[Az-Geocaching] AZ has own cache reviewer

[Steve Burton]

Artemis 
<http://www.pantheon.org/areas/gallery/mythology/europe/greek/artemis.html>

The daughter of Leto <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/l/leto.html> and 
Zeus <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/z/zeus.html>, and twin sister of 
Apollo <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html>. Artemis is the 
goddess of the wilderness, the hunt and wild animals, and fertility (she 
became a goddess of fertility and childbirth mainly in cities). She was 
often depicted with the crescent of the moon above her forehead and was 
sometimes identified with Selene 
<http://www.pantheon.org/articles/s/selene.html> (goddess of the moon). 
Artemis was one of the Olympians and a virgin goddess. Her main vocation 
was to roam mountain forests and uncultivated land with her nymphs 
<http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/nymphs.html> in attendance hunting 
for lions, panthers, hinds and stags. Contradictory to the later, she 
helped in protecting and seeing to their well-being, also their safety 
and reproduction. She was armed with a bow and arrows which were made by 
Hephaestus <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hephaestus.html> and the 
Cyclopes <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/cyclopes.html>.

In one legend, Artemis was born one day before her brother Apollo. Her 
mother gave birth to her on the island of Ortygia, then, almost 
immediately after her birth, she helped her mother to cross the straits 
over to Delos, where she then delivered Apollo. This was the beginning 
of her role as guardian of young children and patron of women in 
childbirth. Being a goddess of contradictions, she was the protectress 
of women in labor, but it was said that the arrows of Artemis brought 
them sudden death while giving birth. As was her brother, Apollo, 
Artemis was a divinity of healing, but also brought and spread diseases 
such as leprosy, rabies and even gout.

Being associated with chastity, Artemis at an early age (in one legend 
she was three years old) asked her father, the great god Zeus, to grant 
her eternal virginity. Also, all her companions were virgins. Artemis 
was very protective of her purity, and gave grave punishment to any man 
who attempted to dishonor her in any form. Actaeon 
<http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/actaeon.html>, while out hunting, 
accidentally came upon Artemis and her nymphs, who bathing naked in a 
secluded pool. Seeing them in all their naked beauty, the stunned 
Actaeon stopped and gazed at them, but when Artemis saw him ogling them, 
she transformed him into a stag. Then, incensed with disgust, she set 
his own hounds upon him. They chased and killed what they thought was 
another stag, but it was their master. As with Orion 
<http://www.pantheon.org/articles/o/orion.html>, a giant and a great 
hunter, there are several legends which tell of his death, one involving 
Artemis. It is said that he tried to rape the virgin goddess, so killed 
him with her bow and arrows. Another says she conjured up a scorpion 
which killed Orion and his dog. Orion became a constellation in the 
night sky, and his dog became Sirius, the dog star. Yet another version 
says it was the scorpion which stung him and was transformed into the 
constellation with Orion, the later being Scorpio. Artemis was enraged 
when one of her nymphs, Callisto 
<http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/callisto.html>, allowed Zeus to 
seduce her, but the great god approached her in one of his guises; he 
came in the form of Artemis. The young nymph was unwittingly tricked, 
and she gave birth to Arcas 
<http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/arcas.html>, the ancestor of the 
Arcadians, but Artemis showed no mercy and changed her into a bear. She 
then shot and killed her. As Orion, she was sent up to the heavens, and 
became the constellation of the Great Bear (which is also known as the 
Plough).

Artemis was very possessive. She would show her wrath on anyone who 
disobeyed her wishes, especially against her sacred animals. Even the 
great hero Agamemnon <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/agamemnon.html> 
came upon the wrath of Artemis, when he killed a stag in her sacred 
grove. His punishment came when his ships were becalmed, while he made 
his way to besiege Troy. With no winds to sail his ships he was told by 
the seer Calchas <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/calchas.html> that 
the only way Artemis would bring back the winds was for him to sacrifice 
his daughter Iphigenia 
<http://www.pantheon.org/articles/i/iphigenia.html>. Some versions say 
he did sacrifice Iphigenia, others that Artemis exchanged a deer in her 
place, and took Iphigenia to the land of the Tauri (the Crimea) as a 
priestess, to prepare strangers for sacrifice to Artemis.

Artemis with her twin brother, Apollo, put to death the children of 
Niobe <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/n/niobe.html>. The reason being 
that Niobe, a mere mortal, had boasted to Leto, the mother of the divine 
twins, that she had bore more children, which must make her superior to 
Leto. Apollo being outraged at such an insult on his mother, informed 
Artemis. The twin gods hunted them down and shot them with their bows 
and arrows; Apollo killed the male children and Artemis the girls.

Artemis was worshiped in most Greek cities but only as a secondary 
deity. However, to the Greeks in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) she was 
a prominent deity. In Ephesus, a principal city of Asia Minor, a great 
temple was built in her honor, which became one of the "Seven Wonders of 
the Ancient World". But at Ephesus she was worshiped mainly as a 
fertility goddess, and was identified with Cybele the mother goddess of 
eastern lands. The cult statues of the Ephesian Artemis differ greatly 
from those of mainland Greece, whereas she is depicted as a huntress 
with her bow and arrows. Those found at Ephesus show her in the eastern 
style, standing erect with numerous nodes on her chest. There have been 
many theories as to what they represent. Some say they are breasts, 
others that they are bulls testes which were sacrificed to her. Which is 
the true interpretation remains uncertain, but each represent fertility.

There were festivals in honor of Artemis, such as the Brauronia, which 
was held in Brauron; and the festival of Artemis Orthia, held at Sparta, 
when young Spartan boys would try to steal cheeses from the altar. As 
they tried they would be whipped, the meaning of Orthia and the nature 
of the ritual whipping has been lost and there is no logical explanation 
or translation. Among the epithets given to Artemis are: Potnia Theron 
<http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/potnia.html> (mistress of wild 
animals) this title was mentioned by the great poet Homer; Kourotrophos 
(nurse of youth's); Locheia (helper in childbirth); Agrotera (huntress); 
and Cynthia (taken from her birthplace on Mount Cynthus on Delos). When 
young girls reached puberty they were initiated into her cult, but when 
they decided to marry, which Artemis was not against, they were asked to 
lay in front of the altar all the paraphernalia of their virginity, 
toys, dolls and locks of their hair, they then left the domain of the 
virgin goddess.

Does that answer your question?



Koch, Dan wrote:

>Did I miss the announcement on here or did no one mention it?  
>
>As of 12/23/04, Artemis is the new cache reviewer for AZ. CO Admin no longer
>does it.
>
>Now...who is this Artemis?
>
>LazyK - Dan
>
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