rtemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, was born on the island of Delos with her twin brother Apollo and was the Goddess of the moon, hunting and chastity. As she was the twin sister of Apollo, it would be expected of her to share the same characteristics of her brother, and indeed, she too carried a bow and arrows, and wielded sudden death upon whom the arrows struck.

Some of the qualities that she held were like other divinities in that they were antagonistic to one another; hence she brought evil and suffering upon mortals, yet she also cured their ailments and helped them to solve their problems. In the great Trojan Wars she was, with her brother, on the side of the Trojans, and her arrows as well as his, caused consternation among the Greeks.

Artemis was the goddess of life, childbirth and of children after they were born, and of animals. She was the protector of all young animals and was the goddess of flocks, as Apollo. As a great huntress, she was the goddess of the chase. As a virgin goddess, like Hestia and Athene, never marrying, she never new the joys nor the sorrows of love, but as the goddess of the moon, she acquired many of the qualities of Selene.

For a while, Orion, son of Poseidon, and a mighty hunter also, dwelt with her, but this did not please Apollo. One day, while Orion was swimming in the sea, Apollo challenged his sister to an archery contest. The contest was to see who could be the first to hit a bobbing black target in the sea. Artemis took aim and hit it squarely. Of course, the object was Orion’s head and Apollo had tricked her into killing him. Upon realisation of her error, Artemis took Orion and placed him among the stars.

Artemis is connected with another hunter, Actaeon, the grandson of Cadmus of Thebes. Whilst on his return from a hunting trip, Actaeon, heard noises coming from a glade in the forest, upon rounding a large tree, he gazed upon the beautiful Artemis bathing with some nymphs. Fearful that Actaeon would tell all, about his chance meeting with the goddess, Artemis prevented him from leaving the forest by changing him into a stag, and the fifty hunting dogs that Actaeon had with him promptly devoured him.