Artemis
One day on Olympus, Zeus saw a mortal human by the name of Leto. He fell madly in love with her, so he decided to have an affair with her. Leto was feeling flattered by being loved by a god, then to be pregnant with his child. Hera on the other hand was not too much for it, and said she would kill Leto if she ever found her. Being pregnant and all Leto had to flee from Hera to a place where she would not be disturbed. She then decided to go to the island of Delos and hide on Mt. Cynthus in a cave where she would give birth to her child. In fact she gave birth to twins, one being Artemis, the goddess of the moon, and the other being her brother Apollo. In some myths it is said Artemis came out before Apollo, (how long before is unknown) and helped her mother carry him out without giving her any pain.
Many names were given to the great goddess Artemis as Potria Theron, mistress of wild animals. This name was given to her by a great poet named Homer. Kourotrophos, nurse of youths; Locheia, helper in childbirth; Agroters, huntress; and Cynthia, taken from her birthplace. She was also given the names Phoebe or Selene, the goddess of the moon, neither being her original name. The Romans even gave her a name, Diana.
Since Artemis and Apollo were brother and sister they were best friends. One day a mortal woman by the name of Niobe, queen of Thebes, once thought that she was better than Leto because she had many children, while the goddess had but two. Artemis and Apollo heard of this insult and decided to avenge this insult by killing all or most of Niobe's children with their arrows. Afterwards Niobe was transformed into a stone where she continued to weep.
Apollo was a vey jealous brother. One day Apollo found out Artemis was spending more time with the Great hunter Orion than him. He then challenged her to a match based on thier archery skills. This challenge was only a plan Apollo had been cooking up. The object of the match was to shoot a floating object in the sea. Artemis went first. Her shot was perfect. The taget then sadly turned out to be the head of Orion. This is but one of Orion's many stories with Artemis. Each of these stories ends with his death. One says that Orion once tried to rape Artemis and in doing so was killed by her bow and arrow. Another one says she chose a story which killed both Orion and his dog. With this happening Orion became a constellation and so did his dog, the star dog sirius. In yet another version the scorpion, after stinging Orion, was made into a constellation otherwise known as Scropio.
As you can see Artemis may seem like a nice person, because of her many names and statuses, she's just the same as the rest of us, kind to some, and cruel to others. Her stories like her names are long and endless. But even so, She will always be known as the goddess of the moon, Artemis.
by Miguel Martinez.
Source URL:
http://www.Greekmyth.com
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