Ep 6: Artemis - Greeks Are Slow to Learn & Quick to Die

... This is episode 6 of Garner's Greek Mythology.  What a journey! Here we discuss Artemis, the protector of girls, women and all things that suckle--yet, we learn that she was also a skilled hunter.  Like Athene and the gods, this goddess was riddled with contradictions.

The Romans in their infuriating way renamed her Diane ... She was a proud virgin goddess. Whereas Aphrodite--the goddess we know as Venus--loved song and dance and seduction, Artemis was stern. She was also a traditionalist who surrounded herself with nymphs.

As a fascinating side note, in time she became associated with Hekate, the patron saint of witches.

As a huntress, she delighted in tracking stags and boars and establishing sacred groves to shelter the wild things she hunted. Those who dared to stalk game within her forests, whether they were kings or commoners, almost always met a dreadful end.

Narrated by mythologist and best-selling author, Patrick Garner,  Garner's Greek Mythology is unlike any other Greek history series. The series views these divine beings as if they were anything but mythical...

If you love these podcasts, you'll also enjoy new stories about the gods in Garner's novel Homo Divinitas, now available as an audio book on Amazon.com and Audible.com.

Join us as our adventures continue! (Musical score includes selections from Fesliyan Studios and Free Sounds Library. Many thanks to both.)

Transcript

PODCAST #6

THIS IS EPISODE 6 OF GARNER’S GREEK MYTHOLOGY ...  TODAY, WE WALK WITH ARTEMIS... A TRULY RELENTLESS, UNWAVERING ... UNSPARING GODDESS. SOME WOULD EVEN CALL HER 'IMPLACABLE ... IN THAT SHE HAD AN OBSESSION ... THAT IS, TO HUNT ANIMALS, WHILE PROTECTING THEM ... AND PROTECTING WHILE YOUNG GIRLS AND WOMEN.'

THE FOLLOWING SHORT POEM IS PART OF SONG 17 OF THE HOMERIC HYMNS... THE IMMORTAL LINES DESCRIBE ARTEMIS.

"I CELEBRATE ARTEMIS, CLAMOROUS HUNTRESS... GOLDEN ARE HER ARROWS,

TERRIBLE VIRGIN ASSAULTER OF STAGS ... WITH A VOLLEY OF ARROWS,

SISTER INDEED OF APOLLO WHOSE RITUAL SWORD IS BRIGHT...

SHE THROUGH THE SHADOWY MOUNTAINS & OVER THE HIGH, WINDY HEADLANDS

TAKES HER DELIGHT IN THE CHASE AS SHE BENDS HER GOLDEN BOW &

LAUNCHES DEADLY SHOTS: THEN THE TOWERING CRESTS OF THE LOFTY

MOUNTAINTOPS TREMBLE... THE FOREST RESOUNDS & THE UNDERBRUSH ECHOES

DREADFULLY TO THE COMPLAINT OF THE BEASTS... AND THE EARTH EVEN SHIVERS,

AS DOES THE FISH-SWARMING DEEP ..."

THE GREEKS BELIEVED THESE WORDS TO BE FROM THE GREAT HOMER HIMSELF ... THE FAMED AUTHOR ... THESE SONGS WERE WRITTEN TO BRIDGE THE CHASM BETWEEN THE DIVINE & HUMAN WORLDS.

NOW ... WE WALK WITH ARTEMIS, THE HUNTRESS ...

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SHE’S AUSTERE, SHE’S … IMPLACABLE.

WHY USE A WORD SUCH AS, "IMPLACABLE?" IT ENCAPSULATES HER TRAITS OF BEING UNSPARING... UNWAVERING & RELENTLESS... THE ANCIENT GREEKS DID NOT CONSIDER HER CRUEL ... BUT INSTEAD ... SEVERE. 

AND YET SHE CARED DEEPLY FOR WOMEN & GIRLS. SHE WAS THEIR PROTECTOR ... WHILE SHE REVELED IN THE HUNT.

IN TRUTH, ALL OF THE GODS WERE RIDDLED WITH CONTRADICTIONS.

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AS WE EXPLORE ARTEMIS, DO NOT THINK OF HER AS A MYTH... IN THIS WORLD, AS IT IS IN MY TRILOGY ABOUT THESE BEINGS, THE GODS ARE STILL HERE. THEY NEVER LEFT ... WE MAY SPEAK OF HER IN THE PAST-TENSE, BUT I OFTEN BRING HER INTO THE PRESENT ... INTERACTING WITH US TODAY...

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ARTEMIS LOVED WOODLANDS & WILD PLACES.

SHE LIVED TO HUNT....SHE  LIVED TO PROTECT YOUNG GIRLS & EXPECTANT MOTHERS…

THE GREEKS SAID THAT SHE LOVED & PROTECTED ALL THINGS THAT SUCKLED... 

THAT INCLUDED THE NEWLY BORNE & YOUNG ANIMALS IN FORESTS.

BUT THERE IS A MASSIVE CONTRADICTION BEATING IN THE HEART OF ARTEMIS... SHE’S THE GUARDIAN OF THE INNOCENT …

BUT SHE IS ALSO A SUPERLATIVE HUNTER ... ONE WHO REVELS IN THE KILL ... 

THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A SECOND: SHE PROTECTS A FAWN FROM BIRTH, THEN HUNTS IT WHEN IT BECOMES A STAG... 

THESE GODDESSES ARE COMPLEX... THEY'RE MULTIDIMENSIONAL... 

THEY'RE NOT THE CARTOON CHARACTERS ... SIMPLIFIED  ... OUR MODERN CULTURES HAVE MADE THEM.

THE ANCIENT GREEKS BELIEVED A GODDESS COULD SHELTER THE YOUNG & INNOCENT, WHILE DELIGHTING IN A BLOOD HUNT...

IN THE CYCLADIC ISLANDS SOUTH OF MAINLAND GREECE, IN THE DEEP BLUE AGEAN SEA ... IN THE CITIES OF GREECE … ATHENS ... SPARTA... CORINTH... AND THROUGHOUT THE REGION, THE GODDESS ARTEMIS WAS KNOWN AS THE MAIDEN OF THE SILVER BOW ... WHO WOULD LOOSE HER ARROWS ... AND THEY WERE ALWAYS DEADLY.

HOMER CALLED HER THE 'TERRIBLE VIRGIN ASSAULTER OF STAGS.' THIS TITLE CAME NOT FROM LEGEND, BUT FROM SEEING HER AT WORK ...

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THE SCHOLAR, DR. JENNY MARCH, NOTES THAT ARTEMIS WAS ALSO SEEN AS THE AGENT OF DEATH IN A MORE GENERAL SENSE ... SHE WRITES... ANY UNEXPECTED DEATH OF A WOMAN COULD BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE SUDDEN & UNERRING ARROWS OF ARTEMIS ... 

IN HOMER'S ODYSSEY, WHEN ODYSSEUS MEETS HIS MOTHER IN HADES... TEARFULLY HE ASKS HER HOW SHE DIED…

"WAS IT A LONG ILLNESS?" HE WHISPERS. "OR DID ARTEMIS, THE ARCHER-GODDESS, VISIT YOU, BRINGING YOU DOWN WITH HER GENTLE SHAFTS?"

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WHO WAS THIS DIVINITY? THE GODDESS SURROUNDED HERSELF WITH NYMPHS... GIRLS SHE USED AS LITTLE ASSISTANTS…

SHE HAD ALMOST A 100 AND THEY VARIED IN AGE FROM 8 TO 20... THEY NEVER GREW OLD ...

THEY FOLLOWED HER ON THE HUNT, HELPING AS NEEDED. 

IN THE DIVINE PANTHEON... NYMPHS WERE AN ORDER BELOW THAT OF THE GODS. THEY DIDN'T HAVE SPECIAL POWERS OTHER THAN IMMORTALITY, & THE OLDEST ONES WOULD SOMETIMES ENTERTAIN THEMSELVES BY SEDUCING MORTALS.

BUT ARTEMIS REQUIRED HER NYMPHS TO PRACTICE PERFECT CHASTITY, AS SHE DID HERSELF.

NYMPHS WERE LIKE HANDMAIDENS, OR SERVANTS IN MEDIEVAL TIMES ...  AND ANOTHER INTERESTING OBSERVATION: THEY WERE THERE FOR GODDESSES BUT NEVER GODS.

ALTHOUGH THEY WERE SUBSERVIENT, THEY WERE CONTENT ... EVEN HONORED... TO SERVE WAS THEIR SOLE PURPOSE.

THE GREEKS CONSIDERED NYMPHS PERSONIFICATIONS OF NATURE… THEY WERE BELIEVED TO INHABIT SPRINGS & FOREST GLADES & WILD LANDS.

HOW DID ARTEMIS ACQUIRE HER BAND OF GIRLS? AT AN EARLY AGE, SHE ASKED HER FATHER, ZEUS, FOR A PRESENT...

THE GIFT SHE WANTED WAS THIS GAGGLE OF BEAUTIFUL GIRLS. AND ZEUS, UNABLE TO RESIST HER CHARM, GRANTED HER WISH...

THEREAFTER, WHEN SHE WAS ON THE HUNT, SHE WAS ALWAYS ATTENDED BY A DOZEN OR MORE OF THESE CAREFREE SPIRITS...

NYMPHS, BY THE WAY, PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN ALL THREE OF MY NOVELS. THEY FUNCTION AS PRIESTESSES & COOKS. THEY ATTEND VASSAR... MAJORING IN BIOCHEMISTRY. NO, REALLY, IT'S QUITE FUN TO FIND THEM THRIVING IN THE MODERN WORLD.

THEY HAVE BRILLIANT MINDS, YET THEY NEVER COMPLAIN & NEVER INDULGE IN TEMPER TANTRUMS ... THEY'RE NEVER SULLEN ... NEVER MOROSE. 

COMING ACROSS A MOPEY, DEPRESSED NYMPH WOULD BE AN IMPOSSIBILITY. ‘DELIGHTED’ & ‘SATISFIED’ ARE PROBABLY THE BEST WORDS TO DESCRIBE THESE UNIQUE GIRLS.

NOW, IN TODAY'S MODERN, CYNICAL AND HYPER-CRITICAL WORLD, TO CREATE FEMALE CHARACTERS LIKE THE NYMPHS... WITH THEIR HAPPILY SUBMISSIVE AND SUBSERVIENT TRAITS ... WOULD BE CONSIDERED ABHORRENT, EVEN HURTFUL  ... 

BUT AGAIN, THEY SERVED WOMEN... GODDESSES ... WHO WERE RULERS OF MEN ... THEY NEVER SERVED MORTAL MEN... 

YES, OCCASIONALLY NYMPHS 'ENTERTAINED' MORTAL MEN … BUT IT WAS FOR THEIR OWN PLEASURE … AND REMEMBER: 3,000 YEARS AGO, GREECE WAS AN UNIMAGINABLY DIFFERENT WORLD THAN OUR MODERN ONE … 

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UNLIKE HER NYMPHS, ARTEMIS WAS HARDLY CAREFREE... SHE, LIKE HER SISTER, ATHENE, WAS A VIRGIN & FIERCELY PROUD OF HER STATUS.

AND LATER, THE ROMANS IN THEIR INFURIATING WAY RENAMED HER ... AS THEY DID MANY OF THE GREEK GODS. SHE BECAME … DIANA. 

IT'S NO COINCIDENCE THAT HOLLYWOOD'S "WONDER WOMAN" IS NAMED DIANA.

AS I MENTIONED A MOMENT AGO, SHE DEMANDED PERFECT CHASTITY FROM HER NYMPHS. ONE OF THEM, KALLISTO, WAS AMBUSHED & RAPED BY ZEUS.

RATHER THAN SHOW THE GIRL PITY, OR CURSE ZEUS ... WHICH TODAY, WE WOULD EXPECT ... ARTEMIS TURNED KALLISTO INTO A BEAR .... & THEN BANISHED HER INTO THE WOODS TO BE HUNTED.

BUT DON'T WORRY: KALLISTO WAS ULTIMATELY SPARED. ALTHOUGH THE STORIES ABOUT THIS INCIDENT VARY, JUST BEFORE SHE WAS ABOUT TO BE KILLED IN A HUNT, THE GODS THEMSELVES INTERVENED ... SEEING THE INJUSTICE AT HAND.

SHE WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A CONSTELLATION IN THE NORTHERN SKY, THE ONE WE CALL URSA MAJOR, THE GREAT BEAR.

THE STORY OF KALLISTO DOES DEMONSTRATE THE COLD, STEELY CHARACTER OF THIS GODDESS. ARTEMIS' RULES APPLIED WHETHER THEY WERE BROKEN INTENTIONALLY ... OR NOT.

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IT'S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW ARTEMIS FIT INTO THE PICTURE… SHE WAS THE SISTER OF APOLLO. THEIR MOTHER WAS LETO, & THEIR FATHER, OF COURSE ... ZEUS...

ARTEMIS' ASSOCIATION WITH APOLLO AS HER BROTHER ... WAS ANOTHER DELICIOUS CONTRADICTION ... FOR APOLLO WAS KNOWN AS THE GOD OF HEALING... 

OF COURSE ARTEMIS, HIS SISTER, IS ANYTHING BUT... SHE’S THE MISTRESS OF THE HUNT, THE CONSUMMATE KILLER.

INCREASING THE PARADOX, APOLLO'S UNERRING ARROWS WERE KNOWN TO BRING PLAGUE & DEATH. SO MUCH FOR BEING THE GOD OF HEALING...

IS YOUR HEAD SPINNING YET? IF NOT, REMEMBER THAT HIS SISTER, ARTEMIS, WHILE LIVING FOR THE HUNT, SHELTERED THE INNOCENT.

IF THESE DIVINE KIDS WEREN'T CONFLICTED ... CAN YOU IMAGINE HAVING AN IMPULSE TO NURTURE & SIMULTANEOUSLY TO KILL? THE IMPULSE TO HEAL, BUT ALSO TO START PLAGUES? 

BUT HERE'S MY ANALYSIS: THESE ... INCONGRUITIES ... STRIKE ME AS ONLY FEELING THIS WAY FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE IN MODERN TIMES ... 

THE ANCIENT GREEKS WERE DISARMINGLY SUPERSTITIOUS ... WHILE AT THE SAME TIME, AMAZINGLY SOPHISTICATED ...

THE GREEK'S ART & ARCHITECTURE HAS NEVER BEEN BETTERED. IT WAS THEIR CONSTANT WARFARE & BICKERING THAT EVENTUALLY DESTROYED THEM. 

THEIR SCIENTISTS POSTULATED THAT THE WORLD WAS ROUND & THAT THE EARTH REVOLVED AROUND THE SUN. THAT KNOWLEDGE WAS THEN LOST FOR TWO MILLENNIUM.

THEIR GREAT THINKERS THEORIZED THAT MATTER WAS COMPOSED OF ATOMS, YET THEY BELIEVED DANGEROUS SPIRITS INHABITED EVERY DARK CORNER.

WHAT CONTINUES TO COME UP IN OUR EXAMINATION OF GREEKS IS ONE THING: CONTRADICTION. AND ARTEMIS CERTAINLY PERSONIFIED THAT QUALITY.

AGAIN, PERHAPS THESE DEITIES WERE A REFLECTION ON THE PEOPLE WHO CREATED THEM... OR PERHAPS ANCIENT GREECE IS A WORLD OF A CONTRADICTION AND THE GODS AND MORTALS FIT TOGETHER AS THEY SHOULD ...

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GREEK WOMEN IN CHILDBIRTH PRAYED TO ARTEMIS... REMEMBER SHE PROTECTED ALL OF THOSE WHO NURSED …

SHE WAS SOMETIMES CALLED THE MOON-GODDESS. WHEN SHE BENT HER BOW TO SHOOT, THE ARC OF THE BOW WAS SAID TO BE THE SLIVER OF THE NEW MOON... 

WHEN I FOLLOW HER TALES & IMAGINE HER STRIDING THROUGH THE WILD GLADES OF GREECE, I SEE MORE DARKNESS THOUGH THAN LIGHT. 

HER SEVERITY ECHOES ATHENE, & HER CHASTITY SEEMS INEVITABLE....

IN TIME SHE BECAME ASSOCIATED WITH HEKATE, ANOTHER OF ZEUS' DAUGHTERS.

HEKATE IS THE PATRON SAINT OF WITCHES... BOTH ANCIENT AND MODERN ... OF THOSE WHO CALL THEMSELVES WICCAN.

HEKATE WAS THREE-HEADED. IF YOU SAW HER, YOU CONFRONTED A LION, A DOG & A HORSE...

ROBERT GRAVES, THE ENGLISH POET, CALLED HER THE ORIGINAL TRIPLE-GODDESS.

HEKATE COULD BE FOUND AT NIGHT BESIDE INTERSECTIONS WHERE THREE ROADS JOINED.

SHE RAN WITH A TERRIFYING PACK OF HELL-HOUNDS AND SCREECHING GHOSTS.

INDEED, ONE SCHOLAR WROTE THAT HEKATE WAS 'SOMETIMES KNOWN AS ARTEMIS OF THE CROSSROADS.'

THAT ARTEMIS & HEKATE SOMEHOW SLOWLY MERGED INTO A COMMON, FEARSOME GODDESS, REFLECTS ARTEMIS' REPUTATION FOR BRINGING SUDDEN DEATH...

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PERHAPS THE MOST FAMOUS STORY INVOLVING ARTEMIS WAS THAT OF HER CONFRONTATION WITH AKTAION, A MORTAL WHO WAS THE GRANDSON OF KADMOS, KING OF THEBES ...

AKTAION, LIKE ARTEMIS, WAS A SKILLED, ALMOST OBSESSIVE HUNTER... HIS TRAGIC FATE WAS TO BE TURNED INTO A DEER BY ARTEMIS, & THEN TO BE TORN TO PIECES BY HIS OWN HOUNDS...

THERE ARE SEVERAL VERSIONS OF WHAT TRIGGERED THE GODDESS' ANGER... THE MOST CONSISTENT ONE IS THAT, WHILE HUNTING, AKTAION CAME ACROSS HER BATHING WITH HER NYMPHS...

RATHER THAN FLEEING FOR HIS LIFE, HE LINGERED TO WATCH. ONE VERSION IS THAT HE TRIED TO FORCE HIMSELF ON HER...

IN EPISODE 5 OF THESE PODCASTS -- THE ONE ABOUT ATHENE -- A SIMILAR INCIDENT OCCURRED, WITH A MORTAL MAN SPYING ON THE GODDESS ... IN THAT CASE, THE MORTAL TEIRESIAS WAS CAUGHT SPYING ON ATHENE AND WAS MERELY BLINDED BY THE GODDESS AS PUNISHMENT.

BUT ARTEMIS WAS HARDLY AS KIND... SHE SPOTTED AKTAION WATCHING AS SHE AND HER NYMPHS BATHED IN A FOREST SPRING ...

OUTRAGED, SHE INSTANTLY TURNED HIM INTO A STAG ... A MALE DEER … BUT HE KEPT HIS HUMAN MIND, FULLY AWARE OF WHAT HE'D BECOME.

HE BOUNDED INTO THE FOREST -- ANTLERS GLINTING AGAINST THE SUN. HIS OWN 50 HOUNDS PURSUED HIM, BAYING & BITING AT HIS LEGS, WHILE HE RAN IN TERROR...

ONLY MINUTES PASSED BEFORE HE TIRED AND HIS DOGS DRAGGED HIM DOWN & TORE AKTAION INTO PIECES. ONLY UPON HIS DEATH WAS ARTEMIS' ANGER QUELLED.

BUT AKTAION WAS A FOOL. ALL HUNTERS IN GREECE KNEW BETTER.

SURPRISING GODDESSES AT BATH WAS RECKLESS. ARTEMIS WAS NOT AS MUCH HUMILIATED AS OUTRAGED. AND AKTAION, A KING'S GRANDSON, PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE... ARTEMIS OFFERED HIM NO LENIENCY DESPITE HIS ROYAL LINEAGE.

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IN OUR EPISODE ABOUT ATHENE, WE LEARNED OF AN ANCIENT GREEK ORGIN STORY OF SPIDERS...  A WOMAN NAMED ARACHNE BOASTED OF HER WEAVING SKILLS & BEAT THE GODDESS ATHENE IN A WEAVING COMPETITION ...  

ATHENA PUNISHED HER BY TURNING HER INTO A SPIDER, SO SHE MIGHT WEAVE FOR ETERNITY.

A SIMILAR STORY INVOLVES ARTEMIS & AN INCREDIBLY HANDSOME MAN NAMED ADONIS. HE WAS A FAVORITE OF APHRODITE & WAS FAWNED UPON BY ALL WHO SAW HIM.

ADONIS CAME TO ARTEMIS' ATTENTION WHEN HE CLAIMED HE WAS A BETTER HUNTER. IT WAS A FOOLISH CLAIM, AS PREDICTABLY, SHE PUNISHED HIM.

IN HIS INSTANCE, SHE SENT A WILD BOAR TO KILL HIM AS HE HUNTED IN A NEARBY FOREST ...

MANY GREEKS WERE BOASTFUL. BUT THEIR FREQUENT DECLARATIONS THAT THEY WERE BETTER AT ONE THING OR ANOTHER THAN THE GODS … USUALLY LED TO THEIR DEMISE.

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IN THIS SERIES I MAKE PERIODIC REFERENCES TO THE ANCIENT CITY OF TROY AS IT PLAYED A PIVOTAL ROLE IN THE GREEK CONSCIOUSNESS.

YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF AGAMEMNON. HE WAS CHOSEN BY ALL THE GREEK CITIES TO LEAD THE WAR AGAINST TROY.

BUT LIKE ARACHNE, AKTAION AND ADONIS, HE TOO WAS PUNISHED FOR CONCEIT.

SHORTLY BEFORE THE WAR BEGAN, AGAMEMNON INFURIATED THE GODDESS ARTEMIS BY KILLING A STAG IN ONE OF HER SACRED GROVES.

HE THEN DOUBLED THE ERROR BY BOOSTING HE WAS A FAR BETTER HUNTER. THE GREEKS SEEMED SLOW TO LEARN & QUICK TO BRAG.

WHEN THE TIME CAME FOR THE THOUSAND SHIPS TO SAIL FOR TROY, ARTEMIS STOPPED THEM ALL. THEIR OARS LOCKED & THE WIND DISAPPEARED.

AN ORACLE PREDICTED THAT THE MIGHTY FLEET WOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED TO SAIL UNLESS AGAMEMNON SACRIFICED HIS DAUGHTER, IPHIGENIA.

TO THE SHOCK OF HIS WIFE — & TO THE CHEERING OF HIS TROOPS — AGAMEMNON AGREED TO THE ORACLE'S DEMAND. 

EURIPIDES, THE FAMOUS ATHENIAN PLAYWRIGHT, DESCRIBES HOW IPHIGENIA IS CARRIED ON A PALLET TO THE SACRIFICIAL ALTAR. 

IMAGINE BEING THERE: SHE'S GAGGED TO PREVENT HER CRIES FROM BEING HEARD. SHE REACHES OUT HER ARMS, PLEADING FOR HER LIFE.

AGAMEMNON HIMSELF LIFTS HIS SWORD HIGH TO PLUNGE IT INTO HIS DAUGHTER ... 

AT THE LAST MOMENT, ARTEMIS SNATCHES THE GIRL AWAY, LEAVING A FAWN IN HER PLACE.

THE FORTUNATE PRINCESS BECAME AN IMMORTAL COMPANION OF THE GODDESS. EURIPIDES HAS HER BECOME ARTEMIS' PRIESTESS.

REGARDLESS, AT THE END OF THE 10-YEAR WAR, AGAMEMNON RETURNS TO HIS HOME WHERE, WITHIN MINUTES HIS WIFE, WHO HAS NEVER FORGIVEN HIM FOR ATTEMPTING TO KILL THEIR DAUGHTER, KILLS THE KING IN HIS BATH.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED ASIDE, ARTEMIS WAS PRETTY SAVAGE IN PLAYING OUT THIS TWISTED TALE OF BLOODLUST, ALL BECAUSE OF AGAMEMNON’S DISRESPECT.

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I MENTIONED THAT ARTEMIS' MOTHER WAS LETO ... LETO WAS A TITAN, & WAS ZEUS' SIXTH WIFE.... ALL OF THESE STORIES ARE SO ENTANGLED.... YOU MAY REMEMBER HIS SEVENTH WIFE WAS HERA. HERA WAS ALSO ZEUS'S SISTER... 

UPON LETO'S PREGNANCY, HERA, JEALOUS OF THE NEW WIFE, PUT THE WORD OUT ACROSS THE WORLD, TO NOT ALLOW LETO SHELTER OR SANCTUARY. NO ONE WAS TO TAKE IN OR PROVIDE COMFORT TO THE WOMAN WHO MARRIED HER BROTHER.

AND SO IT WAS THAT LETO WANDERED FROM COUNTRY TO COUNTRY, & ISLAND TO ISLAND, ONLY TO BE SENT ALONG FROM ONE TO THE NEXT. 

FINALLY, SHE ARRIVED AT AN IMPOVERISHED CYCLADIC ISLAND WHICH WE NOW KNOW AS DELOS. 

IN DESPERATION, SHE PROMISED THE DELIANS — THE FEW WHO INHABITED THE BARREN ROCK — THAT IF THEY ALLOWED HER TO REST THERE, SHE WOULD BRING THEM RICHES & FAME ONCE HER CHILDREN WERE BORN.

THEY WELCOMED HER & SHE STAYED ... AND SOON WENT INTO LABOR ... A LABOR THAT WOULD NOT END FOR NINE WHOLE DAYS! 

IT WAS HERA WORKING TO PREVENT THE LABOR FROM ENDING ... REMEMBER THE PHRASE, IF HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A WOMAN'S SCORN? …

FINALLY, THE OTHER GODS DISTRACTED HERA MOMENTARILY ... ALLOWING LETO TO GIVE BIRTH...

DELIVERING BESIDE A SACRED LAKE, LETO WAS ATTENDED BY ATHENE & APHRODITE...

... SOME YEARS AGO I SPENT A DAY ON DELOS WHILE VISITING GREECE... AMONG THE RUINS, THERE'S A LONE DATE PALM AT THE SPOT WHERE LETO WAS SAID TO HAVE GIVEN BIRTH... 

THE SACRED LAKE DRIED UP CENTURIES AGO ... TODAY WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE ONCE PRISTINE WATER.

BUT REGARDING THE ISLAND OF DELOS WHERE LETO FOUND THIS REFUGE … AFTER THE BIRTHS OF THE TWINS, AS SHE HAD PROMISED, THE ISLAND'S FORTUNES TURNED FOR THE BETTER... 

AT THE HEIGHT OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE, DELOS BECAME AN IMMENSELY WEALTHY, BOOMING TRADE CENTER ...

ARTEMIS WAS THE FIRST BORN OF THE TWINS ON DELOS... THEN CAME HER BROTHER APOLLO...

HOMER WROTE THAT SHE HELPED DELIVER HER BROTHER, & THAT APOLLO "LEAPT OUT INTO THE LIGHT, & ALL THE GODDESSES SCREAMED IN JOY."

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HERE’S AN INTERESTING ASIDE: ARTEMIS FAVORED BEARS, AND IT'S NOT KNOWN EXACTLY WHY...

BUT HER NAME ... ARTEMIS ... MAY SHED LIGHT... THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE NAME ARTEMIS IS ARK-TEMNIS, OR IN GREEK, SHE WHO PROTECTS THE BEAR SANCTUARY.

WHEN TWO ATHENIAN MEN KILLED A BEAR SACRED TO THE GODDESS... SHE SENT A PLAGUE THAT WOULD ONLY CEASE IF THE ATHENIANS PLEDGED THEIR DAUGHTERS TO HER... 

REMEMBER THE STORY OF HOW ARTEMIS TURNED KALLISTO, ONE OF HER NYMPHS SEDUCED BY ZEUS, INTO A BEAR? ... PERHAPS THAT CHOICE OF ANIMAL IS NOT AS RANDOM AS IT MAY SEEM.

ARTEMIS DID LIVE UP TO HER NAME'S MEANING BY FOUNDING A BEAR SANCTUARY CALLED,  'ARTEMIS BRAURONIA'. ITS LOCATION WAS BRAURON IN ATTICA ... WHERE A RIVER FLOWED INTO THE SEA.... THE SANCTUARY LAY NORTH OF ATHENS.

IT WAS BELIEVED THAT IPHIGENIA — AGAMEMNON'S DAUGHTER WHO WE DISCUSSED EARLIER & WHO BECAME ARTEMIS' PRIESTESS — FOUNDED THE SANCTUARY IN COLLABORATION WITH ATHENE.

THE PLACE BECAME ONE OF THE MOST HALLOWED SITES ASSOCIATED WITH ATHENS. 

THERE, GIRLS BETWEEN THE AGES OF FIVE & 10, ALL EXCLUSIVELY DAUGHTERS OF ATHENIAN CITIZENS, WERE BROUGHT TOGETHER FOR A COMMON, PREMENSTRUAL BONDING EXPERIENCE.

AT BRAURON THEY EACH BECAME LITTLE BEARS, OR ARKTOI ... ALL WORE YELLOW OR SAFFRON TUNICS & BEAR MASKS ... ARTEMIS WAS CALLED THE GREAT-SHE-BEAR.

AT THE END OF THE CELEBRATIONS, THE OLDER GIRLS SHED THEIR TUNICS & RAN NAKED, CARRYING TORCHES & BRANCHES. 

AS JOAN CONNELLY, AN ARCHEOLOGIST BASED AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY WRITES, "THE GIRLS WERE PLACED UNDER THE CARE OF THE VIRGIN ARTEMIS, WHO SHEPHERDED THEM THROUGH THE DANGEROUS, TRANSITIONAL PERIOD BETWEEN CHILDHOOD & PUBERTY."

SO HERE, AGAIN, WE SEE ARTEMIS AS THE PROTECTOR, EVEN THE MENTOR, OF YOUNG GIRLS. THE GREAT BEAR DANCES THE GIRLS WERE TAUGHT WERE SLOW & SOLEMN.

AND AT BRAURON, THEY ESCAPED THE CONFINES OF THEIR HOMES & THE EXPECTATIONS OF THEIR UPPER CLASS FAMILIES. 

YET THEIR STAY IN HER SANCTUARY CLEARLY MARKED THE TRANSITION FROM YOUNG GIRL & PARTHENOS, WHICH, REMEMBER, MEANS VIRGIN, TO GYNE, WHICH DENOTED A WOMAN.

INDEED, WITHIN A FEW YEARS, USUALLY BETWEEN THE AGES OF 12 & 14, ALL ATHENIAN GIRLS WOULD MARRY & NEVER AGAIN BE ALLOWED THE SAME FREEDOMS.

WHILE UNDER ARTEMIS' TUTELAGE THEY RAN WILD ... AT BRAURON THEY COULD, AT GRADUATION, SHED THEIR ROBES, THE SUN ON THEIR HAIR & SHOULDERS, & FEEL THE SUN ON THEIR ARMS WITHOUT SHAME. 

THE GREAT ARTEMIS ENSURED THEIR SAFETY. AND CONFIRMED THEIR UNIQUENESS. 

FOR THEY WERE ATHENIANS, & BELIEVED THAT IN NO OTHER CITY COULD GIRLS & WOMEN BE AS REMARKABLE.

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AND SO IT WAS THAT THE GODDESS OF THE SILVER BOW, SHE OF THE NEW MOON, GOLDEN ARROWS & BRIGHT SWORD … 

ARTEMIS... THE TERRIBLE VIRGIN ASSAULTER OF STAGS.... WATCHED OVER GIRLS & WOMEN …

SHE WAS WITH THEM AT CHILDBIRTH, & SHE WATCHED, HER HAND OUT IN COMPASSION OFTEN DECADES LATER … AS THEY PASSED FROM THIS WORLD TO THE NEXT…

SHE WAS THE GREAT DESTROYER & THE CARING GODDESS. SHE WAS GENTLE, MERCIFUL, & SWIFT TO LOOSE HER ARROWS WHEN PROVOKED.

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WHAT HAPPENED TO HER? ... ONE GOLDEN MORNING, ARTEMIS, LIKE ATHENE, APOLLO & MANY OF THE OTHER GODS, DECOUPLED FROM THE OLYMPIANS & WALKED FROM ZEUS’ GRAND THEATRE, ONE WHICH HAD INCREASINGLY BECOME A THEATRE OF THE ABSURD....

PLAYING HER ROLE HAD BECOME TIRESOME... WE CAN’T ATTRIBUTE HER ESCAPE TO THE NEW RELIGION...

CHRISTIANITY WAS STILL A 100 YEARS FROM CREATION...

NO, SHE LIKE THE OTHER GODS HAD BEGUN TO REPEATEDLY ASK HERSELF, "IS THIS ALL THERE IS?"

EVEN ROYALTY TIRES OF THE WEIGHT OF THE CROWN, THE CONSTANT FAWNING OF HER SUBJECTS... SHE HAD DEMANDED RESPECT FOR MORE THAN A MILLENNIUM, PUNISHING MOCKERY MERCILESSLY.

AT FIRST IT WAS SATISFYING. THEN, TO HER SURPRISE, IT WASN'T ... THIS DISSATISFACTION SPREAD THROUGH OLYMPIA LIKE A DISEASE.

ATHENE WAS THE FIRST TO LEAVE. BUT ARTEMIS FOLLOWED SWIFTLY.

IT WASN'T AS IF SHE SHRUGGED OFF HER ANCIENT LIFESTYLE. HARDLY. SHE REMAINED THE CONSUMMATE HUNTER, & SHE SHELTERED THOSE WHO REMEMBERED HER.

SHE RETREATED TO THE WILDLANDS OF GREECE WITH HER NYMPHS. SHE MAINTAINED THE OLD WAYS, THE SACRED TRADITIONS SHE HAD INITIATED SO LONG AGO ...

THEN, CENTURIES LATER, IN ANOTHER LAND, SHE REJOINED HER BROTHER, APOLLO, ALONG WITH ATHENE, APHRODITE & OTHERS.

AFTER ALL, THEY’RE GODS & DIVINITIES. ALL OF THEM SHARE A COMMON FATHER, THE ONCE MIGHTY ZEUS. 

THERE WOULD BE TIME IN ANOTHER TIME FOR THEM TO RE-EMERGE …

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IN OUR NEXT PODCAST, WE'LL DISCUSS APOLLO, ARTEMIS' BROTHER, THE GOD OF HEALING, PROPHESY & PLAGUE, & THE PATRON GOD OF DELPHI …