2017年3月12日 星期日

7. Artemis (Diana)

Artemis (Diana) 

"Apollo's twin sister, daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was one of the three maiden goddesses of Olympus:— 

Golden Aphrodite who stirs with love all creation, Cannot bend nor ensnare three hearts: the pure maiden Vesta, 

Gray-eyed Athena who cares but for war and the arts of the craftsmen,

Artemis, lover of woods and the wild chase over the mountains.

She was the Lady of Wild Things, Huntsman-in-chief to the gods, an odd office for a woman. Like a good huntsman, she was careful to preserve the young; she was ‘the protectress of dewy youth’ everywhere. Nevertheless, with one of those startling contradictions so common in mythology, she kept the Greek Fleet from sailing to Troy until they sacrificed a maiden to her. In many another story, too, she is fierce and revengeful. On the other hand, when women died a swift and painless death, they were held to have been slain by her silver arrows.
As Phoebus was the Sun, she was the Moon, called Phoebe and Selene (Luna in Latin). 

. . . . . . 
The cypress was sacred to her; and all wild animals, but especially the deer" (Hamilton 31-32).


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