History and curiosities of one of the most beloved goddesses of Olympus

At three years old, Artemis was brought before her father Zeus for the first time. The king of Olympus was enchanted by that little girl, so beautiful and intelligent. He made her sit on his lap, he patted her back and said more or less like this: "My baby, ask for anything you want and your daddy will give it to you".

What do you think the little girl wanted? A mountain of sweets? Toys? Or maybe a pony? No! Here is the list of his requests:

• arco, arrows and a pack of dogs for hunting
• entire woods for his exclusive use
• a team of nymphs at his service
• a short tunic to be able to run without hindrance
• perennial chastity.

There's nothing to say: she was a child with clear ideas

Since birth, she made herself useful to other women. He was born before his twin Apollo, so he attended the second birth of his mother Leto, comforting her during the very difficult labor that lasted nine days.

«What an exaggeration… a newborn baby capable of helping her mother give birth!» say. Well yes, the gods were exaggerated... otherwise what kind of divinity would they be? Just think of Hercules, who while still in his cradle strangled the snakes sent by the jealous Hera to kill him. And think that he wasn't even a God, but “only” a demigod. But let's go back to our Artemis. Surrounded by girls, very close to her mother, she never felt the need to have a husband by her side or to bring children into the world. It was made like this, fascinating and unattainable like the Moon.

Artemis embodied an important aspect of the Mother Goddess: that of the girl

By its nature it was not connected either to motherhood or to the death/rebirth cycle. Nel pantheon, Therefore, two deities were placed alongside her which symbolized the other characteristics of the Great Goddess: Selene and Hecate, who with Artemis formed a lunar trinity. This is how the trinity was made up:

1. Artemis, that is, the Virgin Maiden. It represented the crescent Moon.
2. Selene, the Bride/Mother. It represented the full Moon. She embodied the figure of the woman in love and fruitful. The best-known myth concerning her was linked to her love for the mortal Endymion. Selene saw him for the first time while he was sleeping in a cave and was enchanted by him. The two became lovers, however the Goddess could not bear the idea that one day the young man, being mortal, could die. Thus he made him sink into an eternal sleep, to be able to always keep it close to her. But Endymion's sleep was special: he slept with his eyes open, so that he could continue to see his beloved. From the union between the two fifty children were born.
3. Hecate, the Lady of Death. As we saw in the chapter dedicated to Lilith, it represented the waning Moon. He ruled the night, ghosts and mastered necromancy.

Artemis being the personification of the Virgin Maiden, men could only admire her from afar, splendid in all her fascinating femininity. He didn't cover himself with armor, like Athena, nor did he live in solitude, Eat Estia. No, she remained desirable, but inaccessible.

Artemis, vengeful goddess

Artemis was also famous for her very "composed" and "balanced" reactions (Yes, come no) to the wrongs suffered. Here are a couple of examples:

• One day, while he was taking a bath, she realized she was being spied on by the hunter Actaeon. As punishment, he transformed him into a deer and had him torn to pieces by his own dogs.
• The unfortunate Niobe had the unfortunate idea of ​​boasting to Leto of her numerous offspring. He told her more or less like this: «I have twelve children, while you only managed to bring two into the world!» Leto went to complain to his children and they made a massacre. Artemis killed Niobe's six daughters and Apollo the six sons.

The champion of women

Artemis is remembered above all for her vengeful and angry character, but in reality he was also a benevolent entity and friend of mortals.

She was the champion of women who suffered harassment. He often protected his mother from rape, perpetrated by other Gods. But not only. According to one version of the myth, it was she who saved Iphigenia from the sacrificial altar, Agamemnon's daughter. The father, Indeed, he agreed to sacrifice her so he could sail over Troy with favorable winds, but the Goddess saved her and made her become her priestess.

A male cult too

Interesting, Furthermore, note how this deity also had male followers. One of them was Ippolito. Being devoted to the exclusive cult of Artemis, caused Aphrodite's anger: for punishment, the Goddess of love made his stepmother Phaedra fall in love with him.

The woman tried in every way to seduce him, but he resisted. I can, humiliated, he killed himself. But before we finish it, he left a note falsely accusing Ippolito of rape. Phaedra's husband then begged Poseidon to kill his stepson. And he was satisfied. Poor Ippolito, what an unfair end! Sentenced to death for a crime he never committed!

Fortunately, Artemis took pity on her unfortunate follower. He resurrected him and gave him the name “Virbio”, i.e. “twice a man”. Virbio went to live in Italy and married the beautiful nymph Egeria.

Artemis and Britomartis

There is one last myth on which I intend to focus: the story of Britomarti, a Cretan deity associated with the cult of the Moon. Her figure was one of the many derivations of the Mother Goddess.

A Creta, cradle of Minoan culture, stupendous temples and incredible paintings testify to the cult reserved for the Great Mother. The island's society was peaceful, joyful, lover of art and equal in the distribution of goods. Women played a very important role.

Britomarti was a deity who loved living in the woods, stay in contact with nature and animals. He was intelligent and had a lovable temperament (her nickname was "sweet virgin"). He invented fishing nets and gave them to man.

Further on, when the Minoan civilization clashed with the Achaean one, Britomarti was absorbed by the cult of Artemis. She became part of his retinue of nymphs: she was entrusted with the task of keeping the dogs of the hunting pack on a leash. But some features of his cult remained, such as the fact of being the creator of fishing nets, one of the most precious tools for the economy of the time. And now, Let's discover its story together.

The legend of Artemis and the nymph Britomarti

Blonde, shining eyes, white complexion. Britomartis was one of Artemis' favorite companions. And law, lovely girl, he was happy to be at the Goddess' side. The lunar deity was his model, the woman she herself wanted to be, free and proud. The nymphs were his sisters, the forest is his home. He loved hunting and the outdoors. She had no desire to be tied to a man.

One day, But, King Minos saw her while he was drinking from a spring. He was overcome by the desire to possess her. He made many offers to her, but she didn't want to listen to him. He was faithful to Artemis, she wasn't interested in anything else.

Minos did not accept the refusal. He began to spy on her, following his steps, studying the best moment to isolate her from her companions and make her his. In the end, he managed to grab her while she was resting in a clearing. She slipped from his hands, but the pursuer did not give up. Nine months he chased her, for nine months he left her no respite. Hunted, scared, separated from her friends, Britomarti lived through a period of constant dismay. That man wanted to violate her, take it by force and then forget about it and abandon it like a broken toy. He would have had his satisfaction, and then move on to another prey. But she would have been left with an incurable wound.

The girl hid in a thick oak forest, hoping that the trees would hide it, but Minos's lust managed to find her in a short time. He then took refuge in the palace of the river goddess Bize, but the king of Crete found her there too.

After nine moons of chasing, exhausted, he realized he could no longer escape him. The only alternative to violence was death. She would have thrown herself off a cliff.

Meanwhile Artemis, noticed his absence, he searched for her tirelessly. She couldn't believe that such a faithful girl had abandoned her on purpose. He began to ask for information, questioning the winds, satyrs and sylvan nymphs. They feared the Cretan king, but the wrath of the Goddess terrified them more. They reported that the girl was hiding from a man, while not revealing the identity of the attacker. The deity immediately decided to rush to the aid of his companion. The pack dogs, who loved Britomarti, they helped the owner find his traces. It wasn't easy: the nymph moved quickly, he was skilled at outpacing his pursuers. Only Minos, obstinate in his destructive passion, he always managed to flush her out.

Artemis devoted herself tirelessly to tracking down Britomarti, eclipsing himself from other tasks. She was so busy with her research that she didn't make her celestial body appear in the sky for an entire night, which remained obscured.

In the end, he reached the nymph just at the moment in which the girl had already taken flight from a high cliff. But her generous soul came to her rescue: Britomarti fell into a fishing net, the same one he had given to humanity.

She was rescued by a group of fishermen. Minos thought she was dead, so he gave up the pursuit and returned to his majestic palace on the island of Crete. He didn't worry much about the nymph's end: to him she was nothing more than prey, to be violated while he was young and healthy.

For Artemis, Instead, Britomarti was one of the most beloved companions. And that episode strengthened his bond with her even further. The poor girl had suffered for nine months, scared, a frightening persecution. He had not accepted compromises. She had come to the point of killing herself, in order to remain faithful to herself and to the Goddess. And the Goddess knew how to be generous in rewarding her followers. To reward her, decided to award her the highest honor: transformed her into a deity. He offered her the ambrosia, the divine nectar, who gives eternal life to mortals. He made her enter Olympus like a queen, presenting her as his favorite companion, the one who had not surrendered to the destructive desire of men. In the end, gave her a new name, with which to show herself to the world in order to be venerated with the honors she deserved. What was Dictinna's name?, word related to “dictyon”: fishing net. The instrument that decreed his salvation, fruit of his own genius.