Artemis
by CTCWeb Editors
The Avenging Goddess
Artemis was not one to allow a misdeed to go unpunished. She sought revenge in its deadliest form in answer to a boast or a mistake. Students should investigate the vengeance Artemis takes on Niobe, Actaeon and others. They should decide whether the punishments Artemis exacted were fair or extreme to the ancient mind.
1. Niobe - Niobe once boasted that her lineage was more noble than Artemis’ mother, Leto’s.
Apollodorus 3.5.6 - Artemis destroyed all but a few of Niobe’s children. Niobe was turned to a stone that wept tears night and day.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1148a - Plato says that parental care for children is important but should not be taken to the point of “vying with the gods.”
Homer, Iliad 24.602-617 - Apollo slew the sons of Niobe while Artemis slew the daughters as punishment for Niobe’s boast.
Pausanias 1.21.3 - Pausanias claims to have seen Niobe as a rock on Mount Sipylus.
2. Actaeon - Actaeon had the misfortune of wandering onto Artemis’ bathing site. Having seen her naked, Artemis turned him into a deer and made his own dogs kill him.
Apollodorus 3.4.4 - Actaeon sees Artemis naked while she bathed. She transforms him into a deer and drives his fifty dogs wild so that they devour him.
Euripides, Bacchae lines 330-340, 1290 - Kadmos relates the story of Actaeon being torn apart by his hounds as a result of his boast.
Pausanias 9.2.3 - Pausanias describes a place called the bed of Actaeon on which he slept, tired from hunting. The spring near the bed is where Actaeon happened to see Artemis bathing. Pausanias quotes Stesichorus of Himera saying that Artemis placed a deer skin around Actaeon’s shoulders so that his dogs would kill him.
Boston 00.346 - This vase depicts the death of Actaeon, his hounds attack him and Artemis prepares to shoot him with an arrow.
Harvard 1960.367 - Scene in which Actaeon’s hounds kill him.
Dewing 2237 - The head of Actaeon.
3. The Aloads - Otus and Ephialtes, the sons of Poseidon who at nine years old were nine cubits broad and nine fathoms high, decided to fight the gods of Olympus.
Apollodorus 1.7.4 - Otus fell in love with Artemis but she had him killed after learning his intent. Artemis never laid a hand on either brother but instead caused one another to kill each other.
4. Oeneus - Oeneus forgot to sacrifice to Artemis when making an offering of the first crops of the season.
Apollodorus 1.8.2 - Out of all the gods, Oeneus forgot to sacrifice the first crops to Artemis alone. Artemis sent a huge boar to prevent the land of Oeneus from being sown. The boar also destroyed the cattle and people.
Homer, Iliad 9.533 - Artemis sent a plague against Oeneus and his people since he did not offer her the first-fruits of his harvest. The other gods feasted on hecatombs but Artemis had none.
5. Admetus - Admetus forgot to sacrifice to Artemis when performing the sacrifices at his wedding.
Apollodorus 1.9.15 - Admetus forgot to sacrifice to Artemis when performing the sacrifices at his wedding. When he went into his wedding chamber it was filled with snakes. To appease the goddess, when Admetus was about to die, he had to obtain a favor from someone willing to die in his place. This ended up being his wife, Alcetis.
6. Adonis - Adonis, when just a boy, was wounded and killed in a hunting accident by a boar.
Apollodorus 3.14.4 - Adonis, when just a boy, was wounded and killed in a hunting accident by a boar. His death was Artemis’ revenge.
7. Broteas - Broteas, a hunter, did not make offerings in honor Artemis. He boasted that fire could not hurt him. Artemis drove him mad so that he threw himself into a fire.
Apollodorus, Epitome 2.2 - “Broteas, a hunter, did not honor Artemis, and said that even fire could not hurt him. So he went mad and threw himself into fire.”
8. House of Atreus - Atreus had promised to sacrifice his whole flock to Artemis. But when a golden lamb was born into his flock he did not sacrifice it thus angering Artemis. Artemis was also angry at Agamemnon because he shot a deer then boasted that Artemis could not have done it better herself.
Apollodorus, Epitome 3.21 - At Aulis, Agamemnon and his troops were wind bound. The seer, Calchas, said that Agamemnon should sacrifice his fairest daughter to Artemis to appease her.
9. Bellerophon - The gods hated Bellerophon who wandered alone over the Aleian plain. Ares slew his son and Artemis slew his daughter.
Homer, Iliad 6.200-205 - “But when even Bellerophon came to be hated of all the gods, then verily he wandered alone over the Aleian plain, devouring his own soul, and shunning the paths of men . . . and his daughter was slain in wrath by Artemis of the golden reins.”
10. Orion - Orion, a great hunter, was loved by Dawn. Orion challenged Artemis to a game of quoits and was killed by her. Another myth says Orion planned to harm a follower of Artemis so she killed him.
Apollodorus 1.4.3-5 - “But Orion was killed, as some say, for challenging Artemis to a match at quoits, but some say he was shot by Artemis for offering violence to Opis, one of the maidens who had come from the Hyperboreans.”
Homer, Odyssey 5.121-124, Odyssey 11.572-575 - Calypso says that the cruel gods begrudged Dawn the love of Orion due to jealousy and that they sent Artemis to slay him.
11. Coronis - Apollo loved Coronis and they were to have a child. Coronis made a mistake during her pregnancy and slept with the mortal Ischys. This angered Apollo’s sister, Artemis.
Pindar Pythian Ode 3.8-46 - Tells of her attempted deception and love of Ischys.
Pausanias 2.26.6 - Coronis had intercourse with Ischys. She was killed by Artemis to punish her for the injustice she had done to Apollo.
Apollodorus 3.10.3 - Apollodorus claims that “Aesculapius was not a son of Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus, but that he was a son of Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas in Thessaly.” He tells the story of her mating with Apollo and her intercourse with Ischys.
12. Melanippus - Melanippus desecrated the temple of Artemis by making love to Comaetho, a priestess of Artemis, in the temple. For this, Artemis punished their people. An oracle said that the misfortunes could be stopped by sacrificing Comaetho and Melanippus to Artemis.
Pausanias 7.19.1-4 - Melanippus loved Comaetho but Comaetho father refused their marriage. Comaetho was a priestess of Artemis and lived in her temple. Melanippus came to the temple and made love to Comaetho thus making the place their bridal chamber. Artemis was angered by their insolence and sent a plague on their people. The people sought advice form the Delphic oracle. The orcle said that they should appease Artemis by sacrificing Comaetho and Melanippus to her. As a result, each year the fairest youth and maiden were sacrificed to the goddess.
