ARTEMIS PAGE FOUR
continued from page three

It was undeniable that Artemis was one of the great divinities of the Greek pantheon. Her name is usually derived from artemês, which translates to "uninjured, healthy, vigorous"; it therefore follows that she would be the goddess who is herself inviolate and vigorous, and also grants strength and health to others.

Artemis in some ways is the female divinity representing the same idea that Apollo did as a male divinity. This relation between the two is in many other cases described as the relation of husband and wife, and there seems to have been a tradition which actually described Artemis as the wife of Apollo.

In the character of sister of Apollo, Artemis is like her brother armed with a bow, quiver, and arrows, a divinity that sends plague and death among men and animals.

Another famous story of Artemis bringing down death was that of Orion, who was a very handsome hunter who grew to gigantic size, towering over all.

Orion was said to be the tallest and the most handsome man of the then known world. He was often seen hunting in the woods and hills of ancient Greece with his pack of dogs.

His beauty was so vivid that he was called 'the most handsome of the earthborn'. Most sources have Orion walking on water, while some others indicate he waded through the waters up to his shoulders.

There are at least four different variants of the handsome hunter's death, and we will take a brief look at all of them:

One version holds that Eos, goddess of the Dawn, laid her eyes on Orion and immediately fell in love with his beauty. She carried him off to the island of Delos, which made some gods angry. Artemis allegedly killed him with an arrow there, or on the island of Ortygia.

There are other versions where Artemis killed Orion, either by accident with her arrows or purposely by producing the Scorpion of Zodiac fame. In the second variant, Orion died of the Scorpion's sting. Although Orion does not defeat the Scorpion in any version, several variants have it die from its wounds.

According to others Orion was beloved by Artemis, causing her brother Apollo, god of Light,  to became jealous and indignant at his sister's affection for the good looking, gigantic earthborn hunter.

Apollo challenged Artemis that she was unable to hit with her bow and arrow a tiny distant point which he showed to her in the sea. Well, that was nothing for the goddess of the hunt, who had unerring aim.

Artemis thereupon zeroed in, and easily hit the impossibly faraway target, which just happened to be the head of Orion, who had been swimming in the sea.

Nasty, nasty Apollo.

 Yet another account states that Orion harbored an improper love for Artemis, who was an avowed virgin goddess, and that he challenged her to a game of discus, or even that he violated the maiden Upis, a Hyperborean virgin nymph in her company of hunters.

Upis was one of Artemis' favorites, a mythical being said to have reared Artemis. On her account Artemis shot dead Arion, or sent a monstrous scorpion which chased and killed him.

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