Welcome back to another chapter of Greek mythology 101. Did you enjoy your long break? I hope you also enjoyed your snow day, because that is what caused the delay for this chapter. Anyways, I am back at it with a new exciting chapter about Artemis. Artemis is most known to be the goddess of hunting, but she is also the goddess of animals, the moon,  young woman, and archery. She is also the twin sister of Apollo, being another child of Zeus. I hope you will enjoy this new chapter after this weekend, now let’s get to it!

Just like Apollo, Artemis was born on a sky island. In most stories Artemis was said to be the first born, being Leto’s(her mother’s) midwife during Apollo’s birth. During her childhood she asked Zeus, her father, to grant her ten wishes which is what kept her pure and strong.

I’m sure many of you have heard of the constellation Orion, but did you know that he and Artemis were friends? Orion is a giant, not a titan, but a giant; he is also Artemis’s hunting buddy. Well, one day Orion was bragging about how he could kill every beast on Earth, this did not sit right with Gaia. So Gaia sent a giant scorpion to sting Orion, after that Artemis sent him to the stars to be a constellation. In the version I know, Artemis fell in love with Orion, she wanted to marry him, and no talk from her brother(Apollo) would be able to change her mind. Apollo then decided to trick Artemis, when Orion went for a swim Apollo changed Artemis that she couldn’t shoot the dot (Orion). She was too excited to beat her brother and unknowingly shot Orion down. Artemis then put him up in the stars.

Artemis was also another figure in the Trojan War. She supported Troy because her brother is its patron god. Artemis punished Agamemon for killing a sacred stag in a sacred grove. She controlled the winds when the Greeks were about to leave for troy. The Greeks couldn’t sail to Troy because of Artemis’s winds, so Agamemon decided to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia. Which then caused his wife to kill him later on in his life.

In the end, worship of  Artemis has spread throughout Greece, at one point her temple was considered one of the seven wonders in the world before it was burnt. There are a couple different festivals for Artemis, but today we are only covering one. A tradition that the Greeks made in honor of Artemis was, of course, named after Artemis herself. In this festival young girls between the ages of five and ten would dress up in saffron ropes and act as bears, representing the time she sent a plague after her bear was killed. 

Thank you for reading this week’s chapter, I also apologize for the delay of this chapter from our snow day. I hope you will have a good time reading the next chapter about Athena !