Artemis

Artemis
Greek goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, the Moon, and chastity
Member of the Twelve Olympians
The Diana of Versailles, a Roman copy of a Greek sculpture by Leochares (Louvre Museum)
Abode	Mount Olympus
Weapon	Bow, arrows
Animals	Stags, deer
Symbol	Bow, arrow, quiver, hunting knives, Moon, deer, cypress
Tree	Cypress
Day	Monday (hēmérā Artémidos)
Personal information
Parents	Zeus and Leto
Siblings	Apollo, Aeacus, Angelos, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Dionysus, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, Pandia, Persephone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, the Litae, the Muses, the Moirai
Roman equivalent	Diana

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Artemis (seated and wearing a radiate crown), the beautiful nymph Callisto (left), Eros and other nymphs. Antique fresco from Pompeii.

Artemis (/ˈɑːrtɪmɪs/; Greek: Ἄρτεμις Artemis, Attic Greek: [ár.te.mis]) is the Greek goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, the Moon, and chastity.^[1] The goddess Diana is her Roman equivalent.

Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the patron and protector of young girls, and was believed to bring disease upon women and relieve them of it. Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia. Much like Athena and Hestia, Artemis preferred to remain a maiden and is sworn never to marry.

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities, and her temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Artemis' symbols included a bow and arrow, a quiver, and hunting knives, and the deer and the cypress were sacred to her. Diana, her Roman equivalent, was especially worshipped on the Aventine Hill in Rome, near Lake Nemi in the Alban Hills, and in Campania.^[2]

Etymology

The name Artemis (noun, feminine) is of unknown or uncertain etymology,^[3][4] although various sources have been proposed. R. S. P. Beekes suggested that the e/i interchange points to a Pre-Greek origin.^[5] Artemis was venerated in Lydia as Artimus.^[6] Georgios Babiniotis, while accepting that the etymology is unknown, also states that the name is already attested in Mycenean Greek and is possibly of Pre-Greek origin.^[4]

The name may be possibly related to Greek árktos "bear" (from PIE *h₂ŕ̥tḱos), supported by the bear cult the goddess had in Attica (Brauronia) and the Neolithic remains at the Arkoudiotissa Cave, as well as the story of Callisto, which was originally about Artemis (Arcadian epithet kallisto);^[7] this cult was a survival of very old totemic and shamanistic rituals and formed part of a larger bear cult found further afield in other Indo-European cultures (e.g., Gaulish Artio). It is believed that a precursor of Artemis was worshipped in Minoan Crete as the goddess of mountains and hunting, Britomartis. While connection with Anatolian names has been suggested,^[8][9] the earliest attested forms of the name Artemis are the Mycenaean Greek