Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and the daughter of Leto and Zeus. While her brother appeared surrounded by golden light, she seemed to be glowing with silver. Artemis is the goddess of virgins and the hunt and night, and she guarded women during childbirth. She turned the legendary huntsman Actaeon into a stag and had him torn to pieces by his own hounds.
Cynthia is an epithet of Artemis, referring to her and Apollo's place of birth on Mount Cynthus on the island of Delos. She is also associated with the moon. Her attributes are the bow and arrow, while dogs, deer and goose are her sacred animals. Her most elaborate temple was in Ephesis.
On here third birthday, Zeus asked her to make any wish she wanted.She wished for three things: Never to be a woman and never be given to man, a silver bow and arrow the best pack of hounds in the universe, and the freedom to run and hunt in the woods for all eternity. She was granted these wishes. She got her bow and arrows from the same cyclops who had made Zeus's thunderbolt. Her quiver had a magic property: as soon as it was empty it filled its self up. She got ten of Pan's best hounds, and she spent her days and nights hunting deer in the woods. She was worshipped as the goddess of the moon and stars.
Many times young girls who were to be married to men they did not like prayed to Artemis to save them, which she often did. But it was usually by turning them into a tree, flower or deer.
In Rome She was called Diana, and was often depicted in sculpture or painting. She is usually seen with her bow, and one or more of her dogs.
� 1998
Get your own Free Home Page