Artemis\u2019 traits<\/strong> is perfect, she hits the target with a bow. She does not discover until afterward that Apollo has tricked her. The target was, in fact, Orion\u2019s head.<\/p>\nVigor was another of Artemis\u2019 character traits<\/strong>. She was the firstborn of her mother Leto\u2019s twins, preceding her brother by several days. When Apollo emerged, she assisted her mother with his delivery, becoming the champion of pregnant mothers. Her mother’s protectiveness led her to commit crimes against another mother, revealing her weakness of a lack of mercy<\/strong>. Artemis\u2019 strengths and weaknesses often coexist, creating paradoxical stories of her doings.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When the goddess Niobe mocks Artemis\u2019s own titan goddess mother, Leto, for having only two children while she is born 14, Artemis slays seven of her daughters. At the same time, Apollo murders the seven sons<\/strong>, leaving Niobe to mourn her lost children eternally. Even after Niobe is turned to stone, she continues to weep for her lost offspring.<\/p>\nArtemis\u2019 Physical Characteristics<\/h2>\n
Artemis is always presented as a young woman in her prime, fit and fleet of foot<\/strong>. She wears a knee-length tunic, leaving her legs free for running through the woods. She is fit and trim, spending most of her time hunting and roaming the worlds’ woods and wilds. She is reportedly beautiful, though little detail is given as to the exact appearance she takes on.<\/p>\nThere are many depictions. A few show her with multiple breasts, ready to feed a litter rather than a single or twin offspring. Artemis remains a virgin goddess<\/strong>, however, so she will never bear children of her own. Artemis\u2019 special powers<\/strong>, her appearance and apparel are partially the results of the six wishes she begged of her father, Zeus, when she was only a child.<\/p>\nShe asked, and was granted, six things of Zeus:<\/h3>\n\n- The mountainous areas as her domain<\/li>\n
- Never to marry<\/li>\n
- A bow and arrows created by the Cyclopes and a hunting tunic to wear<\/li>\n
- To have more names than Apollo<\/li>\n
- Sixty nymphs as attendants for her hounds<\/li>\n
- To bring light to the world<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Artemis and the Giants<\/h2>\n
Beauty and virginity are included in the characteristics of Artemis, but she was also\u00a0clever as well<\/strong>. There were reportedly a pair of brothers known as the Aloadae giants. The pair had grown so large and powerful that even the gods had begun to fear them. Artemis knew that the only ones who could kill the giants were the giants themselves<\/strong>. No god or man was strong enough to take them on.<\/p>\nShe went to the wood where the two giants were hunting together. Changing herself into a stag, she ran directly between them, tempting them into throwing their spears. At the last possible moment, she dodged the spears, escaping. The thrown spears struck the giants, killing them both.<\/p>\n
Additional Artemis Facts and Characteristics<\/h3>\n
One of the famed Seven Wonders of the World is a temple to Artemis in Ephesus<\/strong>. It is located on the western coast of Asia Minor, known today as Turkey. Fashioned in the 6th century BC, it was larger than even the Parthenon. In the 4th century BC, it was destroyed by fire and later rebuilt. It was destroyed by a Gothic invasion in 267 AD and rebuilt again, but its final destruction took place in 401AD. Today, only the foundation and a single column remain as a reminder of its former glory<\/strong>.<\/p>\nAt Brauron in Attica, another site was used to perform sacred rites for young girls and women about to marry<\/strong>. The site served as a temple to the goddess where those interested in her mythology would come to celebrate and study. Although Artemis favored girls and women, young boys are depicted as coming to the site and offering sacrifices to the goddess. There are few remaining artifacts of the pre-marital rites that might have been performed there. Still, some pottery has been recovered, showing young girls running and dancing in wild celebrations before matrimony.<\/p>\nAs the goddess of both fertility and virginity, Artemis is the defender and champion of young girls and women<\/strong>. She was, arguably, the first feminist icon, defending the wild freedom of women and their ability to bear children. She hated the institution of marriage and the loss of freedom for the women that accompanied it. She was reclusive, preferring the mountains and forests to Cities, and surrounded herself with nymphs and dryads who were bound by a vow of chastity.<\/p>\nIt may seem ironic that she is both the goddess of virginity and childbirth, but Artemis is a champion and defender of women in all their womanhood stages. She is a symbol of youth, vigor and fertility<\/strong>. Artemis represents the embracing of life in all its forms and the fierce defense and passion for life. She may be the goddess that inspired the idea of \u201cMother Nature,\u201d both nurturing and protective and violently defensive.<\/p>\nArtemis\u2019 defensiveness of girls and women may be linked back to her own origins. After her titan goddess mother, Leto, was impregnated by Zeus, his jealous wife, Hera cursed her. Pregnant with twins, Leto was unable to give birth to her babies anywhere on earth. She was forced to flee to a floating island, Delos, where she gave birth to the twins. Women in Greece paid tribute to Artemis in hopes of gaining a safe, easy, and quick childbirth.<\/p>\n
In her hands, carrying the ability to give life, the ability to inflict change (by transforming into animals) and control over disease<\/strong> makes Artemis a powerful goddess, perhaps among the most powerful. In Roman culture, she was given Dianna, the goddess of the moon, while her brother Apollo is known as the god of the sun.<\/p>\nArtemis brings diseases such as rabies, leprosy, and even gout to punish those who displease or dishonor their followers. Yet, she is revered as the goddess of fertility life. Such is the paradox of Artemis\u2019 existence and her place in Greek literature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Artemis\u2019 Personality and the Paradox of\u00a0 the Virgin Goddess of Mothers Artemis is a goddess who knows what she wants and is not afraid to go after it. Her wild, passionate personality serves her well throughout her Iliad and other Greek myths and legends. She is reclusive but also fiercely defensive of the maidens, pregnant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18960"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21642,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18960\/revisions\/21642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ancient-literature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}