The Greek God: Artemis

Wazzup Pilipinas !

In Greek mythology,Artemis was the daughter of Zeus, the mighty ruler of the Olympian Gods.Artemis was the great Olympian goddess of hunting,moon,forest,hills,virginity,fertility(she became a goddess of fertility and childbirth mainly in cities) and protector of young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows and also she often was depicted with the crescent of the moon above her forehead and was sometimes identified with Selene(goddess of the moon).Her main vocation was to roam mountain forests and uncultivated land with her nymphs in attendance hunting for lions,panthers,hinds and stag. Contradictory to the later, she helped in protecting and seeing to their well-being, also their safety and reproduction. She was armed with a bow and arrows which were made by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes

In one legend, Artemis was born one day before her brother Apollo. After an affair and secretly impregnating Leto, Leto had to give birth to Artemis on the island of Ortygia while being chased by the python sent by Hera, then, almost immediately after her birth, she helped her mother to cross the straits over to Delos, where she then delivered Apollo. Fortunately for Leto her first child, Artemis, was birthed without any pain. Artemis her twin brother was Apollo.

On her birthday, when she was 3 years old, Artemis asked 6 wishes from Zeus, his father.These wishes were:

          1.  To remain forever chase/ virgin coitus

          2.Never to confine in any marriage

          3.  He wants a dog

          4.He wants a horse

          5. He wants nymphs

          6.He wants silver bow and arrow

Zeus was amused by wishes and being the good father granted her each wish she asked for.Artemis would never marry and would be chaste for all eternity. She roamed with her hunting dogs, nymphs, and her stags, hunting all throughout the mountains where she resided.

Artemis was very protective of the chastity of her nymphs and was angered when they didn’t keep their purity and he was frequently called upon to nurture her needy and somewhat ineffectual mother. She symbolizes the untamed spirit, never being tied down by things such as love, being the eternal huntress of the forests. The Greek goddess Artemis was famous for her hunting skills, especially with her bow and arrow. She never missed her target.Artemis was a goddess very comfortable with her female companions and rarely ever had male companions excepting her twin brother. She often bathed and danced with her nymphs and womanly companions. There is a hunter named Actaeon, he saw Artemis bathing with her nymphs and he was paralyzed what he saw because all the women bathing in the river.Artemis turned him into stag and made his own dogs attack and kill him.

Artemis never had any love affairs, but one. That was with the mortal Orion. Artemis was in love with Orion. However, upset that sister’s time and attentions had been diverted away from him, the God Apollo, her twin, became very jealous. Apollo was so jealous so he made some wager because Orion was swimming in the ocean. In her great grief the Goddess Artemis turned Orion into various stars and shot him into the night sky, making him a constellation in the night sky forevermore.Artemis was often associated with the moon, especially the crescent or “new”moon.Phoebe was one of the many names she was called. The name Phoebe means the “light one” or “bright one”.Artemis”Goddess of Light “had the divine duty of illuminating the darkness.Artemis was often depicted carrying a candle or totrch,lightning the way for others, leading them through territories yet uncharted. Of all the Greek goddesses, she was the most self-sufficient, living life on her own terms, comfortable both in solitude and in holding the reins of leadership.

I chose Artemis because I think she was a nice person and strong and she loves her environment like me I also love and care for our environment.I like her  because she was caring and loving to her parents and in the town’s people( especially with women) because she is a lesbian that’s why it’s like that.

Contributor By: Noemi N. Sales

                          IV-Copernicus