Artemis Goddess Of The Hunt & Moon - (Greek Mythology Explained)

deep within the sacred hollows she howls with the wolf runs with the deer and hunts the wild when no humans dare to pair upon her naked form except for one whom she turned into his stag and had her love in pack ran the flesh from his bones Artemis was one of the most revered and honored of the ancient Greek deities her rule spanned across many things including hunting the moon virginity childbirth and the wilderness and wild animals she was also considered the protector of young girls up into the age of marriage she was just one of Zeus's many children and went by a host of different names her Roman name diana is one that most people will be familiar with if we take a look at the Iliad the goddess is referred to as Artemis the wildland mistress of animals and there are those who believe that Artemis may have even predated the era of the ancient Greeks this is something we've discussed before on the channel when taking a look at the egyptian goddess Bastet the ancient greeks drew some interesting parallels between the two in regards to hunting and the protection of children but were the best that was truly an influence Artemis is always up for debate Artemis his mother was Leo a Titan goddess and very early on she became a favorite of the god Zeus unfortunately for Leto she fell pregnant of Artemis and her twin brother Apollo was Zeus was still married to Hera who of course was extremely jealous that Leto carried her husband's children Hera did nothing but hinder and caused problems for Leto during her pregnancy she first cost Leto out from Mount Olympus leaving her to wander the earth alone anyone who offered kindness or shelter to Leto would be punished by Hera but her Cronus did not stop there Hera had Leto pursued by the dragon Python who hunted her endlessly Zeus would eventually intervene by sending the aid of a strong wind that would carry Leto out to sea and eventually help her reach the island of Delos once Leto had reached the secluded Island the rest of the goddesses arrived to help her give birth but Hera chose to remain on Mount Olympus and she even tried to detain the goddess of childbirth ilithyia but with the help of iris they were both able to reach the island Leto first gave birth to Artemis who was said to offer her mother assistance with the birth of her twin brother hence why Artemis was often associated of childbirth in the days that followed Apollo was eventually born the time difference between the two births does vary in some accounts he was born the day after his sister and in others it wasn't until several days after Leto now face the most impossible task of raising Artemis and Apollo while being exiled from the other gods she would receive no help and the mother and her two children traveled Elijah in seek of refuge the influence and fury of Hera continued to follow Leto and her children the local villagers even attempted to stop them drinking from wells and Springs and as a result Leto turned them all into frogs Artemis and Apollo continued to grow at an incredible rate and their newfound skills of a bow meant that they were now more than capable of defending themselves as well as their mother when the dragon Python finally found them Artemis and Apollo killed the Beast despite only being days old once Artemis and Apollo were fully grown they were only concerned with avenging their mother and winning back her honor and place amongst the gods during a ceremony in the name of Leto the mortal neo be taunted the goddess claiming that she was more deserving of a place amongst the gods because she had given birth to seven sons and seven daughters the twins were so incensed by the insult that they decided the mortal would have to pay for her hubris Apollo with his poison arrows struck down her seven sons and Artemis her seven daughters the punishment may sound extremely harsh but Artemis and Apollo had grown up with their mother being exiled and continuously hunted their reaction to the insult was a message to all but they would no longer tolerate to this kind of disrespect it's believed that Artemis and Apollo then traveled all the lands punishing those who turned away their mother during her pregnancy the strength and determination shown by Artemis and Apollo meant that their mother would once again return to Zeus's favour despite the protests of his wife Hera the majority of Leto's time from then on was spent hunting in the wilderness with her daughter throughout the years Artemis has been depicted as a young woman carrying a hunting bow and a quiver of arrows often being accompanied by a deer one of the many animals she considered sacred Artemis was quite often admired as a great Huntress and her skills of a bow could only be matched by her brother but despite her love for the hunt Artemis was an avid protector of the wilderness and all those that called it home the animals that were slain by autumn aswer considered sacred and the hunt was essentially a ceremony in honor of the wilderness she would seek vengeance upon those who were seen to do harm to animals regardless of who they were the story of King Agamemnon is a good example the king had killed one of Artemis his sacred stags on the hunt and as a punishment he was told that he would have to sacrifice his own daughter when he eventually agreed Artemis swapped his daughter with a stag and the King believed in his daughter had been killed learnt the consequences of his actions Artemis was able to teach the King a lesson without the sacrifice of his daughter who played no part in her father's crimes showing us that she is indeed vengeful in her defense of the wilderness but she's also just an affair Artemis was known as a virgin goddess and the gift of chastity is one she asked to be given by her father Zeus despite the large amount of potential lovers that desired the attention of Artemis she remain devoted to hunting and nature rejecting all proposals of love and marriage there were a few companions who came close to winning the affections of Artemis but none of them came as close as the giant hunter Orion he first saw Artemis on the island of Crete and the two began hunting together in time that you eventually would fall in love and Orien told the goddess that he would slay every animal in the world if it would prove his love having heard what Orion's said the goddess of the earth Gaia would not let her creations die and she gave birth to an enormous scorpion who would eventually kill Orion naturally the death of Orion called Artemis great sorrow and she pleaded with her father Zeus to immortalize the Fallen Hunter and so a Ryan and the Scorpion who killed him were given their own constellations there is a different version of this story and in that version Apollo did not like the relationship between sister and the hunter Orion when he told his sister she ignored him as she had grown fond of the hunter Apollo did not appreciate his sister's response and in turn he devised a plan to remove Orion permanently he challenged his sister to see whose skills of a beau were superior when his sister asked what they were hunting he pointed at a barely visible figure swimming in the distant lake knowing that she was more than capable of proving her brother wrong Artemis pulled back her bow and fired Artemis did not realize until it was too late but it was Orion swimming in the lake and she had just unknowingly killed her lover Artemis as large popularity amongst the ancient Greeks men that she featured in a number of myths and stories which often involved the goddess transform in individuals into animals one of which featured the hunter acti on the grandson of Apollo who found himself on the wrong side of Artemis is Roth one morning when walking through the forest he stumbled across the spring where Artemis and her nymph companions were bathing he stopped and began to stare when he was spotted by the goddess he attempted to apologize for looking at the goddess while she was naked but Artemis interrupted him telling him if he spoken of a word she would transform him into a deer act eons hunting dog soon came running by their master and as he called to silence them the goddess had done exactly as she said and transformed him into a deer he began to run into the woods being pursued by his own dogs that would eventually catch up with him and tear him into pieces the story of Actium is now thought to represent the act of human sacrifice in order to appease the gods the story of Scipio T's is quite similar to that of Actium the young boy came across Artemis in the spring when she was bathing and as a punishment she transformed him into a young girl the story of the alidade Giants is one when we see Artemis herself transform into an animal the two drawings marched from Mount Olympus of the intention of taking the goddesses as their own Artemis transformed herself into a deer and darted in between the two giants as they attempted to spear the animal they missed instead impaling each other in another version of this story Artemis was overpowered by the two giants and just as they were about to impale her her brother Apollo came to her aid placing a deer in between them causing the two giants to once again impale each other although Artemis may have been considered as somewhat of a secondary deity she was still vastly important to most women as she was looked to when they needed the protection until they were ready to marry if you've ever heard the expression I prefer the company of animals to humans it's one that definitely applies to Artemis she spent very little time amongst mortals and other gods and when she did it was quite often followed by tragedy this could have been a reason why Artemis remained so devoted to maintaining her virginity and spent most of her time caring for animals at times Artemis does appear as quite a fair and just goddess but she did not hesitate to kill those who attempted to wronged her the majority of those slain by Artemis either dishonoured her or the wildlife she cared for Artemis has quickly become one of my favorite goddesses as she presents us of an almost perfect mix she's known to be extremely caring protective and nurturing but at the same time if she feels threatened or disrespected her actions are ruthless and she will have retribution a caring and nurturing figure but yet a warrior Huntress to me autumn s is not your stereotypical goddess as she presents traits that we would associate with both male and female gods his Artemis our goddess that you can relate to or do you prefer any of the other goddesses let me know in the comments below as always I've been your host mythology and fiction explained

Channel: Mythology & Fiction Explained

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Keywords: Artemis, Artemis Goddess Of The Hunt & Moon, Greek Gods: Artemis, Greek Mythology: Story of Artemis, Artemis and Actaeon, Artemis and Orion, Moon Goddess, Artemis Greek mythology, Artemis and Apollo, Artemis goddess of the hunt, Artemis goddess of the moon, Diana roman mythology, What is Artemis the god or goddess of?, Are Diana and Artemis the same person?, Leto greek mythology, artemis and leto, Greek Mythology : ARTEMIS, Miscellaneous Myths: Niobe, greek mythology artemis

Id: H3fq1c-sy7s

Length: 10min 20sec (620 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 19 2018