She was also the protecting deity of the Amazons who, like her, were warriors and huntresses and independent of men. Artemis absorbed some cults that involved human sacrifice, such as that practiced in Tauris. Ironically, this contrast is least apparent in her brother, the God of Light, Apollo.Īrtemis was held in honor in al the wild and mountainous areas of Greece, in Arcadia and in the country of Sparta, in Laconia on Mount Taygetus and in Elis. In Artemis is shown most vividly the uncertainty between good and evil which exists in every god. Thus she became "the goddess with three forms," Selene in the sky, Artemis on earth and Hecate in the lower world as well as in the world above, when it is wrapped in darkness. She was associated with deeds of darkness, the Goddess of the Crossways, which were held to be ghostly places of evil magic and awful divinity. Hecate was the Goddess of the Dark of the Moon, the black nights when the moon is hidden. In the later poems Artemis became associated with another goddess, Hecate, the dark and awful goddess of the lower world. So was Selene, a moon- goddess and sister of Helios, the sun-god often confused with Artemis' brother, Apollo. Phoebe was a titan, one of the elder gods. Other victims of Artemis included Orion and Actaeon, as well as Meleager, who was fated to die as the result of the Calydonian Boar hunt instigated by Artemis.Īrtemis was also associated with the moon, and called Phoebe and Selene (Luna in Latin), neither name originally belonged to her. She also destroyed the Aloadae and is said to have killed the monster Bouphagus. Artemis took part in the battle against the Giants, where she killed Gration. One of her actions was to join Apollo in killing the children on Niobe. On the other hand, when women died a quick and painless death, they were said to have been slain by Artemis' silver arrows.Īrtemis was vindictive and there were many who suffered from her anger. All because the Greek soldiers killed one of the creatures, a hare, together with her young. For example, although she is the protector of the young, she kept the Greek Fleet from sailing to Troy, until Iphigenia, a royal maiden, daughter of the Commander in Chief Agamemnon was sacrificed to her. As always in Greek Mythology, she also had her dark side, showing her as fierce and vengeful warrior. Surprisingly, she also presides over childbirth, this goes back to the fact that she did not cause her mother any pain when she was born. She is one of the three virgin goddesses along with Athena and Hestia. Like Apollo she hunts with silver arrows. She is the lady of the forest and all the wild things, as well as the Huntsman- in-chief to the gods, an odd office for a woman. He had a huge temple in Didyma which became rival to the one in Delfi.Īrtemis and her younger twin brother Apollo were the children of Zeus and Leto, born in Delos. Many festivals were held in his honor, the most famous of which were the Pythian Games, celebrated at Delphi every three years. One of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the Colossus of Rhodes, was actually a statue of Apollo. Many creatures were sacred to him, chief among them the dolphin and the crow. In the Iliad he is also called "the Sminthian," the Mouse-god, but it is unknown whether it was because he protected or destroyed mice.Īpollo is usually shown as a manly, beardless youth of great beauty, his head crowned with laurel leaves, either the bow or his lyre in his hand. One of Apollo's great deeds for mankind was his killing of the serpent Python, who lived in the caves of Parnassus after the Great Flood, because of this he was sometimes called Pythian.
Sometimes he is called the son-god and Helios is said to be one of his many names, but in other myths Helios is separate god, the son of the titan Hyperion. One of his more important daily tasks was to drive the Sun across the sky in his golden chariot. He was also the Healer- god, who first taught men medicine and the art of healing.
He is also the god of Truth, no false word ever fell from his lips, because of this his oracle at Delphi was very important to people, serving ad a link between men and gods. He is the god of Light, in all the gods, like in men, there is a continuous struggle between good and evil, their light and dark sides, whatever the proportion of one to the other might be in Apollo there was almost no darkness at all, his primitive and cruel side was shown only briefly and in very few myths. He is the Archer-god, master of the silver bow. Born in the little island of Delos he has been called "the most Greek of all the gods." He is a beautiful figure in Greek poetry, the master musician who delights the gods of Olympus with his golden lyre. Apollo and his twin sister Artemis were the children of Zeus and Leto.
0 kommentar(er)
