Ephesus Kusadasi

The goddess Artemis played a great role in Greek mythology and religion.  She was  the daughter of Leto and Zeus (the ruler of the Greek gods) and the twin sister of Apollo. Artemis was the goddess of hunting, wilderness and wild animals. She was also a goddess of childbirth, and the protector of the girl child up to the age of marriage.

Artemis was  known as the mistress of animals, but she was also a hunter and the goddess who could bring death with her arrows.  Together with her twin brother Apollo she was the bringer of sudden death and disease too. As an Olympian goddess, Artemis was free to pursue her interests, and was often found wondering  in the forests,together with a band of nymphs.

She was known as Diana in Roman mythology. Artemis is sometimes identified with the Greek goddess of the moon Selene.It is revealed in one of the epithets used to describe the goddess Phoebe  called also as the bright one.

In  the Iliad of Homer, Niobe is described as a woman who compares herself to Letoo, mother of the twins of Olimpus, Artemis and Apollo. According to myth, she had the audacity to boast that she herself has given birth to twelve children (six boys and six girls), while the goddess Leto only bore two.

The goddess Leto offended by Niobe’s bragging and  send her two children to punish the foolish woman. This scene of divine retribution is beautifully depicted in the Iliad:

“Apollo, making his silver longbow whip and sing,
shot the lads down, and Artemis, with raining
arrows killed the daughters – all this after
Niobe had compared herself with Leto,
the smooth-cheeked goddess.”

Niobe was devastated when her children were killed. She wept for days on end, and finally was transformed into a stone that stands on Mt. Sipylon.

Prayer to Artemis:

Artemis, huntress of the moon, make my aim true. Give me goals to seek and the constant determination to achieve them.

Grant me communion with nature, allow me to live surrounded by plants and animals that I can grow, protect and nurture.

Allow me the strength and wisdom to be my own mistress, not defined by the expectations of others.

And sustain my sexuality to be as yours — wild and free as nature itself.