~Mythology~

ARTEMIS (DIANA)

* GODDESS OF THE MOON & HUNTING

* PATRONESS OF CHILDBIRTH

* PROTECTRESS OF SMALL CHILDRED & ANIMALS

* DAUGHTER OF ZEUS & LETO & TWIN SISTER OF APOLLO

**Artemis was worshiped by ancient Greeks (as Artemis) & by the Romans (as Diana)

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Artemis is often depicted armed with a bent silver bow and quiver, with her hunting dogs, in a chariot being drawn by two white stags. Her silver bow symbolized the new moon; her arrows, death. Her sacred tree was the cypress.

Artemis had a number of escapades with famous hunters. One, Actaeon, she turned into a stag and set his hounds upon him because he spied on her while she was bathing in a stream. Another was Orion. Artemis' companions, also virgins, were the Seven Pleiades, the daughters of Atlas. Orion came across them playing in the forest and chased them. When they prayed to Artemis for help, she turned them into seven snow white pigeons and they escaped from Orion. Apollo was displeased with the relationship between his twin sister and her huntsman. Knowing Artemis' reputation with a bow, Apollo challenged her to aim at a dark speck far out on the sea. True on her target, Artemis killed Orion, who was bathing in the sea. Promising never to forget him, she changed Orion and his dog, Sirius, into constellations.

Artemis has been the subject of world literature for almost 2800 years. The Greek poet, Homer, wrote of Artemis in "The Trojan War" as early as 800 B.C. Her genealogy is reflected in the "Theogany" by Hesiod (700 B.C.), an epic poem describing the creation of the world and the genealogy of the gods. Numerous English poets have written about Artemis, among them Keats (179-1821) and Byron (1788-1824).
"Goddess serene, transcending every star!
Queen of the sky, whose beams are seen afar!
By night heaven owns they sway, by day the grove
When, as chaste Diane, here thou deign's to rove" -Byron

Artemis was a very versatile goddess who was widely worshipped by at least two cultures for hundreds of years.

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