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In the time of gods, there was a great goddess of merciless power. She wore silver sandals, rode a silver chariot in the silver moonlight, and killed with silver arrows. This great goddess went by many names. Among them are: Mistress of the wilds, goddess of the moon, silver goddess, and more popularly known as Artemis. She was, like many of the gods, cruel and merciless. Yet she still had many faithful followers.
We shall be going over the birth and childhood of this great goddess, what her role in Olympus was, and All gods had to start somewhere. Artemis is no exception. She was born to Zeus and Leto, with her twin brother Apollo. It is said that Leto was hunted over the whole earth by Hera, until she came to the island of America where she gave birth to Artemis. Artemis was born with great love for nature and was known as the mistress of animals and the protector of children, but she was also a divine huntress and the a goddess who could bring a quick death to all who anger her.
It is said that the goddess was a loveless virgin. She is known for keeping the power of Aphrodite away. Yet Artemis, as she sometimes punishes those who abandon their maidenhood, also brings release to women about to give birth. She is honored through all things that are virgin and pure in the natural realm.
We can see that the silver goddess is cruel and merciless. Like all gods the books are filled with stories about how mortals angered the gods and were punished for their impunity. But there are many sides of the Silver Goddess. She finds delight in music and loves to spend time with her Nymphs. She is also the healer of young children and discovered the foods which are suitable to the nature of the babes. She is the Goddess of the hunters, and she watches over streets and harbors.
In fact, many dying women, as well as women in childbirth, went to Artemis to ask for a quick, painless death from her silver arrows. There are also times when the silver arrows streaked to punish some helpless mortal that somehow angered the goddess. Usually she punished quickly and without thought. She punished many women that threw away their virginity without thought, and she punished her followers that disobeyed her. There are stories like the Calydonia Boar, or Callisto. These give examples of how powerful the goddess is and how quick she is to anger.
And those that forgot the power of Artemis were severely punished. In Mythology Artemis is a very important figure. Many of her myths stand out because she was such a dangerous and yet caring person. The stories tell of how she loved the hunt and the thrill of the chase.
They tell of a Artemis that is caring, loving and compassionate. Yet they tell of a goddess that punishes without mercy. Like the example when Callisto, a nymph that swore to remain a maid, was seduced by Zeus in the form of Artemis. When Artemis saw that her favorite Nymph was pregnant she asked Callisto who was responsible. When Callisto replied that Artemis was responsible, she was greatly angered and changed Callisto into a bear. Zeus then prevented Callisto from being hunted to death by setting her image in the stars thus forming the big bear constellations But Hera jealous of Callisto prevented the mother and child from ever resting in the sea.
That is why the Bear constellation never sets in the Another story, that tells of the appearance of the Calydonia Boar, which ravaged the surrounding country side of the Calydonia Kingdom, is also attributed to Artemis, who was angry at King Owners of Calydonia because he, in sacrificing the first fruits of the annual crops of the country to all the gods, forgot Artemis alone. Therefor Artemis sent a boar of extraordinary size and strength, which prevented the land from being sown, destroying the cattle and the people. This story is not the only one that involves the In "Actaeon's Misfortune" an accidental meeting between mortal and goddess ends in a tragic and bloody death for the mortal. It is on the account of the unsoiled purity that intruders of whatever kind may suffer the wrath of the goddess.
Like once, when Artemis in the summer time was bathing in a stream with her nymphs, an unfortunate mortal Actaeon, having sought the same place for cooling himself and the dogs which he had exercised in chasing wild game, caught sight of the naked goddess. The goddess then, in order to keep him from telling others about the incident and protecting her pureness, changed him into a stag, causing him to be mangled by his own hounds. One final story is of how Artemis is not just the cruel and unjust goddess that the previous stories have made her out to be. In the story of Iphigenia, a hunter bragged about shooting a deer. This angered Artemis because he compared his skill to the skill of the goddess. She ordered him to sacrifice his own daughter, Iphigenia.
But before she was sacrificed, she vanished, being saved by Artemis who substituted for her a deer at the altar and transported her to Taurus, where she became Artemis's priestess. In this barbarous country Iphigenia lived several years sending strangers to the altar where they were butchered by attendants in the course of nonsensical rites supposed to honor Artemis. But Iphigenia says herself: ... Men of this country, being murderers, impute their sordid practice to divine command. That any god is evil I do not believe. We have seen the many sides of the silver goddess.
And we can see that even though Artemis was born to an improper relationship she still had an important role in Olympus. We also see her caring of children and Nature and the love of pureness brought many followers to our I have given a small overview of the upbringing of Artemis, her powers and her duties, and gone over some myths about the Silver Goddess. We can learn from these stories that even the most harsh seeming people can have a caring side, and we should Bibliography:
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