter of Artemis. Therefore, Artemis killed Adonis to avenge Hippolytus's death. In yet another version, Adonis was not killed by Artemis, but by Ares as punishment for being with Aphrodite. Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42.204, 211; Grimal, s.v. Adonis, p. 12, 13. When two of her hunting companions who had sworn to remain chaste and be devoted to her, Rhodopis and Euthynicus, fell in love with each other and broke their vows in a cavern, Artemis turned Rhodopis into a fountain inside that very cavern as punishment. The two had fallen in love not on their own but only after Eros had struck them with his love arrows, commanded by his mother Aphrodite, who had taken offence in that Rhodopis and Euthynicus rejected love and marriage in favour of a chaste life. In Nonnus's Dionysiaca, Aura, the daughter of Lelantos and Periboia, was a companion of Artemis. Grimal, s.v. Aura, p.71. When out hunting one day with Artemis, she asserts that the goddess's voluptuous body and breasts are too womanly and sensual, and doubts her virginity, arguing that her own lithe body and man-like breasts are better than Artemis's and a true symbol of her own chastity. In anger, Artemis asks Nemesis for help to avenge her dignity. Nemesis agrees, telling Artemis that Aura's punishment will be to lose her virginity, since she dared question that of Artemis. Nemesis then arranges for Eros to make Dionysus fall in love with Aura. Dionysus intoxicates Aura and rapes her as she lies unconscious, after which she becomes a deranged killer. While pregnant, she tries to kill herself or cut open her belly, as Artemis mocks her over it. When she bore twin sons, she ate one, while the other, Iacchus, was saved by Artemis. Chione was a beautiful princess of Phocis. She was beloved by two gods, Hermes and Apollo, and boasted that she was more beautiful than Artemis because she had made two gods fall in love with her at once. Artemis was furious and pierced Chione's blasphemous tongue with an arrow, leaving the girl to choke in her own blood. Hyginus, Fabulae 200; Hard 2004, p. 192. Polyphonte was a young woman who fled home in pursuit of a free, virginal life with Artemis, as opposed to the conventional life of marriage and children favoured by Aphrodite. As a punishment, Aphrodite cursed her, causing her to mate and have children with a bear. Artemis, seeing that, was disgusted and sent a horde of wild animals against her, causing Polyphonte to flee to her father's house. Her resulting offspring, Agrius and Oreius, were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus. Ultimately the entire family was transformed into birds who became ill portents for mankind. Antoninus Liberalis, p.21. Coronis was a princess from Thessaly who became the lover of Apollo and fell pregnant. While Apollo was away, Coronis began an affair with a mortal man named Ischys. When Apollo learnt of this, he sent Artemis to kill the pregnant Coronis, or Artemis had the initiative to kill Coronis on her own accord for the insult done against her brother. The unborn child, Asclepius, was later removed from his dead mother's womb. Pindar, Pythian Ode 3 str1-ant3; Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.26.6. When Queen Echemeia of Kos ceased to worship Artemis, she shot her with an arrow; Persephone then snatched the still-living Euthemia and brought her to the Underworld. Hyginus, Astronomica 2.16.2. Trojan War. Artemis may have been represented as a supporter of Troy because her brother Apollo was the patron god of the city, and she herself was widely worshipped in western Anatolia in historical times. Artemis plays a significant role in the war; like Leto and Apollo, Artemis took the side of the Trojans. In the Iliad, Artemis on her chariot with the golden reins, kills the daughter of Bellerophon. Bellorophone was a divine Greek hero who killed the monster Chimera. At the beginning of the Greek's journey to Troy, Artemis punished Agamemnon after he killed a sacred stag in a sacred grove and boasted that he was a better hunter than the goddess. When the Greek fleet was preparing at Aulis to depart for Troy to commence the Trojan War, Artemis becalmed the winds. The seer Calchas erroneously advised Agamemnon that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. In some version of the myth, Artemis then snatched Iphigenia from the altar and substituted a deer; in others, Artemis allowed Iphigenia to be sacrificed. In versions where Iphigenia survived, a number of different myths have been told about what happened after Artemis took her; either she was brought to Tauris and led the priests there, or she became Artemis's immortal companion. Aeneas was also helped by Artemis, Leto, and Apollo. Apollo found him wounded by Diomedes and lifted him to heaven. There, the three deities secretly healed him in a great chamber. During the theomachy, Artemis found herself standing opposite of Hera, on which a scholium to the Iliad wrote that they represent the Moon versus the air around the Earth. Artemis chided her brother Apollo for not fighting Poseidon and told him never to brag again; Apollo did not answer her. An angry Hera berated Artemis for daring to fight her: How now art thou fain, thou bold and shameless thing, to stand forth against me? No easy foe I tell thee, am I, that thou shouldst vie with me in might, albeit thou bearest the bow, since it was against women that Zeus made thee a lion, and granted thee to slay whomsoever of them thou wilt. In good sooth it is better on the mountains to be slaying beasts and wild deer than to fight amain with those mightier than thou. Howbeit if thou wilt, learn thou of war, that thou mayest know full well how much mightier am I, seeing thou matchest thy strength with mine. Hera then grabbed Artemis's hands by the wrists, and holding her in place, beat her with her own bow. Homer, Iliad 21.468, 497. Crying, Artemis left her bow and arrows where they lay and ran to Olympus to cry at her father Zeus's knees, while her mother Leto picked up her bow and arrows and followed her weeping daughter. Homer, Iliad 502, 510. Worship. Artemis, the goddess of forests and hills, was worshipped throughout ancient Greece. a goddess universally worshipped in historical Greece, but in all likelihood pre-Hellenic. Hammond, Oxford Classical Dictionary, p. 126. Her best known cults were on the island of Delos her birthplace, in Attica at Brauron and Mounikhia near Piraeus, and in Sparta. She was often depicted in paintings and statues in a forest setting, carrying a bow and arrows and accompanied by a deer. The ancient Spartans used to sacrifice to her as one of their patron goddesses before starting a new military campaign. Athenian festivals in honor of Artemis included Elaphebolia, Mounikhia, Kharisteria, and Brauronia. The festival of Artemis Orthia was observed in Sparta. Pre-pubescent and adolescent Athenian girls were sent to the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron to serve the Goddess for one year. During this time, the girls were known as arktoi, or little she-bears. A myth explaining this servitude states that a bear had formed the habit of regularly visiting the town of Brauron, and the people there fed it, so that, over time, the bear became tame. A girl teased the bear, and, in some versions of the myth, it killed her, while, in other versions, it clawed out her eyes. Either way, the girl's brothers killed the bear, and Artemis was enraged. She demanded that young girls act the bear at her sanctuary in atonement for the bear's death. Golden, M., Children and Childhood in Classical Athens Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990, p.84. Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia. Dedications of clothing to her sanctuaries after a successful birth was common in the Classical era. Artemis could be a deity to be feared by pregnant women, as deaths during this time were attributed to her. As childbirth and pregnancy was a very common and important event, there were numerous other deities associated with it, many localized to a particular geographic area, including but not limited to Aphrodite, Hera and Hekate. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. Older sources, such as Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo in Line 115, have the arrival of Eileithyia on Delos as the event that allows Leto to give birth to her children. Contradictory is Hesiod's presentation of the myth in Theogony, where he states that Leto bore her children before Zeus's marriage to Hera with no commentary on any drama related to their birth. Despite being primarily known as a goddess of hunting and the wilderness, she was also connected to dancing, music, and song like her brother Apollo; she is often seen singing and dancing with her nymphs, or leading the chorus of the Muses and the Graces at Delphi. In Sparta, girls of marriageable age performed the partheneia choral maiden songs in her honor. An ancient Greek proverb, written down by Aesop, went For where did Artemis not dance?, signifying the goddess's connection to dancing and festivity. The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, p.81 Budin, p. 110. One site especially famous for its choruses dedicated to Artemis was Ephesos. According to the Hellenistic poet Kallimakhos, this custom was established by the Amazons who founded the cult by dancing around a wooden image of the goddess. During the Classical period in Athens, she was identified with Hekate. Artemis also assimilated Caryatis Cary. There was a women's cult at Cyzicus worshiping Artemis, which was called Dolon. Festivals. Artemis was born on the sixth day of the month Thargelion around May, which made it sacred for her, as her birthday. Mikalson, p. 18. On the seventh day of the same month was Apollo's birthday. Artemis was worshipped in many festivals throughout Greece mainland and the islands, Asia Minor and south Italy. Most of these festivals were celebrated during spring. Attica. The festival Elaphebolia was celebrated on the sixth day of the month Elaphebolion ninth month. The name is related to elaphos deer and Artemis is the Deer Huntress. Cakes made from flour, honey, and sesame and in the shape of stags were offered to the goddess during the festival. Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I p.483-486. Brauron. The festival was remarkable for the arkteia, where girls, aged between five and ten, were dressed in saffron robes and played at being bears, or act the bear to appease the goddess after she sent the plague when her bear was killed. Another commentator says that girls had to placate the goddess for their virginity parthenia, so that they would not be the object of revenge from her. Blundell, Sue and Margaret Williamson, eds. The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge, 1998, 33. Piraeus. The festival of Artemis Munichia was celebrated on the 6th or 16th day of the month Munichion tenth month. Young girls were dressed up as bears, as for the Brauronia. In the temple have been found sherds from the geometric period. The festival commemorated the victory of the Greek fleet over the Persians at Salamis. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities edited by William Smith 1870. Athens. Artemis had a filial cult of Brauronia, near the Acropolis. Agrae, a district of Athens, with a temple of Artemis-Agrotera huntress. Pausanias 1.19.6. On the 6th day of the month Boedromion, an armed procession would take a large number of goats to the temple. They would all be sacrificed in honor of the victory at the Battle of Marathon. The festival was called Charisteria, also known as the Athenian Thanksgiving. Myrrhinus, a deme near Merenda Markopoulo. There was a cult of Kolainis. Pausanias 1.31.4. Kolainis is usually identified with Artemis Amarysia in Euboia. Some rites and animal sacrifices were probably similar with the rites of Laphria. Athmonia, a deme near Marousi. The festival of Artemis Amarysia was no less splendid than the festival of Amarysia in Euboea. Pausanias 1.31.5. Halae Araphenides, a deme near Brauron. The fest Tauropolia was celebrated in honour of Artemis Tauropolos. During the festival a human sacrifice was represented in a ritual. Erchia a district of Athens. The modern Athenian airport was built over the ruins of the deme. A festival was celebrated on the 16th day of the month Metageitnion. Sacrifices were offered to Artemis and Hekate. Central Greece. Hyampolis in Phocis. During an attack of the Thessalians, the Phocians terrified gathered together in one spot their women, children, movable property, and also their clothes, gold and made a vast pyre. The order was that if they would be defeated, all should be killed and would be thrown into the flames together with their property. Forlorn hopes: Phocian despair Phokike aponeia. Pausanias 10,1.6. The Phocians achieved a great victory and each year they celebrated their victory in the festival Elaphebolia-Laphria in honour of Artemis. All kinds of offerings were burned in an annual fire, reminding the great pyre of the battle. Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I, p. 27,484. Delphi in Phocis. The festival Laphria was celebrated in the month Laphrios. The cult of Artemis Laphria was introduced by the priests of Delphi Labradyen who had probably Cretan origin. Laphria is certainly the Pre-Greek Mistress of the animals. Delphi in Phocis. The festival Eucleia was celebrated in honour of Artemis. According to the Labyaden inscriptions the offerings darata are determined by the specified gamela and pedēia. Eucleia was a goddess of marriage. Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I p.492-495. Tithorea in Ancient Phocis. It seems that the festival of Isis was a reform of the festival of Artemis Laphria. Pausanias 10.32.14. Erineos in Doris. Festival of Artemis Laphria, indicated by the month Laphrios in the local calendar. Antikyra in Phocis. Cult of Artemis-Diktynaia, a popular goddess who was worshipped with great respect. Pausanias 10.36.5. Thebes in Boeotia. Before marriage a premilinary sacrifice should be made by the bride and the groom to Artemis-Eucleia. Amarynthos in Euboia. Festival of Artemis Amarysia. Animals were sacrificed with rites probably similar with the fest Laphria. Aulis in Boeotia. In a festival all kinds of sacrificial animals were offered to the goddess. It seems that the festival was a reverberation of the rites of Laphria. Pausanias 9.19.7. Calydon in Aetolia. Calydon is considered the origin of the cult of Artemis Laphria at Patras. In the Aetolian calendar there was the month Laphrios. Near the city there was the temple of Apollo Laphrius; Nafpaktos in Aetolia. Cult of Artemis Laphria. Pausanias 4.31.7. Acarnania. Cult of Artemis-Agrotera huntress in a society of hunters. Peloponnese. Patras in Achaea. The great festival Laphria was celebrated in honour of Artemis. The characteristic rite was the annual fire. Birds, deers, sacrificial animals, young wolves and young bears were thrown alive in a great pyre. Laphria Pre-Greek name is the Mistress of Animals. Traditionally her cult was introduced from Calydon of Aetolia. Eftychia Stavrianopoulou 2013, Ritual and Communication in Graeco-Roman world, p. 102, Open editions books. p. 102. Patras. The Ionians who lived in Ancient Achaea celebrated the annual festival of Artemis Triclaria. Pausanias.