Artemis (Greek: nominative , genitive ), in Greek mythology was daughter of Zeus and of Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. In later times she was conflated with the Roman goddess Diana. In Etruscan mythology, she took the form of Artume.

Artemis was the virgin goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, moon, and safety in childbirth. She was worshipped as a fertility/childbirth goddess in some places since, according to some myths, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. During the Classical period in Athens, she was identified with Hecate. Artemis also assimilated Caryatis (Carya) and Ilithyia.

Artemis was worshipped almost everywhere in Greece, but her most well known cults were in Brauron, Mounikhia (located on a hill near the port Piraeus), and Sparta.

In Asia Minor, a goddess identified with Artemis was a principal deity. The city of Ephesus is probably the best known of the Asian centers of her worship, from the story in the Acts of the Apostles, where the Ephesian metalsmiths who feel threatened by Paul's preaching of the new faith, jealously riot in her defense, shouting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" (Acts 19:28 KJV). The city is also known for the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Festivals in honor of Artemis include Elaphebolia, Mounikhia, Kharisteria, Brauronia, and the festival of Artemis Orthia in Sparta.

Young Athenian girls between the ages of five and ten were sent to the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron to serve the Goddess for one year. During this time the girls were known as arktoi, or little she-bears. A myth explaining this servitude relates that a bear had gotten into the habit of regularly visiting the town of Brauron, and the people there fed it, so that over time the bear became tame. A young girl teased the bear, and, in some versions of the myth it killed her, while in other versions it clawed her eyes out. Either way, the girl's brothers killed the bear, and Artemis was enraged. She demanded that young girls "act the bear" at her sanctuary in atonement for the bear's death.

In many parts of ancient Greece, just before marriage young women would dedicate toys, dolls, and locks of their hair to Artemis.

The oldest representations of Artemis in Greek Archaic art portray her as the Potnia Theron (Queen of the Beasts): a usually winged goddess holding a stag and leopard in her hands, or sometimes a leopard and a lion.

In Greek classical art she is usually portrayed as a dark skinned maiden huntress clothed in a girl's short skirt, with hunting boots, a magical quiver, a silver bow and arrows. Often she is shown in the shooting pose, and is accompanied by a hunting dog or stag.
Her darker side is revealed in some vase paintings, where she is shown as the death-bringing goddess whose arrows fell young maidens and women.
The attributes of the goddess were often varied: bow and arrows were sometimes replaced by hunting spears; as a goddess of maiden dances she held a lyre; as a goddess of light a pair of flaming torches.
Some sculptures such as the "Diana de Gabie" were entirely without attributes, and she becomes simply the Maiden.

Only in post-Classical art do we find representations of Artemis-Diana with the crown of the crescent moon. In the ancient world, although she was occasionally associated with the moon, she was never portrayed as the moon itself. Ancient statues of the goddesses can sometimes be found with crescent moons, however these are invariably Renaissance-era additions.



In Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Here she was worshipped primarily as a mother goddess, akin to the Phrygian goddess Cybele. Her cult statue was adorned with multiple rounded protuberances on her chest. They were formerly believed to be multiple breasts but are now thought by some to have represented bull testes (see right).

Artemis can also appear triple faced with Selene, goddess of the moon, and Hecate, her cousin and goddess of sorcery, who lives in the underworld.