Artemis was one of the goddesses most revered by the ancient Greeks, who saw in her the lady of wild nature and huntingbut also about chastity and births. Likewise, it was one of the most feared divinitiesWell, in addition to illnesses, Artemis was capable of causing sudden death thanks to her arrows, a weapon she shared with her twin Apollo.

The birth of Artemis: a difficult birth

The goddess Artemis (or goddess Artemis) was the daughter of Zeus and the titan Leto. His birth was a real odysseysince Zeus’s wife, the jealous Hera, had forbidden Leto to give birth on dry land. In the end, after an exhausting tour of the world, the Titaness found a rock that was drifting and on which, therefore, Hera’s prohibition did not weigh.

It was there, in what would later be the Delos islandwhere his children were born. The first to appear was Artemis, who immediately helped her mother give birth to Apollo, hence the linking the goddess with births.

Artemis, the virgin goddess

From an early age, Artemisa was clear that not only I didn’t want to get marriedbut would always preserve her virginity. Zeus saw her so convinced that he did not oppose her wish. From that moment on, the goddess became the protector of all thoseboth boys and maidens, who took a vow of chastity. Of course, with those who violated those vows he was implacable.

It was no less so with those who felt some type of sexual attraction for her. It was the case of hunter Actaeonwho surprised her one day naked while she was bathing. Sagebrush he had no mercy on him: He transformed the unfortunate man into a deer and had his own dogs tear him to pieces.

THE vengeful character of the goddess Artemis

Sagebrush nor did he have mercy on the queen of Thebes Niobewho once boasted of having had more children than Leto. While Apollo exterminated his six sons with his arrows, Artemis did the same with her six daughters.

Another of his victims was the beautiful Adonis. In this case, Artemis wanted to avenge the death of one of her followers, Hippolytus, a beautiful young man who only lived by hunting and who, like her, had taken a vow of chastity. His devotion to the goddess was such that not even Aphrodite managed to seduce him, which ended up costing him his life. Artemis’s response was to send against Adonis, with whom the fickle Aphrodite had also fallen in love, a huge wild boar that tore him to pieces.

To another of his followers, Callistokilled her with his arrows because she had not known how to resist Zeus.

Another of his victims was giant hunter Orionalthough here the myth presents different variants. According to one of them, Artemis killed him because he tried to kidnap one of the hunting nymphs in his entourage; according to another, because he boasted of throwing the discus farther than her. The most widespread is the one that states that Orion tried to rape Artemis, who He took revenge on him by sending him a scorpion so that he could kill him.

The Compassion of Artemis

But Artemis could also show signs of compassion. So He demonstrated it with Iphigenia. The goddess She was angry with the girl’s father, King Agamemnon.who had not only killed one of his favorite deer, but had boasted of a shot that not even Artemis could match. The goddess punished him by preventing a breath of air from flowing throughout Aulis, so that the Greek fleet was unable to set sail for Troy.

The condition that Artemis set for the wind to blow again was that Agamemnon sacrifice his firstborn, Iphigenia. The king did so, but, at the last moment, The goddess took pity on the young woman and took her with her.leaving in its place a doe for sacrifice.

The cult of the goddess Artemis

The goddess Artemis had temples throughout Greek geography. One of them was on the island where she was born, Delos. The most important, however, was the Temple of Ephesusalready considered in Antiquity as one of the seven wonders of the world. It was for this reason that a young man named Erostratuswho was obsessed with gaining immortal fame, set it on fire on July 21, 356 BC

Another temple of Artemis was that of Brauronespecially famous for a festival, the Brauronias, which were celebrated every five years in honor of the goddess. They involved girls between five and ten years old who, dressed in saffron tunics, imitated the movements of a bear.