Actaeon ( / æ k ˈ t iː ə n / ; Ancient Greek : Ἀκταίων Aktaiōn ), in Greek mythology , was the son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia , and a famous Theban hero . Through his mother he was a member of the ruling House of Cadmus . Like Achilles , in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron .
70-398: He fell to the fatal wrath of Artemis (later his myth was attached to her Roman counterpart Diana ), but the surviving details of his transgression vary: "the only certainty is in what Aktaion suffered, his pathos , and what Artemis did: the hunter became the hunted; he was transformed into a stag , and his raging hounds, struck with a 'wolf's frenzy' ( Lyssa ), tore him apart as they would
140-859: A Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths. Artemis was one of the most popular goddesses in Ancient Greece. The most frequent name of a month in the Greek calendars was Artemision in Ionic , territories Artemisios or Artamitios in the Doric and Aeolic territories and in Macedonia . Also Elaphios in Elis , Elaphebolion in Athens, Iasos , Apollonia of Chalkidice and Munichion in Attica . In
210-467: A female deer (doe) and both disappear into the waters. In relation to these myths Artemis was worshipped as Saronia and Stymphalia . The myth of a goddess who is chased and then falls in the sea is related to the cults of Aphaea and Diktynna . Artemis carrying torches was identified with Hecate and she had the surnames Phosphoros and Selasphoros . In Athens and Tegea , she was worshipped as Artemis Kalliste , "the most beautiful". Sometimes
280-545: A legend, Carya, the female lover of Dionysos was transformed into a nut tree and the dancers into nuts. The city is considered to be the place of the origin of the bucolic (pastoral) songs. Cedreatis , near Orchomenus in Arcadia. A xoanon was mounted on the holy cedar (kedros). Chesias , from the name of a river at Samos. Chitonia , wearing a loose tunic, at Syracuse in Sicily, as goddess of hunting. The festival
350-444: A plausible reconstruction of an ancient Actaeon myth that Greek poets may have inherited and subjected to expansion and dismemberment. His reconstruction opposes a too-pat consensus that has an archaic Actaeon aspiring to Semele , a classical Actaeon boasting of his hunting prowess and a Hellenistic Actaeon glimpsing Artemis' bath. Lacy identifies the site of Actaeon's transgression as a spring sacred to Artemis at Plataea where Actaeon
420-534: A rare epithet of Artemis. Aphaea is identified with Britomartis. In the legend Britomartis (the sweet young woman) escaped from Minos, who fell in love with her. She travelled to Aegina on a wooden boat and then she disappeared. The myth indicates an identity in nature with Diktynna . Aricina , derived from the town Aricia in Latium , or from Aricia, the wife of the Roman forest god Virbius ( Hippolytus ). The goddess
490-570: A sacrifice, Artemis pities her and takes her away, leaving a deer in her place. In the war that followed, Artemis supported the Trojans against the Greeks, and she challenged Hera in battle. Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities; her worship spread throughout ancient Greece, with her multiple temples, altars, shrines, and local veneration found everywhere in
560-498: A stag." The many depictions both in ancient art and in the Renaissance and post-Renaissance art normally show either the moment of transgression and transformation, or his death by his own hounds. Among others, John Heath has observed, "The unalterable kernel of the tale was a hunter's transformation into a deer and his death in the jaws of his hunting dogs. But authors were free to suggest different motives for his death." In
630-621: A torch in either hand. Sophocles calls her, " Elaphebolos , (deer slayer) Amphipyros", reminding the annual fire of the festival Laphria The adjective refers also to the twin fires of the two peaks of the Mount Parnassus above Delphi ( Phaedriades ). Anaitis , in Lydia . The fame of Tauria (the Tauric goddess) was very high, and the Lydians claimed that the image of the goddess
700-569: Is arranged in three parts. The first covers mythic history up to the destruction of Troy , arranged geographically, describing regions around the world from Egypt, India and Arabia to Europe. The second covers the time from the Trojan War to the death of Alexander the Great . The third covers the period to about 60 BC. Bibliotheca , meaning 'library', acknowledges that he was drawing on the work of many other authors. According to his own work, he
770-614: 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, the earliest attested forms of the name Artemis are the Mycenaean Greek 𐀀𐀳𐀖𐀵 , a-te-mi-to /Artemitos/ ( gen. ) and 𐀀𐀴𐀖𐀳 , a-ti-mi-te /Artimitei/ ( dat. ), written in Linear B at Pylos . According to J.T. Jablonski ,
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#1732775664083840-418: Is not directly comparable to Ishtar of the many lovers, but the mytheme of Artemis shooting Orion , was linked to her punishment of Actaeon by T.C.W. Stinton; the Greek context of the mortal's reproach to the amorous goddess is translated to the episode of Anchises and Aphrodite . Daphnis too was a herdsman loved by a goddess and punished by her: see Theocritus ' First Idyll. In Greek Mythology, Actaeon
910-551: Is of unknown or uncertain etymology, although various sources have been proposed. R.S.P. Beekes suggested that the e / i interchange points to a Pre-Greek origin. Artemis was venerated in Lydia as Artimus . 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. The name may be related to Greek árktos " bear " (from PIE * h₂ŕ̥tḱos ), supported by
980-493: Is presented as a goddess who delights in hunting and punishes harshly those who cross her. Artemis' wrath is proverbial, and represents the hostility of wild nature to humans. Homer calls her πότνια θηρῶν , "the mistress of animals", a title associated with representations in art going back as far as the Bronze Age , showing a woman between a pair of animals. Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of
1050-455: Is presented as a hunting goddess of the woods, surrounded by her chaste band of nymphs. In the myth of Actaeon , when the young hunter sees her bathing naked, he is transformed into a deer by the angered goddess and is then devoured by his own hunting dogs, who do not recognize their master. In the story of Callisto , the girl is driven away from Artemis' company after breaking her vow of virginity, having lain with and been impregnated by Zeus. In
1120-400: Is related to the old traditions where icons and puppets of a vegetation goddess would be hung on a tree. It was believed that the plane tree near the spring at Caphyae, was planted by Menelaus , the husband of Helen of Troy . The tree was called "Menelais". The previous name of the goddess was most likely Kondyleatis . Aphaea , or Apha , unseen or disappeared, a goddess at Aegina and
1190-490: Is turned into a stag, he becomes "horned". This is alluded to in Shakespeare's Merry Wives , Robert Burton 's Anatomy of Melancholy , and others. The two main scenes are Actaeon surprising Artemis/Diana, and his death. In classical art Actaeon is normally shown as fully human, even as his hounds are killing him (sometimes he has small horns), but in Renaissance art he is often given a deer's head with antlers even in
1260-400: Is widely thought to symbolize ritual human sacrifice in attempt to please a God or Goddess: the dogs symbolize the sacrificers and Actaeon symbolizes the sacrifice. Actaeon may symbolize human curiosity or irreverence. The myth is seen by Jungian psychologist Wolfgang Giegerich as a symbol of spiritual transformation and/or enlightenment. Actaeon often symbolizes a cuckold, as when he
1330-502: The Epic tradition , Artemis halted the winds blowing the Greek ships during the Trojan War , stranding the Greek fleet in Aulis , after King Agamemnon , the leader of the expedition, shot and killed her sacred deer. Artemis demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia , Agamemnon's young daughter, as compensation for her slain deer. In most versions, when Iphigenia is led to the altar to be offered as
1400-498: The Iliad and Odyssey to describe her is ἰοχέαιρα iocheaira , "she who shoots arrows", often translated as "she who delights in arrows" or "she who showers arrows". She is called Artemis Chrysilakatos , of the golden shafts, or Chrysinios , of the golden reins, as a goddess of hunting in her chariot. The Homeric Hymn 27 to Artemis paints this picture of the goddess: I sing of Artemis, whose shafts are of gold, who cheers on
1470-472: The Olympians , but come from an old, less organized world–exorcisms, rituals to raise crops, gods and goddesses conceived not quite in human shape. Some cults of Artemis retained the pre-Greek features which were consecrated by immemorial practices and connected with daily tasks. Artemis shows sometimes the wild and darker side of her character and can bring immediate death with her arrows, however she embodies
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#17327756640831540-463: The daimons and this differentiates her from the other Greek divinities. This is the reason that Artemis was later identified with Hecate , since the daimons were tutelary deities. Hecate was the goddess of crossroads and she was the queen of the witches. Laphria is the Pre-Greek "mistress of the animals" at Delphi and Patras . There was a custom to throw animals alive into the annual fire of
1610-517: The "arkteia", young girls who dressed with short saffron-yellow chitons and imitated bears (she-bears: arktoi). In the Acropolis of Athens, the Athenian girls before puberty should serve the goddess as "arktoi". Artemis was the goddess of marriage and childbirth. The name of the small "bears" indicate the theriomorphic form of Artemis in an old pre-Greek cult. In the cult of Baubronia, the myth of
1680-406: The "striking coincidence" that one of only two known Greek inscriptions from Agyrium ( Inscriptiones Graecae XIV, 588) is the tombstone of one "Diodorus, the son of Apollonius" (“ Διόδωρος ∙ Ἀπολλωνίου ”) . The final work attributed to him is from 21 BC. Diodorus' universal history , which he named Bibliotheca historica ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική , "Historical Library"),
1750-605: The Mycenean religion. Artemis carries with her certain functions and characteristics of a Minoan form whose history was lost in the myths. According to the beliefs of the first Greeks in Arcadia , Artemis is the first nymph , a divinity of free nature. She was a great goddess and her temples were built near springs marshes and rivers where the nymphs live, and they are appealed by the pregnant women. In Greek religion we must see less tractable elements which have nothing to do with
1820-803: The ancient world. Her great temple at Ephesus was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World , before it was burnt to the ground. 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 . The name "Artemis" ( n. , f. )
1890-438: The antiquity. The great popularity of Artemis corresponds to the Greek belief in freedom and she is mainly the goddess of women and children. The goddess of free nature is independent and celibate. Artemis is frequently depicted carrying a torch and she was occasionally identified with Hecate . Like other Greek deities, she had a number of other names applied to her, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to
1960-531: 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 ); 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
2030-471: The beliefs of the first Greeks in Arcadia Artemis is the first nymph , a goddess of free nature. She is an independent free woman, and she does not need any partner. She is hunting surrounded by her nymphs . This idea of freedom and women's skill is expressed in many Greek myths. In Peloponnese the temples of Artemis were built near springs, rivers and marshes. Artemis was closely related to
2100-453: The calendars of Aetolia , Phocis and Gytheion there was the month Laphrios and in Thebes , Corcyra , and Byzantion the month Eucleios . The goddess was venerated in festivals during spring. In some cults she retains the theriomorphic form of a Pre-Greek goddess who was conceived with the shape of a bear (άρκτος árktos : bear). Kallisto in Arcadia is a hypostasis of Artemis with
2170-432: The call of his hunting party, he cried out to them and immediately transformed. At this, he fled deep into the woods, and doing so he came upon a pond and, seeing his reflection, groaned. His own hounds then turned upon him and pursued him, not recognizing him. In an endeavour to save himself, he raised his eyes (and would have raised his arms, had he had them) toward Mount Olympus. The gods did not heed his desperation, and he
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2240-422: The city of Antioch, wrote that Ptolemy was smitten by the beauty of (the statue of) Artemis; whereas her mother Leto often took pride in her daughter's beauty. She has several stories surrounding her where men such as Actaeon, Orion, and Alpheus tried to couple with her forcibly, only to be thwarted or killed. Ancient poets note Artemis' height and imposing stature, as she stands taller and more impressive than all
2310-416: The common epithets Orthia , Korythalia and Dereatis . The female dancers wore masks and were famous in antiquity. The goddess of vegetation was also related to the tree-cult with temples near the holy trees and the surnames Apanchomene , Caryatis and Cedreatis . According to Greek beliefs the image of a god or a goddess gave signs or tokens and had divine and magic powers. With these conceptions she
2380-533: The fest. The festival at Patras was introduced from Calydon and this relates Artemis to the Greek heroine Atalanta who symbolizes freedom and independence. Other epithets that relate Artemis to the animals are Amarynthia and Kolainis . In the Homeric poems Artemis is mainly the goddess of hunting, because it was the most important sport in Mycenean Greece . An almost formulaic epithet used in
2450-411: The goddess before a battle. The deer always accompanies the goddess of hunting. Her epithet Agraea is similar with Agrotera . Alphaea , in the district of Elis . The goddess had an annual festival at Olympia and a temple at Letrinoi near the river Alpheus . At the festival of Letrinoi, the girls were dancing wearing masks. In the legend, Alphaea and her nymphs covered their faces with mud and
2520-512: The goddess had the name of an Amazon like Lyceia (with a helmet of a wolf-skin) and Molpadia . The female warriors Amazons embody the idea of freedom and women's independence. In spite of her status as a virgin who avoided potential lovers, there are multiple references to Artemis' beauty and erotic aspect; in the Odyssey , Odysseus compares Nausicaa to Artemis in terms of appearance when trying to win her favor, Libanius , when praising
2590-468: The goddess. Aeginaea , probably huntress of chamois or the wielder of the javelin, at Sparta However the word may mean "from the island Aegina ", that relates Artemis with Aphaia ( Britomartis ). Aetole , of Aetolia at Nafpaktos . A marble statue represented the goddess in the attitude of one hurling a javelin. Agoraea , guardian of popular assemblies in Athens . She was considered to be
2660-537: The herdsman, shepherd and chief shepherd Who was always heaping up the glowing ashes for you, And cooked ewe-lambs for you every day. But you hit him and turned him into a wolf, His own herd-boys hunt him down And his dogs tear at his haunches. Actaeon, torn apart by dogs incited by Artemis, finds another Near Eastern parallel in the Ugaritic hero Aqht , torn apart by eagles incited by Anath who wanted his hunting bow. The virginal Artemis of classical times
2730-584: The hounds were Artemis' own; some lost elaborations of the myth seem to have given them all names and narrated their wanderings after his loss. A number of ancient Greek vases depicting the metamorphosis and death of Actaeon include the goddess Lyssa in the scene, infecting his dogs with rabies and setting them against him. According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman Ovid having accidentally seen Diana (Artemis) on Mount Cithaeron while she
2800-402: The hounds, the pure maiden, shooter of stags, who delights in archery, own sister to Apollo with the golden sword. Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and sends out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains tremble and the tangled wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts: earthquakes and the sea also where fishes shoal. According to
2870-538: The idea of "the free nature" which was introduced by the first Greeks. The Dorians came later in the area, probably from Epirus and the goddess of nature was mostly interpreted as a vegetation goddess who was related to the ecstatic Minoan tree-cult. She was worshipped in orgiastic cults with lascivious and sometimes obscene dances, which have pure Greek elements introduced by the Dorians. The feminine (sometimes male) dancers wore usually masks, and they were famous in
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2940-456: The island of Delos gave refuge to Leto, allowing her to give birth to her children. In one account, Artemis is born first and then proceeds to assist Leto in the birth of the second twin, Apollo. Artemis was a kourotrophic (child-nurturing) deity, that is the patron and protector of young children, especially young girls. Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia and Hera. Artemis
3010-421: The marriage, and they are appealed by the pregnant women. Artemis became goddess of marriage and childbirth. She was worshipped with the surname Eucleia in several cities. Women consecrated clothes to Artemis for a happy childbirth and she had the epithets Lochia and Lecho . The Dorians interpreted Artemis mainly as goddess of vegetation who was worshipped in an orgiastic cult with lascivious dances, with
3080-453: The name is also Phrygian and could be "compared with the royal appellation Artemas of Xenophon ". Charles Anthon argued that the primitive root of the name is probably of Persian origin from * arta , * art , * arte , all meaning "great, excellent, holy", thus Artemis "becomes identical with the great mother of Nature, even as she was worshiped at Ephesus". Anton Goebel "suggests the root στρατ or ῥατ , 'to shake', and makes Artemis mean
3150-407: The next section (books VII–XVII), he recounts the history of the world from the Trojan War down to the death of Alexander the Great . The last section (books XVII to the end) concerns the historical events from the successors of Alexander down to either 60 BC or the beginning of Julius Caesar 's Gallic Wars . (The end has been lost, so it is unclear whether Diodorus reached the beginning of
3220-567: The nymphs accompanying her. Artemis is rooted to the less developed personality of the Mycenean goddess of nature. The goddess of nature was concerned with birth and vegetation and had certain chthonic aspects. The Mycenean goddess was related to the Minoan mistress of the animals, who can be traced later in local cults, however we do not know to what extent we can differentiate the Minoan from
3290-516: The oracle at Delphi , the god bade them bury in the ground whatever remains they could find of Actæon: he also bade them to make a brazen copy of the spectre and fasten it with iron to the stone. This I have myself seen, and they annually offer funeral rites to Actæon." In the standard version of the Epic of Gilgamesh (tablet vi) there is a parallel, in the series of examples Gilgamesh gives Ishtar of her mistreatment of her serial lovers: You loved
3360-422: The protector of the assemblies of the people in the agora . At Olympia the cult of "Artemis Agoraea" was related to the cult of Despoinai . (The double named goddesses Demeter and Persephone). Agrotera , the huntress of wild wood, in the Iliad and many cults. It was believed that she first hunted at Agrae of Athens after her arrival from Delos . There was a custom of making a "slaughter sacrifice", to
3430-429: The river god Alpheus, who was in love with her, could not distinguish her from the others. This explains, somehow, the clay masks at Sparta. Amarynthia , or Amarysia , with a famous temple at Amarynthus near Eretria . The goddess was related to the animals, however she was also a healer goddess of women. She is identified with Kolainis . Amphipyros , with fire at each end, a rare epithet of Artemis as bearing
3500-412: The road in Attica leading to Plataea from Eleutherae , just beyond Megara "and a little farther on a rock. It is called the bed of Actaeon, for it is said that he slept thereon when weary with hunting and that into this spring he looked while Artemis was bathing in it." "As to Actæon there is a tradition at Orchomenus , that a spectre which sat on a stone injured their land. And when they consulted
3570-454: The sacrifice of Iphigenia was represented in the ritual. Boulaia , of the council, in Athens. Boulephoros , counselling, advising, at Miletus , probably a Greek form of the mother-goddess. Caryatis , the lady of the nut-tree, at Caryae on the borders between Laconia and Arcadia . Artemis was strongly related to the nymphs, and young girls were dancing the dance Caryatis . The dancers of Caryai were famous in antiquity. In
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#17327756640833640-456: The scene with Diana, and by the time he is killed he has at the least this head, and has often completely transformed into the shape of a deer. Artemis In ancient Greek religion and mythology , Artemis ( / ˈ ɑːr t ɪ m ɪ s / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἄρτεμις ) is the goddess of the hunt , the wilderness , wild animals, nature , vegetation , childbirth , care of children , and chastity . In later times, she
3710-407: The shape of a bear, and her cults at Brauron and at Piraeus ( Munichia ) are remarkable for the arkteia where virgin girls before marriage were disguised as she-bears. The ancient Greeks called potnia theron the representation of the goddess between animals; on a Greek vase from circa 570 BCE, a winged Artemis stands between a spotted panther and a deer. "Potnia theron" is very close to
3780-556: The thrower of the dart or the shooter". Ancient Greek writers, by way of folk etymology , and some modern scholars, have linked Artemis (Doric Artamis ) to ἄρταμος , artamos , i.e. "butcher" or, like Plato did in Cratylus , to ἀρτεμής , artemḗs , i.e. "safe", "unharmed", "uninjured", "pure", "the stainless maiden". A.J. van Windekens tried to explain both ἀρτεμής and Artemis from ἀτρεμής , atremḗs , meaning "unmoved, calm; stable, firm" via metathesis . Artemis
3850-522: The version that was offered by the Hellenistic poet Callimachus , which has become the standard setting, Artemis was bathing in the woods when the hunter Actaeon stumbled across her, thus seeing her naked. He stopped and stared, amazed at her ravishing beauty. Once seen, Artemis got revenge on Actaeon: she forbade him speech – if he tried to speak, he would be changed into a stag – for the unlucky profanation of her virginity's mystery. Upon hearing
3920-405: The waters and especially to Poseidon , the god of the waters. Her common epithets are Limnnaia , Limnatis (relation to waters) and Potamia and Alphaea (relation to rivers). In some cults she is the healer goddess of women with the surnames Lousia and Thermia . Artemis is the leader of the nymphs ( Hegemone ) and she is hunting surrounded by them. The nymphs appear during the festival of
3990-544: The way to the academy of Athens and he believes that the names are surnames of the goddess Artemis, who is depicted carrying a torch. Kalliste is not related to Kalliste of Arcadia. Aristobule , the best advisor, at Athens . The politician and general Themistocles built a temple of Artemis Aristobule near his house in the deme of Melite , in which he dedicated his own statue. Astrateia , she that stops an invasion, at Pyrrichos in Laconia . A wooden image (xoanon),
4060-405: Was a hero archegetes ("hero-founder") The righteous hunter, the companion of Artemis, seeing her bathing naked in the spring, was moved to try to make himself her consort, as Diodorus Siculus noted, and was punished, in part for transgressing the hunter's "ritually enforced deference to Artemis" (Lacy 1990:42). Notes: In the second century AD, the traveller Pausanias was shown a spring on
4130-407: Was also a patron of healing and disease, particularly among women and children, and believed to send both good health and illness upon women and children. Artemis was one of the three major virgin goddesses , alongside Athena and Hestia . Artemis preferred to remain an unmarried maiden and was one of the three Greek goddesses over whom Aphrodite had no power. In myth and literature, Artemis
4200-584: Was among them. It was considered that the image had divine powers. The Athenians believed that the image became booty to the Persians and was carried from Brauron to Susa . Angelos , messenger, envoy, title of Artemis at Syracuse in Sicily . Apanchomene , the strangled goddess, at Caphyae in Arcadia. She was a vegetation goddess related to the ecstatic tree cult. The Minoan tree goddesses Helene, Dentritis, and Ariadne were also hanged. This epithet
4270-495: Was bathing, he was changed by her into a stag, and pursued and killed by his fifty hounds. This version also appears in Callimachus' Fifth Hymn, as a mythical parallel to the blinding of Tiresias after he sees Athena bathing. The literary testimony of Actaeon's myth is largely lost, but Lamar Ronald Lacy, deconstructing the myth elements in what survives and supplementing it by iconographic evidence in late vase-painting, made
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#17327756640834340-453: Was born in Agyrium in Sicily (now called Agira). With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about his life and doings beyond his written works. Only Jerome , in his Chronicon under the "year of Abraham 1968" (49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". However, his English translator, Charles Henry Oldfather , remarks on
4410-512: Was dedicated to the goddess, because she stopped the invasion of the Amazons in this area. Another xoanon represented "Apollo Amazonios". Basileie , at Thrace and Paeonia . The women offered wheat stalks to the goddess. In this cult, which reached Athens, Artemis is relative to the Thracian goddess Bendis . Brauronia , worshipped at Brauron in Attica . Her cult is remarkable for
4480-469: Was distinguished by a peculiar dance and by a music on the flute. Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Διόδωρος , translit. Diódōros ; fl. 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek historian from Sicily . He is known for writing the monumental universal history Bibliotheca historica , in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, between 60 and 30 BC. The history
4550-514: Was identified with Selene , the personification of the Moon . She was often said to roam the forests and mountains, attended by her entourage of nymphs . The goddess Diana is her Roman equivalent. In Greek tradition, Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto , and twin sister of Apollo . In most accounts, the twins are the products of an extramarital liaison. For this, Zeus' wife Hera forbade Leto from giving birth anywhere on solid land. Only
4620-663: Was immense and consisted of 40 books, of which 1–5 and 11–20 survive: fragments of the lost books are preserved in Photius and the Excerpts of Constantine Porphyrogenitus . It was divided into three sections. The first six books treated the mythic history of the non- Hellenic and Hellenic tribes to the destruction of Troy and are geographical in theme, and describe the history and culture of Ancient Egypt (book I), of Mesopotamia , India , Scythia , and Arabia (II), of North Africa (III), and of Greece and Europe (IV–VI). In
4690-464: Was related with Artemis Tauria (the Tauric Artemis). Her statue was considered the same with the statue that Orestes brought from Tauris. Near the sanctuary of the goddess there was a combat between slaves who had run away from their masters and the prize was the priesthood of Artemis. Ariste , the best, a goddess of the women. Pausanias describes xoana of "Ariste" and "Kalliste" in
4760-627: Was that he was a rival of Zeus for Semele , his mother's sister, whereas in Euripides ' Bacchae he has boasted that he is a better hunter than Artemis: Further materials, including fragments that belong with the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and at least four Attic tragedies, including a Toxotides of Aeschylus , have been lost. Diodorus Siculus (4.81.4), in a variant of Actaeon's hubris that has been largely ignored, has it that Actaeon wanted to marry Artemis. Other authors say
4830-447: Was torn to pieces. An element of the earlier myth made Actaeon the familiar hunting companion of Artemis, no stranger. In an embroidered extension of the myth, the hounds were so upset with their master's death, that Chiron made a statue so lifelike that the hounds thought it was Actaeon. There are various other versions of his transgression: The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and pseudo-Apollodoran Bibliotheke state that his offense
4900-455: Was worshipped as Tauria (the Tauric , goddess), Aricina ( Italy ) and Anaitis ( Lydia ). In the bucolic ( pastoral ) songs the image of the goddess was discovered in bundles of leaves or dry sticks and she had the surnames Lygodesma and Phakelitis . In the European folklore, a wild hunter is chasing an elfish woman who falls in the water. In the Greek myths the hunter is chasing
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