In Greek mythology Artemis was the leader ( ηγεμόνη: hegemone ) of the nymphs, who had similar functions with the Nordic Elves.

Apollo's sister Artemis, who was the Greek goddess of hunting, is identified with Britomartis ( Diktynna ), the Minoan " Mistress of the animals ".

Artemis Daphnaia, who had her temple among the Lacedemonians, at a place called Hypsoi in Antiquity, on the slopes of Mount Cnacadion near the Spartan frontier, had her own sacred laurel trees.

The mortal turned out to be a beautiful young woman, Amethystos, who was on her way to pay tribute to Artemis.

Her life was spared by Artemis, who transformed the maiden into a statue of pure crystalline quartz to protect her from the brutal claws.

There are several reasons throughout myth for such wrath: in Aeschylus ' play Agamemnon, Artemis is angry for the young men who will die at Troy, whereas in Sophocles ' Electra, Agamemnon has slain an animal sacred to Artemis, and subsequently boasted that he was Artemis ' equal in hunting.

* Hippo, an Amazon who took part in the introduction of religious rites in honor of the goddess Artemis.

A poem of Callimachus to the goddess " who amuses herself on mountains with archery " imagines some charming vignettes: according to Callimachus, at three years old, Artemis, while sitting on the knee of her father, Zeus, asked him to grant her six wishes: to remain always a virgin ; to have many names to set her apart from her brother Apollo ; to be the Phaesporia or Light Bringer ; to have a bow and arrow and a knee-length tunic so that she could hunt ; to have sixty " daughters of Okeanos ", all nine years of age, to be her choir ; and for twenty Amnisides Nymphs as handmaidens to watch her dogs and bow while she rested.

Callimachus then tells how Artemis visited Pan, the god of the forest, who gave her seven bitches and six dogs.

Sipriotes is a boy, who, either because he accidentally sees Artemis bathing or because he attempts to rape her, is turned into a girl by the goddess.

The details vary but at the core they involve a great hunter, Actaeon who Artemis turns into a stag for a transgression and who is then killed by hunting dogs.

In some versions of the story of Adonis, who was a late addition to Greek mythology during the Hellenistic period, Artemis sent a wild boar to kill Adonis as punishment for his hubristic boast that he was a better hunter than she.

In later myths, Adonis had been related as a favorite of Aphrodite, and Aphrodite was responsible for the death of Hippolytus, who had been a favorite of Artemis.

According to Hyginus Artemis once loved Orion ( in spite of the late source, this version appears to be a rare remnant of her as the pre-Olympian goddess, who took consorts, as Eos did ), but was tricked into killing him by her brother Apollo, who was " protective " of his sister's maidenhood.

The gods were afraid of them, except for Artemis who captured a fine deer ( or in another version of the story, she changed herself into a doe ) and jumped out between them.

When Artemis and Apollo heard this impiety, Apollo killed her sons as they practiced athletics, and Artemis shot her daughters, who died instantly without a sound.

Like her mother and brother, who was widely worshiped at Troy, Artemis took the side of the Trojans.

: Listen to the words of the Great Mother ; she who of old was also called among men Artemis, Astarte, Athene, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Dana, Arianrhod, Isis, Bride, and by many other names.

As a follower of Artemis, Callisto, who Hesiod said was the daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, took a vow to remain a virgin, as did all the nymphs of Artemis.

Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis.

He fell to the fatal wrath of Artemis, 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 a stag.

There are various other versions of his transgression: The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women and pseudo-Apollodoran Bibliotheke state that his offense 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:

The fortified site described below, originally identified as Abae by Colonel William Leake in the 19th century, is much more likely to be that of the Sanctuary of Artemis at Hyampolis.

However, the name Artemis ( variants Arktemis, Arktemisa ) is most likely related to Greek árktos ‘ bear ’ ( from PIE * h₂ŕ ̥ tḱos ), supported by the bear cult that the goddess had in Attica ( Brauronia ) and the Neolithic remains at the Arkouditessa, as well as the story about Callisto, which was originally about Artemis ( Arcadian epithet kallisto ).

It is believed that a precursor of Artemis was worshiped in Minoan Crete as the goddess of mountains and hunting, Britomartis.

The childhood of Artemis is not fully related in any surviving myth.

In some versions, he is killed by Artemis, while in others he is killed by a scorpion sent by Gaia.

Artemis is a playable character in the Multiplayer online battle arena, SMITE.

Artemis is a ranged assassin and is nicknamed the Goddess of the Hunt.

is: Artemis

On the Tablets of Pylos a theonym δι ( digamma ) ια is supposed as referring to a deity precursor of Artemis.

The cult introduced by Orestes at Nemi is apparently that of the Artemis Tauropolos.

In Hellenistic times, especially during the 3rd century BCE, as Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with Helios, Titan god of the sun, and his sister Artemis similarly equated with Selene, Titan goddess of the moon.

Apollo and his sister Artemis can bring death with their arrows.

Mythographers agree that Artemis was born first and then assisted with the birth of Apollo, or that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, on the island of Ortygia and that she helped Leto cross the sea to Delos the next day to give birth to Apollo.

Artemis and Apollo Piercing Niobe's Children with their Arrows by Jacques-Louis David., Dallas Museum of Art.

While connection with Anatolian names has been suggested, the earliest attested forms of the name Artemis are the Mycenaean Greek a-te-mi-to and a-ti-mi-te, written in Linear B at Pylos.

Artemis ( on the left, with a deer ) and Apollo ( on the right, holding a lyre ) from Myrina, Greece | Myrina, dating to approximately 25 BC

Okeanus ' daughters were filled with fear, but the young Artemis bravely approached and asked for bow and arrows.

Artemis practiced with her bow first by shooting at trees and then at wild beasts.

Alpheus, a river god, was in love with Artemis, but he realizes that he can do nothing to win her heart.

In yet another version, Adonis was not killed by Artemis, but by Ares, as punishment for being with Aphrodite.

She was beloved by two gods, Hermes and Apollo, and boasted that she was prettier than Artemis because she made two gods fall in love with her at once.

Artemis was furious and killed Chione with her arrow or struck her dumb by shooting off her tongue.

Hera struck Artemis on the ears with her own quiver, causing the arrows to fall out.

For example, some Byzantine coins of the 1st century BC and later show the head of Artemis with bow and quiver, and feature a crescent with what appears to be a six-rayed star on the reverse.

Either Artemis " slew Kallisto with a shot of her silver bow ," perhaps urged by the wrath of Juno ( Hera ) or later Arcas, the eponym of Arcadia, nearly killed his bear-mother, when she had wandered into the forbidden precinct of Zeus.