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Artemis
From Outcyclopedia, the free and queer encyclopedia. In ancient Greek mythology, Artemis was the goddess of hunting. She was the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Leto, and twin sister of Apollo. Also called Phoebe, Lucinda, Cynthia, Agrotora, Aphaea, Kourotrophos, Potnia Theron, Taurica Dea, Tauropolis, and Orthia, she was the protector of young virgin women, wild animals and vegetation. She helped women in childbirth and abortion, hence another of her appellations, Locheia, and also granted them a swift and painless death when they suffered from chronic and incurable diseases. She was never without her troop of nymphs, who accompanied her on her hunts in the woods or bathed with her in the mountain lakes and streams. The hind, the hare, and the date palm were sacred to her, as were all female wildlife. Wormwood herb was also sacred to her, and a bitter narcotic brew, apsinthion, was made from its leaves and used in sacred rites dedicated to the goddess and for divination. From this practice is derived the modern botanical classification of the various species of wormwood, Artemisia. The use of lemon balm in cutting the bitterness of both apsinthion and its modern counterpart, absinthe, may be the origin of that herb's name, Melissa, which was also the title of priestesses in the service of Artemis. As her worship spread, Artemis was merged with other goddesses and assumed their attributes. She was often merged with the moon goddess Selena, or Selene, eventually replacing her as goddess of the moon. In this capacity she was further merged with the goddesses Hecate and Persephone (or, in Rome, Proserpine) to form the triple goddess Trivia, goddess of the crossroads, choices, and opportunities, as well as the dark moon, witchcraft, and the underworld. Caryatis, or Cary, the goddess of walnut trees, was merged with Artemis early in pre-classical times. The Romans identified her with their own goddess Diana and the two names eventually became interchangeable, as did those of Diana and the Roman moon goddess, Luna. The Etruscans knew her as Artume or Aritimi. Though Homer and other poets emphasized Artemis' chastity, even to the point of her swearing a sacred oath before her father Zeus that she would remain forever a virgin, other, older myths do speak of her love affairs with some of the nymphs in her company. Chief among these was Callisto, who was also loved by Zeus. Hera, Zeus' wife, took vengeance on Callisto by turning her into a bear. Artemis killed Callisto with her arrows while hunting, then mourned upon realizing she had killed her lover. (In later versions, it is Artemis who transforms Callisto as punishment for breaking her vow of chastity, and Callisto's son who kills her.) When not out hunting or dancing in the wild, Artemis was often in the company of her brother Apollo, himself a bisexual deity. Together they took terrible revenge on the Queen Niobe for insulting their mother, and also sided together with the Trojans against the Greeks during their conflict. She is recorded as having sent a gale and thus preventing the Greek army from sailing for Troy, relenting only after they had sacrificed the maiden Iphigenia to her. Other versions say that Artemis carried the maiden away unharmed to join her band of attendants. In another myth, Artemis was befriended the giant hunter Orion, but killed him with the sting of a scorpion after he raped one of her nymphs. Other myths say that he was Artemis' only male love (though non-sexual), and that Orion was accidentally killed by Artemis because of a ruse concocted by Apollo either out of concern that Artemis was neglecting her divine duties, or jealousy that the god could not have the handsome young hunter for himself. One of the more unusual myths about Artemis, briefly mentioned by Antoninus Liberalis, concerns her transforming the Cretan Siproites into a woman after he spied upon her bathing. Actaeon, another mortal who committed this transgression, was transformed into a stag and torn apart by his own hounds. Artemis was especially worshipped by the Amazons, fierce warrior women, who were credited with the founding of Ephesus, a city which served as the major center of her cult for many centuries. At Ephesus, Artemis was merged with still more goddesses to become a virgin mother goddess of fertility, life, and healing. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, originally built in the seventh century BCE and then re-built by King Croesus of Lydia in 550 BCE, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, massive in size and adorned with ornate works of art imported from as far away as India. A madman by the name of Herostratus burned the temple in 356 BCE, on the same night that Alexander the Great was born. Both tradition and the historian Plutarch held that the goddess was too busy assisting Alexander's mother with the birth to protect her temple. Alexander himself had the temple restored twenty years later. It was at Ephesus that Paul of Tarsus delivered his Epistle to the Ephesans and was jeered out by the crowds, who shouted, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesans!" In 262 CE the temple was destroyed by invading Goths and again rebuilt. Ephesus was a coastal city, and by this time sediments had filled its harbor and dried up its trade. The spread of Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean had also reduced the temple's patronage. In 401 the temple was demolished for the last time by John Chrysostom. Copies of the original statue from the temple survive. Far from the young maiden of myth, Artemis is shown as a mature woman in a tight gown, standing stiffly with hands outstretched in offering, with what appear to be a multitude of breasts, though some assert these are actually the testicles of bulls sacrificed to the goddess. Artemis' association through Hecate with witchcraft appears to be very ancient. As Diana, she has been merged with the goddesses of Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic peoples to become a Great Mother Goddess worshipped by devotees of neopagan Witchcraft, or Wicca. This is especially the case among Dianic Wiccan groups, which are composed entirely of women, particularly lesbians. She is also popular among those women who practice Goddess Worship without identifying themselves as Wiccans or Witches, as well as among Radical Faeries and other Neo-Pagans. The Gospel of the Witches, a work published in 1899 by folklorist Charles G. Leland, purports to be the words of Diana's (or Tana's) daughter, Aradia, to the witches of Italy, laying down the rituals which they are to observe when worshipping the goddess. The comic book character Wonder Woman takes her real name, Diana, from the Roman version of the Great Goddess of the Amazons. Her cousin, the second Wonder Woman, is named Artemis, and shares the Greek version's more intense dislike for the world of men, and also the goddess's fiery temper. External links: Artemis - Creative Minds Unlimited Artemis Texts - Classical Myth Artemis - Windows to the Universe Entry revised 23 January, 2005. All text is available for use under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (see Copyrights for details). DISCLAIMER: This is not an adult site, and does not contain any pornographic images or material. Any references to sex or other adult material or behavior is made from a purely academic standpoint. Images used on this site are credited whenever possible, and any whose copyright status is in dispute will be gladly removed or credited upon request. Not all persons listed on this site are or were openly homosexual, but reasonable conclusions about their sexuality may and has been made from diaries, letters, and other writings and accounts made by them and/or those who knew them. Several others are heterosexual and are included here for the impact, whether positive or negative, they have made on queer culture and history. |
