Shrinking Banshee Presents:

Artemis, Maiden of the Silver Bow

In Myth

Artemis, the Maiden of the Silver Bow, has the power to send sudden death to mortals, as well as the power to heal. She was accompanied on her hunts by lop-eared hounds, had sixty ocean nymphs as maids of honor, and twenty Cretean nymphs to tend her hounds. She wore a saffron colored hunting tunic and her principal emblems are the date-palm, the stag and the bee.

On one occasion, Actaeon, a mortal, stood leaning against a large rock when he happened to see Artemis bathing in a stream. He stayed to watch. Artemis discovered him and changed him into a stag. Actaeon's own pack of hounds hunted him down and tore him to pieces.

The story was something of a puzzle to the classical Greeks. Did Actaeon deserve such punishment? Would he have bragged of having seen a nude goddess? Modern mythologists see Actaeon as a sacred king of an ancient stag cult, torn to pieces, at the end of a fifty month reign, to insure the fertility of the crops. The moon nymph (Artemis) properly bathed after the murder, not before. Whatever the explanation, the scene has been rendered immemorial by several painters. Artemis, The Hunter-Goddess

Three large cities looked to Artemis as their chief deity: Ephesus, Marseilles, and Syracuse. Syracuse, founded about 600 B.C. by Greeks from Iona, was noted for the cultivation of olives, which were dedicated to their goddess Artemis. It was said that Artemis was hunting in the land of Ellis and went to bathe in the river Alpheus, which flows near Olympia; there the river god attempted to violate her. She dived into the sea and did not surface until reaching Syracuse.

The oldest and most famous city dedicated to the worship of Artemis was Ephesus. Like most cities on the coast of Asia Minor it had been a Greek settlement in the beginning of the First Millennium B.C. Ephesus was at one time under the suzerainty of the kings of Lydia. The inhabitants were well treated by the rulers, who showed admiration for Greek culture. The Lydian king Croesus raised a magnificent temple to Artemis in the 6th century B.C. Its dimensions were unusually large and it was constructed entirely of marble. The structure was burned in 356 B.C. by a madman, and replaced by another structure which was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The ruins of the city and Artemis's temple have been excavated and are now a favorite tourist stop in Turkey. Much of the art work which decorated the buildings is on display in the State Museum in Vienna.

 

Artemis TodayJosephine Davis as Artemis

Artemis was portrayed on Xena by Actress Josephine Davison in the episode 'Motherhood' and by Rhonda McHardy in the Hercules Episode 'The Apple'.

For more Artemis images see the Motherhood Gallery

For more Josephine Davison Pictures see Anthony and Cleopatra

The Artemis Episodes

Xena: The Warrior Princess

Season 2: "A Necessary Evil" : Artemis' Temple gets destroyed by Velasca
Season 5: "Eternal Bonds" : Artemis' Temple Priestess has a role
Season 5: "Motherhood" : Josephine Davison

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys

Season 2: "The Apple" : played by Rhonda McHardy
Season 3: "Love Takes a Holiday" : mentioned only
Season 4: "One Fowl Day" : mentioned only, Artemis' bow has a prominent part
Season 4: "Porkules" : mentioned only, Artemis' bow has a prominent part
Season 6: "Love, Amazon Style" : mentioned only

Hercules and Xena: The Battle for Mount Olympus : Voice of Artemis : Josephine Davison

Josephine Davison's Filmography

Josephine Davison Links

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Image of Artemis and deer from the Bettmann Archive, New York


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