Artemis

<i>Artemis</i>

Artemis is the Greek goddess of the moon, light, and a protector to the weak. There are many interesting myths about this amazing goddess, and one of them relates to her and her twin, Apollo’s birth. Artemis was born first, giving her mother, Leto, no trouble at all with her birth. But when the newborn saw that her mother was having trouble with her son’s birth, Artemis rushed in to help. As Artemis grew older, she was often told to help her sickly mother. She and her brother were very close, and when Artemis was in love for the first and last time, Apollo had to ruin it, being the jealous brother that he was. Orion the hunter, whom Artemis was in love with, was swimming in the ocean when the siblings had a bet. Apollo bet that Artemis couldn’t hit ‘that distant thing on the horizon’ with an arrow. Artemis, always the skilled archer and never not able to accept a challenge, shot, and killed the only one she had ever loved. She placed Orion in the stars, and he is known as Orion the Hunter to us today.

Artemis wasn’t only a kind goddess, though. When learning that one of her companions, a nymph named Callisto, had become pregnant by Zeus, Artemis’s father, Artemis was furious. Callisto had broken her vow of being a virgin, and so Artemis immediately transformed the unfortunate nymph into a bear, the same Callisto we see in the stars today.

She was compassionate, a strong leader, a feminist, freedom loving, cared for the needs of women and did much more. She was the most self sufficient of all the goddesses. Artemis was able to live life by her own rules, was comfortable being alone, and was brave. This brief, very brief, look into why Artemis was worshiped, doesn’t explain everything she did in myth. She has a fascinating history, one which should be told.

<b>Source:</b>
http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/greek_goddess_artemis.htm