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ARTEMIS (AR-ti-mis; Roman name
Diana) was the virgin goddess of the hunt and the Virgin
Goddess of the Moon, She helped women in childbirth but
also brought sudden death with her arrows. She is also
the twin sister of Apollo. The children of Zeus and Leto,
she and Apollo were born on the Island of Delos. Both are
associated with the bow. Apollo is said to use the curved
bow and Artemis uses the silver bow. She is one of only
three who are immune to the enchantments of Aphrodite (the
other two are Hestia and Athene). She is a friend to mortals, and
dances through the countryside in her silver sandals
giving her divine protection to the wild beasts,
particularly the very young. She rides her silver chariot
across the sky and shoots her arrows of silver Moonlight
to the earth below.
She, like the other
Olympians, has favorites among the mortals but she could
not protect the fine huntsman, Skamandros, from the spear
of Menelaus at the battle for Troy.
Unlike her brother Apollo, Artemis is not skilled in
warcraft but she can punish and kill as the will of Zeus
dictates.
Niobe, queen of Thebes, once boasted that she was better
than Leto because she had many children while the goddess
had but two. Artemis and Apollo avenged his insult to
their mother by killing all or most of Niobe's children
with their arrows. The weeping Niobe was transformed into
stone, in which form she continued to weep.
When Apollo noticed that Artemis was spending a great
deal of time hunting with the giant Orion, he decided to
put an end to the relationship. He challenged Artemis to
prove her skill at archery by shooting at an object
floating far out at sea. Her shot was perfect. The target
turned out to be the head of Orion.
Artemis is generally depicted as a young woman clad in
buckskins, carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows. She is
often accompanied by wild creatures such as a stag or she-bear.
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