ARTEMIS (Diana)

ARTEMIS (Diana).

Artemis was worshipped by the Greeks under various appellations, to
each of which belonged special characteristics. Thus she is known as the
Arcadian, Ephesian and Brauronian Artemis, and also as Selene-Artemis,
and in order fully to comprehend the worship of this divinity, we must
consider her under each aspect.

ARCADIAN ARTEMIS.

The Arcadian Artemis (the real Artemis of the Greeks) was the daughter
of Zeus and Leto, and twin-sister of Apollo. She was the goddess of
Hunting and Chastity, and having obtained from her father permission to
lead a life of celibacy, she ever remained a maiden-divinity. Artemis is
the feminine counterpart of her brother, the glorious god of Light, and,
like him, though she deals out destruction and sudden death to men and
animals, she is also able to alleviate suffering and cure diseases. Like
Apollo also, she is skilled in the use of the bow, but in a far more
eminent degree, for in the character of Artemis, who devoted herself to
the chase with passionate [88]ardour, this becomes an all-distinguishing
feature. Armed with her bow and quiver, and attended by her train of
huntresses, who were nymphs of the woods and springs, she roamed over the
mountains in pursuit of her favourite exercise, destroying in her course
the wild animals of the forest. When the chase was ended, Artemis and her
maidens loved to assemble in a shady grove, or on the banks of a
favourite stream, where they joined in the merry song, or graceful dance,
and made the hills resound with their joyous shouts.

As the type of purity and chastity, Artemis was especially venerated
by young maidens, who, before marrying, sacrificed their hair to her. She
was also the patroness of those vowed to celibacy, and punished severely
any infringement of their obligation.

The huntress-goddess is represented as being a head taller than her
attendant nymphs, and always appears as a youthful and slender maiden.
Her features are beautiful, but wanting in gentleness of expression; her
hair is gathered negligently into a knot at the back of her well-shaped
head; and her figure, though somewhat masculine, is most graceful in its
attitude and proportions. The short robe she wears, leaves her limbs free
for the exercise of the chase, her devotion to which is indicated by the
quiver which is slung over her shoulder, and the bow which she bears in
her hand.

There are many famous statues of this divinity; but the most
celebrated is that known as the Diana of Versailles, now in the Louvre,
which forms a not unworthy companion to the Apollo-Belvedere of the
Vatican. In this statue, the goddess appears in the act of rescuing a
hunted deer from its pursuers, on whom she is turning with angry mien.
One hand is laid protectingly on the head of the stag, whilst with the
other she draws an arrow from the quiver which hangs over her
shoulder.

Her attributes are the bow, quiver, and spear. The animals sacred to
her are the hind, dog, bear, and wild boar.

Artemis promptly resented any disregard or neglect of [89]her worship; a
remarkable instance of this is shown in the story of the Calydonian
boar-hunt, which is as follows:—

Oeneus, king of Calydon in Ætolia, had incurred the displeasure of
Artemis by neglecting to include her in a general sacrifice to the gods
which he had offered up, out of gratitude for a bountiful harvest. The
goddess, enraged at this neglect, sent a wild boar of extraordinary size
and prodigious strength, which destroyed the sprouting grain, laid waste
the fields, and threatened the inhabitants with famine and death. At this
juncture, Meleager, the brave son of Oeneus, returned from the Argonautic
expedition, and finding his country ravaged by this dreadful scourge,
entreated the assistance of all the celebrated heroes of the age to join
him in hunting the ferocious monster. Among the most famous of those who
responded to his call were Jason, Castor and Pollux, Idas and Lynceus,
Peleus, Telamon, Admetus, Perithous, and Theseus. The brothers of Althea,
wife of Oeneus, joined the hunters, and Meleager also enlisted into his
service the fleet-footed huntress Atalanta.

The father of this maiden was Schoeneus, an Arcadian, who,
disappointed at the birth of a daughter when he had particularly desired
a son, had exposed her on the Parthenian Hill, where he left her to
perish. Here she was nursed by a she-bear, and at last found by some
hunters, who reared her, and gave her the name of Atalanta. As the maiden
grew up, she became an ardent [90]lover of the chase, and was alike
distinguished for her beauty and courage. Though often wooed, she led a
life of strict celibacy, an oracle having predicted that inevitable
misfortune awaited her, should she give herself in marriage to any of her
numerous suitors.

Many of the heroes objected to hunt in company with a maiden; but
Meleager, who loved Atalanta, overcame their opposition, and the valiant
band set out on their expedition. Atalanta was the first to wound the
boar with her spear, but not before two of the heroes had met their death
from his fierce tusks. After a long and desperate encounter, Meleager
succeeded in killing the monster, and presented the head and hide to
Atalanta, as trophies of the victory. The uncles of Meleager, however,
forcibly took the hide from the maiden, claiming their right to the spoil
as next of kin, if Meleager resigned it. Artemis, whose anger was still
unappeased, caused a violent quarrel to arise between uncles and nephew,
and, in the struggle which ensued, Meleager killed his mother’s brothers,
and then restored the hide to Atalanta. When Althea beheld the dead
bodies of the slain heroes, her grief and anger knew no bounds. She swore
to revenge the death of her brothers on her own son, and unfortunately
for him, the instrument of vengeance lay ready to her hand.

At the birth of Meleager, the Moirae, or Fates, entered the house of
Oeneus, and pointing to a piece of wood then burning on the hearth,
declared that as soon as it was consumed the babe would surely die. On
hearing this, Althea seized the brand, laid it up carefully in a chest,
and henceforth preserved it as her most precious possession. But now,
love for her son giving place to the resentment she felt against the
murderer of her brothers, she threw the fatal brand into the devouring
flames. As it consumed, the vigour of Meleager wasted away, and when it
was reduced to ashes, he expired. Repenting too late the terrible effects
of her rash deed, Althea, in remorse and despair, took away her own
life.

The news of the courage and intrepidity displayed by [91]Atalanta in the
famous boar-hunt, being carried to the ears of her father, caused him to
acknowledge his long-lost child. Urged by him to choose one of her
numerous suitors, she consented to do so, but made it a condition that he
alone, who could outstrip her in the race, should become her husband,
whilst those she defeated should be put to death by her, with the lance
which she bore in her hand. Thus many suitors had perished, for the
maiden was unequalled for swiftness of foot, but at last a beautiful
youth, named Hippomenes, who had vainly endeavoured to win her love by
his assiduous attentions in the chase, ventured to enter the fatal lists.
Knowing that only by stratagem could he hope to be successful, he
obtained, by the help of Aphrodite, three golden apples from the garden
of the Hesperides, which he threw down at intervals during his course.
Atalanta, secure of victory, stooped to pick up the tempting fruit, and,
in the meantime, Hippomenes arrived at the goal. He became the husband of
the lovely Atalanta, but forgot, in his newly found happiness, the
gratitude which he owed to Aphrodite, and the goddess withdrew her favour
from the pair. Not long after, the prediction which foretold misfortune
to Atalanta, in the event of her marriage, was verified, for she and her
husband, having strayed unsanctioned into a sacred grove of Zeus, were
both transformed into lions.

The trophies of the ever-memorable boar-hunt had been carried by
Atalanta into Arcadia, and, for many centuries, the identical hide and
enormous tusks of the Calydonian boar hung in the temple of Athene at
Tegea. The tusks were afterwards conveyed to Rome, and shown there among
other curiosities.

A forcible instance of the manner in which Artemis resented any
intrusion on her retirement, is seen in the fate which befell the famous
hunter Actaeon, who happening one day to see Artemis and her attendants
bathing, imprudently ventured to approach the spot. The goddess, incensed
at his audacity, sprinkled him with water, and transformed him into a
stag, whereupon he was torn in pieces and devoured by his own dogs. [92]

EPHESIAN ARTEMIS.

The Ephesian Artemis, known to us as “Diana of the Ephesians,” was a
very ancient Asiatic divinity of Persian origin called Metra,^[33] whose worship the Greek
colonists found already established, when they first settled in Asia
Minor, and whom they identified with their own Greek Artemis, though she
really possessed but one single attribute in common with their home
deity.

Metra was a twofold divinity, and represented, in one phase of her
character, all-pervading love; in the other she was the light of heaven;
and as Artemis, in her character as Selene, was the only Greek female
divinity who represented celestial light, the Greek settlers, according
to their custom of fusing foreign deities into their own, seized at once
upon this point of resemblance, and decided that Metra should henceforth
be regarded as identical with Artemis.

In her character as the love which pervades all nature, and penetrates
everywhere, they believed her also to be present in the mysterious Realm
of Shades, where she exercised her benign sway, replacing to a certain
extent that ancient divinity Hecate, and partly usurping also the place
of Persephone, as mistress of the lower world. Thus they believed that it
was she who permitted the spirits of the departed to revisit the earth,
in order to communicate with those they loved, and to give them timely
warning of coming evil. In fact, this great, mighty, and omnipresent
power of love, as embodied in the Ephesian Artemis, was believed by the
great thinkers of old, to be the ruling spirit of the universe, and it
was to her influence, that all the mysterious and beneficent workings of
nature were ascribed.

There was a magnificent temple erected to this divinity at Ephesus (a
city of Asia Minor), which was ranked among the seven wonders of the
world, and was unequalled in beauty and grandeur. The interior of this
[93]edifice was adorned with statues and
paintings, and contained one hundred and twenty-seven columns, sixty feet
in height, each column having been placed there by a different king. The
wealth deposited in this temple was enormous, and the goddess was here
worshipped with particular awe and solemnity. In the interior of the
edifice stood a statue of her, formed of ebony, with lions on her arms
and turrets on her head, whilst a number of breasts indicated the
fruitfulness of the earth and of nature. Ctesiphon was the principal
architect of this world-renowned structure, which, however, was not
entirely completed till two hundred and twenty years after the
foundation-stone was laid. But the labour of centuries was destroyed in a
single night; for a man called Herostratus, seized with the insane desire
of making his name famous to all succeeding generations, set fire to it
and completely destroyed it.^[34] So great was the indignation and sorrow
of the Ephesians at this calamity, that they enacted a law, forbidding
the incendiary’s name to be mentioned, thereby however, defeating their
own object, for thus the name of Herostratus has been handed down to
posterity, and will live as long as the memory of the famous temple of
Ephesus.

BRAURONIAN ARTEMIS.

In ancient times, the country which we now call the Crimea, was known
by the name of the Taurica Chersonnesus. It was colonized by Greek
settlers, who, finding that the Scythian inhabitants had a native
divinity somewhat resembling their own Artemis, identified her with the
huntress-goddess of the mother-country. The worship of this Taurian
Artemis was attended with the most barbarous practices, for, in
accordance with a law which she had enacted, all strangers, whether male
or female, landing, or shipwrecked on her shores, were sacrificed upon
her altars. It is supposed that this decree was [94]issued by the Taurian
goddess of Chastity, to protect the purity of her followers, by keeping
them apart from foreign influences.

The interesting story of Iphigenia, a priestess in the temple of
Artemis at Tauris, forms the subject of one of Schiller’s most beautiful
plays. The circumstances occurred at the commencement of the Trojan war,
and are as follows:—The fleet, collected by the Greeks for the
siege of Troy, had assembled at Aulis, in Bœotia, and was about to
set sail, when Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief, had the misfortune to
kill accidentally a stag which was grazing in a grove, sacred to Artemis.
The offended goddess sent continuous calms that delayed the departure of
the fleet, and Calchas, the soothsayer, who had accompanied the
expedition, declared that nothing less than the sacrifice of Agamemnon’s
favorite daughter, Iphigenia, would appease the wrath of the goddess. At
these words, the heroic heart of the brave leader sank within him, and he
declared that rather than consent to so fearful an alternative, he would
give up his share in the expedition and return to Argos. In this dilemma
Odysseus and other great generals called a council to discuss the matter,
and, after much deliberation, it was decided that private feeling must
yield to the welfare of the state. For a long time the unhappy Agamemnon
turned a deaf ear to their arguments, but at last they succeeded in
persuading him that it was his duty to make the sacrifice. He,
accordingly, despatched a messenger to his wife, Clytemnæstra, begging
her to send Iphigenia to him, alleging as a pretext that the great hero
Achilles desired to make her his wife. Rejoicing at the brilliant destiny
which awaited her beautiful daughter, the fond mother at once obeyed the
command, and sent her to Aulis. When the maiden arrived at her
destination, and discovered, to her horror, the dreadful fate which
awaited her, she threw herself in an agony of grief at her father’s feet,
and with sobs and tears entreated him to have mercy on her, and to spare
her young life. But alas! her doom was sealed, and her now repentant and
[95]heart-broken father was powerless to avert
it. The unfortunate victim was bound to the altar, and already the fatal
knife was raised to deal the death-blow, when suddenly Iphigenia
disappeared from view, and in her place on the altar, lay a beautiful
deer ready to be sacrificed. It was Artemis herself, who, pitying the
youth and beauty of her victim, caused her to be conveyed in a cloud to
Taurica, where she became one of her priestesses, and intrusted with the
charge of her temple; a dignity, however, which necessitated the offering
of those human sacrifices presented to Artemis.

Many years passed away, during which time the long and wearisome siege
of Troy had come to an end, and the brave Agamemnon had returned home to
meet death at the hands of his wife and Aegisthus. But his daughter,
Iphigenia, was still an exile from her native country, and continued to
perform the terrible duties which her office involved. She had long given
up all hopes of ever being restored to her friends, when one day two
Greek strangers landed on Taurica’s inhospitable shores. These were
Orestes and Pylades, whose romantic attachment to each other has made
their names synonymous for devoted self-sacrificing friendship. Orestes
was Iphigenia’s brother, and Pylades her cousin, and their object in
undertaking an expedition fraught with so much peril, was to obtain the
statue of the Taurian Artemis. Orestes, having incurred the anger of the
Furies for avenging the murder of his father Agamemnon, was pursued by
them wherever he went, until at last he was informed by the oracle of
Delphi that, in order to pacify them, he must convey the image of the
Taurian Artemis from Tauris to Attica. This he at once resolved to do,
and accompanied by his faithful friend Pylades, who insisted on sharing
the dangers of the undertaking, he set out for Taurica. But the
unfortunate youths had hardly stepped on shore before they were seized by
the natives, who, as usual, conveyed them for sacrifice to the temple of
Artemis. Iphigenia, discovering that they were Greeks, though unaware of
their near relationship to herself, thought the [96]opportunity a favourable
one for sending tidings of her existence to her native country, and,
accordingly, requested one of the strangers to be the bearer of a letter
from her to her family. A magnanimous dispute now arose between the
friends, and each besought the other to accept the precious privilege of
life and freedom. Pylades, at length overcome by the urgent entreaties of
Orestes, agreed to be the bearer of the missive, but on looking more
closely at the superscription, he observed, to his intense surprise, that
it was addressed to Orestes. Hereupon an explanation followed; the
brother and sister recognized each other, amid joyful tears and loving
embraces, and assisted by her friends and kinsmen, Iphigenia escaped with
them from a country where she had spent so many unhappy days, and
witnessed so many scenes of horror and anguish.

The fugitives, having contrived to obtain the image of the Taurian
Artemis, carried it with them to Brauron in Attica. This divinity was
henceforth known as the Brauronian Artemis, and the rites which had
rendered her worship so infamous in Taurica were now introduced into
Greece, and human victims bled freely under the sacrificial knife, both
in Athens and Sparta. The revolting practice of offering human sacrifices
to her, was continued until the time of Lycurgus, the great Spartan
lawgiver, who put an end to it by substituting in its place one, which
was hardly less barbarous, namely, the scourging of youths, who were
whipped on the altars of the Brauronian Artemis in the most cruel manner;
sometimes indeed they expired under the lash, in which case their
mothers, far from lamenting their fate, are said to have rejoiced,
considering this an honourable death for their sons.

SELENE-ARTEMIS.

Hitherto we have seen Artemis only in the various phases of her
terrestrial character; but just as her brother Apollo drew into himself
by degrees the attributes of that more ancient divinity Helios, the
sun-god, so, in like manner, she came to be identified in later times
[97]with Selene, the moon-goddess, in which
character she is always represented as wearing on her forehead a
glittering crescent, whilst a flowing veil, bespangled with stars,
reaches to her feet, and a long robe completely envelops her.

DIANA.

The Diana of the Romans was identified with the Greek Artemis, with
whom she shares that peculiar tripartite character, which so strongly
marks the individuality of the Greek goddess. In heaven she was Luna (the
moon), on earth Diana (the huntress-goddess), and in the lower world
Proserpine; but, unlike the Ephesian Artemis, Diana, in her character as
Proserpine, carries with her into the lower world no element of love or
sympathy; she is, on the contrary, characterized by practices altogether
hostile to man, such as the exercise of witchcraft, evil charms, and
other antagonistic influences, and is, in fact, the Greek Hecate, in her
later development.

The statues of Diana were generally erected at a point where three
roads met, for which reason she is called Trivia (from tri, three,
and via, way).

A temple was dedicated to her on the Aventine hill by Servius Tullius,
who is said to have first introduced the worship of this divinity into
Rome.

The Nemoralia, or Grove Festivals, were celebrated in her honour on
the 13th of August, on the Lacus Nemorensis, or forest-buried lake, near
Aricia. The priest who officiated in her temple on this spot, was always
a fugitive slave, who had gained his office by murdering his predecessor,
and hence was constantly armed, in order that he might thus be prepared
to encounter a new aspirant.