Artemis by Kagaya Studio from http://www.kagayastudio.com/

Artemis was worshipped throughout the Hellenic world. Her best known Centers of worship were on the island of Delos (her birthplace); in Attica at Brauron and Mounikhia (near Piraeus); and in Sparta. She was often depicted in paintings and statues in a forest setting, carrying a bow and arrows, and accompanied by a deer. In Ionia, the "Lady of Ephesus," a Goddess whom the Hellenes identified with Artemis, was a principal deity. Her temple at Ephesus, an ancient Greek city located in the western part of Turkey, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was probably the best known center of Her worship except for Delos. In Acts of the Apostles, Ephesian metalsmiths who felt threatened by Saint Paul's preaching of Christianity, jealously rioted in Her defense, shouting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:28, KJV).

Artemis is the daughter of Leto and Zeus, and the twin of Apollo. Artemis is the Goddess of the wilderness, the hunt and wild animals, and fertility (She became a goddess of fertility and childbirth mainly in cities). She was often depicted with the crescent of the moon above Her forehead and was sometimes identified with Selene (Goddess of the moon). Artemis was one of the Olympians and a virgin Goddess. Her main vocation was to roam mountain forests and uncultivated land with Her nymphs in attendance hunting for lions, panthers, hinds and stags. 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. Her mother gave birth to Her on the island of Ortygia, then, almost immediately after Her birth, She helped Her mother to cross the straits over to Delos, where she then delivered Apollo. This was the beginning of Her role as guardian of young children and patron of women in childbirth. During the Classical period in Athens, she was identified with Hecate.

Hellenic festivals in honor of Artemis include Elaphebolia, which was a winter festival where cakes in the shape of stags were offered to the Goddess; Mounikhia, a spring festival where cakes adorned all round with burning candles were offered to the Goddess, and young girls were dressed up as bears like for the Arkteia; Kharisteria, a feast of thanksgiving sacred to Artemis as it took place on Her birthday, which was considered to be the 6th day of the month of Demetrion - a month which began in what would now be mid-September; and Arkteia, the main high festival of Artemis. The Arkteia festival was celebrated every four years and involved a procession from the shrine of Artemis Brauronia on the acropolis of Athens to Her temple at Brauron. At the isolated sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron, young Athenian girls approaching marriageable age formed groups consecrated for a time to Artemis as arktoi, she-bears, and spent their time in sacred dances, wearing honey-colored saffron robes, running races and making sacrifice. Vase paintings show that cultic nudity was an element in these preparations for womanhood.

Dianics praise Artemis because She does not exist in relation to any males. She is not identified as a wife (Hera to Zeus), lover (Aphrodite to Mars), child (Athena to Zeus) or as mother (Demeter to Persephone). However, Artemis is linked to men by being She who shuns men. Her example illustrates man's inability to look at a woman as a whole being for fear of being overwhelmed. Aphrodite is only the goddess of love and Artemis is only the goddess of the hunt. Artemis often punished men who tried to rape women. Buphagus was punished with death by the arrows of Artemis when he tried to rape Her on Mount Pholoe in Arcadia. Another such case involves two giants by the names of Otus and Ephialtes. These brothers were assaulting Hera when Artemis sent a deer between the two brothers to distract them. Both of the brothers took aim at the deer and shot, thus shooting one another. Some sources say that the deer was actually Artemis. Artemis and the Amazons share a lot of the same qualities. Men are not able to tame them and they pose a threat by their resistance to conform. The Amazons were priestesses and attendants to the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. They also built shrines to Apollo and Artemis at Pyrrhichus.

To Artemis, Fumigation from Manna.
Hear me, Zeus’ daughter, celebrated queen,
Bromia and Titanis, of a noble mien:
in darts rejoicing, and on all to shine, torch-bearing Goddess, Diktynna divine.
Over births presiding, and Thyself a maid,
to labour pangs imparting ready aid: dissolver of the zone,
and wrinkled care, fierce huntress, glorying in the sylvan war:
swift in the course, in dreadful arrows skilled,
wandering by night, rejoicing in the field:
of manly form, erect, of bounteous mind, illustrious Daimon, nurse of humankind:
immortal, earthly, bane of monsters fell, ‘tis Thine, blest maid, on woody mounts to dwell:
foe of the stag, whom woods and dogs delight,
in endless youth You flourish fair and bright.
O universal queen, august, divine,
a various form, Kydonian power, is thine.
Dread guardian Goddess, with benignant mind,
auspicious come, to mystic rites inclined;
give earth a store of beauteous fruits to bear,
send gentle peace, and health with lovely hair,
and to the mountains drive disease and care."

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