Artemis, the faithful sister of Apollo
An important goddess of the greek pantheon, Artemis was the proud goddess of nature and hunting. She was thus perceived as a young virgin who rules and protects wildlife, but also protects women with childbirth.
Despite this was her prevalent identity throughout ancient literature in Greek Mythology, the fact that the goddess appears in so many other forms and is represented in so many other symbols, suggests that that the goddess did not originate in Greece, but her identity was rather imported from other ancient cultures.
The goddess's birth
As mentioned above, the prevalent myth about Artemis's birth is contained in Homeric hymns, according to which Leto, Zeus's lover, gives birth to the virgin goddess on the island of Ogygia, while being chased by her rival, Hera.
The following day, the goddess of hunting helps her mother give birth to her sibling, Apollo,on the island of Delos.
In other versions, the goddess appears to be the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, or Zeus and Persephone, Demeter's daughter.
Her relationship with her brother, Apollo
The goddess is closely linked with both the cult and the adventures of her beloved brother, Apollo.
In the battle of Zeus against the Giants, the goddess changed into a deer and used her arrows to shoot dead Gaios or Raios.
According to another account, when the giants Otus and Ephialtes, tried to climb Mount Olympus to seduce both her and Hera, the goddess of hunting tossed a deer between them; the two giants killed each other when they both tried to kill the animal.
The goddess's relationship with mortals
The goddess's relationships with mortals, as cited by ancient storytellers, were generally not very agreeable. In most of the cases, she appears to be revengeful and mean, causing the death, either directly or indirectly, of the people she dealt with.
Here are some examples of her encounters:
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