Budapest Metropolitan University of Applied

Sciences

January 15, 2016

Thesis
on

The Greek gods Artemis and

Apollo

Author: Costache Catalina Anamaria

Student ID: COAXAAK.BKF
Teacher: Szilgyi Andrs

Table of contents

Introduction
The Greek mythology, short introduction
The beginning of Apollo and Artemis
The god Apollo
Lovers and children
Art
The goddess Artemis
Art

Introduction
2

In the following text, we will examine two of Zeuss most important

offspring, the twins Apollo and Artemis, including their characteristic
functions and associations. We will begin with a short introduction to the
Greek mythology, followed by Apollo and then Artemis.

The Greek mythology, short introduction

In Greek mythology, there is no single original text like the Christian Bible
or the Hindu Vedas that introduces all of the myths characters and stories.
Instead, the earliest Greek myths were part of an oral tradition that began
in the Bronze Age, and their plots and themes unfolded gradually in the
written literature of the archaic and classical periods. Around 700 BC, the
poet Hesiods Theogony offered the first written cosmogony of Greek
mythology. The Theogony tells the story of the universes journey that
came from nothingness (Chaos, a primeval void) to being and details an
elaborate family tree of elements, gods and goddesses who evolved from
Chaos and descended from Gaia (Earth), Ouranos (Sky), Pontos (Sea) and
Tartaros (the Underworld)1.
At the center of Greek mythology is the pantheon of deities who were said
to live on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. From their
perch, they ruled every aspect of human life. Olympian gods and
goddesses looked like men and women, though they could change
themselves into animals and other things, and wereas many myths
recountedvulnerable to human foibles and passions2.
Greek mythology does not just tell the stories of gods and goddesses,
however. Human heroessuch as Heracles, the adventurer who performed
12 impossible labors for King Eurystheus and was subsequently
worshipped as a god for his accomplishment; Pandora, the first woman,
whose curiosity brought evil to mankind; Pygmalion, the king who fell in
love with an ivory statue; Arachne, the weaver who was turned into a
spider for her arrogance; Midas, the king with the golden touch; and
Narcissus, the young man who fell in love with his own reflectionare just
as significant. Monsters and hybrids also feature prominently in the
tales: the winged horse Pegasus, the horse-man Centaur, the lion-woman
Sphinx and the bird-woman Harpies, the one-eyed giant Cyclops,
manticores and unicorns, Gorgons, pygmies, minotaurs, satyrs and
1 http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greek-mythology
2 http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greek-mythology
3

dragons of all sorts. Many of these creatures have become almost as well
known as the gods, goddesses and heroes who share their stories3.
The characters, stories, themes and lessons of Greek mythology have
shaped art and literature for thousands of years. They appear in
Renaissance paintings such as Botticellis Birth of Venus and Raphaels
Triumph of Galatea and writings like Dantes Inferno; Romantic poetry and
libretti; and scores of more recent novels, plays and films4.

The beginning of Apollo and Artemis

Apollo and Artemis are two of the many children of Zeus and the twins
born from the union of gods Zeus and Leto, daughter of the Titans Coeus
and Phoebe. Apollo, the favorite son of Zeus was the god of the sun and
music, while Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and moon. But before
they became a god and goddess, while still in theirs mother womb, nobody
wanted anything to do with them. This was because everyone was afraid
of the wrath of Hera, the wife of Zeus. While Leto was going into labor,
nowhere and no one in Greece was willing to offer shelter. This was
because Hera explicitly forbade any place under the sun to offer shelter to
the sinful woman. She even held her daughter Eileithyia, the goddess of
childbirth, firmly in her arms to prevent her from supporting Leto on her
labor5. She had to wander around desperately and aimlessly while
enduring the labor pains without any help. Whats worse is that throughout
her pregnancy she was persuade by a giant serpent called Python making
her have little to no rest. After a long while of wandering helplessly she
finally found a somewhat safe place where she could give birth. The place
was Delos, which had recently been formed and therefore, was not
considered a real island yet6. There she managed to give birth to Artemis
all alone in a secluded spot, but there was another child coming and she
was getting too exhausted to continue. That was when Artemis, who was
just born acted as a midwife to her mother to bring her brother Apollo to

3 http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greek-mythology
4 http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greek-mythology
5 http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/apollo/myths/apollo-artemis-birth/
6 http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Apollo/apollo.html
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the world. For this reason, she was declared as the new goddess of the
childbirth, taking the place of Heras daughter Eilithyia7.

The god Apollo

Apollo is one of the most complex and important gods, and is the god of
many things, including: music, prophecy, poetry, art, oracles, archery,
plague, medicine, sun, light and knowledge. He was also the god of plague
and was worshiped as Smintheus (from sminthos, rat) and as Parnopius
(from parnops, grasshopper) and was known as the destroyer of rats and
locust, and according to Homer's Iliad, Apollo shot arrows of plague into
the Greek camp. Apollo being the god of religious healing would give those
guilty of murder and other immoral deeds a ritual purification. Sacred to
Apollo are the swan (one legend says that Apollo flew on the back of a
swan to the land of the Hyperboreans, he would spend the winter months
among them), the wolf and the dolphin. His attributes are the bow and
arrows, on his head a laurel crown, and the cithara (or lyre) and plectrum.
But his most famous attribute is the tripod, the symbol of his prophetic
powers8. He is the son of Zeus and the Titan Leto, and was born in the
Greek island of Delos, along with his older twin sister Artemis, the goddess
of the hunt9. He was also known as the Archer, far shooting with a silver
bow. One of Apollo's most important daily tasks was to harness his fourhorse chariot, in order to move the Sun across the sky10.
7 http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-gods/apollo/myths/apollo-artemis-birth/
8 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html
9 http://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/gods/apollo/
10 http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Apollo/apollo.html
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Apollo is the ideal of the kouros, which means he has a beardless, athletic
and youthful appearance. He is also an oracular god as a patron of Delphi
and could predict prophecy through the Delphic Oracle Pythia11.
Like most of his fellow Olympians, Apollo did not hesitate to intervene in
human affairs. It was he who brought about the demise of the mighty
Achilles. Of all the heroes besieging the city of Troy in the Trojan War,
Achilles was the best fighter by far. He had easily defeated the Trojan
captain Hector in single combat. But Apollo helped Hector's brother, Paris
slay Achilles with an arrow. When someone died suddenly, he was said to
have been struck down by one of Apollo's arrows. Homer's epic of the
Trojan War begins with the god causing a plague by raining arrows down
upon the Greek camp12.
As god of music, Apollo is often depicted playing the lyre. He did not
invent this instrument, however, but was given it by Hermes in
compensation for cattle theft. Some say that Apollo did invent the lute,
although he was best known for his skill on the lyre. He won several
musical contests by playing this instrument. In one case he bested Pan,
who competed on his own invention, the shepherd's pipe. On this
occasion, King Midas had the bad sense to say that he preferred Pan's
music, which caused Apollo to turn his ears into those of an ass13.
Apollo was a sun god of great antiquity, yet he is represented as an ever
youthful god, just, wise and of great beauty. He has been the subject of
many great paintings and statues throughout the ages. Apollo was well
loved among the gods. Only his half-brother, Hermes, dared to play a trick
on him when he stole Apollo's cattle14.
Apollo could also be ruthless when he was angered. The mortal Niobe,
boasted to Apollo's mother Leto, that she had fourteen children (in some
versions six or seven), which must make her more superior than Leto, who
had only bore two. Apollo greatly angered by this slew her sons, and
Artemis killed Niobe's daughters. Niobe wept so much that she turned into
a pillar of stone. Apollo was infuriated when the satyr Marsyas challenged

11 http://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/gods/apollo/
12 http://www.mythweb.com/gods/apollo.html
13 http://www.mythweb.com/gods/apollo.html
14 http://www.crystalinks.com/apollo.html
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Apollo to music contest. After winning the competition, Apollo had Marsyas
flayed alive, for being so presumptuous, as to challenge a god15.
Apollo was worshiped throughout the Greek world, at Delphi every four
years they held the Pythian Games in his honor. He had many epithets,
including "Pythian Apollo" (his name at Delphi), "Apollo Apotropaeus"
(Apollo who averts evil), and "Apollo Nymphegetes" (Apollo who looks after
the Nymphs). As the god of shepherds he also had the cult titles "Lukeios"
(from lykos; wolf), protecting the flocks from wolfs, and "Nomius" (of
pastures, belonging to shepherds). Being the god of colonists, Apollo
influenced his priests at Delphi to give divine guidance, as to where the
expedition should proceed. Apollo's title was "Archigetes" (leader of
colonists). According to one legend, it was Apollo who helped either Cretan
or Arcadian colonists found the city of Troy16.

Lovers and children

Apollo, being one of the foremost gods of Olympus and supremely

handsome, had many lovers in both male and female, gods and humans.
One of Apollo's most well known infatuations was that for the nymph
Daphne, which had been invoked by the young god of love Eros, because
Apollo had mocked him, saying his archery skills were pathetic, and
Apollo's singing had also irritated him. Daphne was the beautiful daughter
of the river god Ladon, and she was constantly pursued by Apollo. To
escape from Apollo's insistent behavior, she fled to the mountains, but the
persistent Apollo followed her. Annoyed by this, she asked the river god
Peneus for help, which he did. As soon as Apollo approached Daphne, he
tried to embrace her, but when he stretched out his arms she transformed
into a laurel tree. Apollo, distraught by what had happened, made the
laurel his sacred tree17. Another female lover was Leucothea, daughter of
Orchamus and sister of Clytia. She fell in love with Apollo who disguised
himself as Leucothea's mother to gain entrance to her chambers.
Marpessa was kidnapped by Idas but was loved by Apollo as well. Zeus
made her choose between them, and she chose Idas on the grounds that
Apollo, being immortal, would tire of her when she grew old. Castalia was
a nymph whom Apollo loved. She fled from him and dove into the spring at
Delphi, at the base of Mt. Parnassos, which was then named after her.
15 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html
16 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html
17 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html
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Cassandra was the daughter of Hecuba and Priam, and Troilus' half-sister.
Apollo fell in love with Cassandra and promised her the gift of prophecy to
seduce her, but she rejected him afterwards. Enraged, Apollo indeed gifted
her with the ability to know the future, but with a curse that stated that
she could only see the future tragedies and that no one would ever believe
her18.
By Cyrene, Apollo had a son named Aristaeus, who became the patron god
of cattle, fruit trees, hunting, husbandry and bee-keeping. He was also a
culture-hero and taught humanity dairy skills, the use of nets and traps in
hunting, and how to cultivate olives. Hecuba was the wife of King Priam of
Troy, and Apollo had a son with her named Troilus. An oracle prophesied
that Troy would not be defeated as long as Troilus reached the age of
twenty alive. He was ambushed and killed by Achilleus. Coronis, was
daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths. Pregnant with Asclepius, the god
of healing, Coronis fell in love with Ischys, son of Elatus. A crow informed
Apollo of the affair. When first informed he disbelieved the crow and
turned all crows black (where they were previously white) as a punishment
for spreading untruths. When he found out the truth he sent his sister,
Artemis, to kill Coronis (in other stories, Apollo himself had killed Coronis).
As a result he also made the crow sacred and gave them the task of
announcing important deaths. Apollo rescued the baby and gave him to
the centaur Chiron to raise19.
Hyacinth or Hyacinthus was one of Apollo's male lovers. He was a Spartan
prince, beautiful and athletic. One day while Apollo and Hyacinthus were
practicing throwing the discus, Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, who
was also attracted to the young prince, and jealous of Apollo's amorous
affection towards the boy, made the discus veer off course by blowing an
ill wind. The discus, which Apollo had thrown, hit Hyacinthus, smashing his
skull. Apollo rushed to him, but he was dead. The god was overcome with
grief, but to immortalize the love he had for the beautiful youth, he had a
flower grow were his blood had stained the earth20. Another male lover
was Cyparissus, a descendant of Heracles. Apollo gave him a tame deer as
a companion but Cyparissus accidentally killed it with a javelin as it lay
asleep in the undergrowth. Cyparissus asked Apollo to let his tears fall
forever. Apollo granted the request by turning him into the Cypress named
18 http://www.crystalinks.com/apollo.html
19 http://www.crystalinks.com/apollo.html
20 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html
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after him, which was said to be a sad tree because the sap forms droplets
like tears on the trunk21.

- Art
In art Apollo is at most times depicted as a handsome young man, clean
shaven and carrying either a lyre, or his bow and arrows. There are many
sculptures of Apollo and one of the most famous is the central figure from
the west pediment of the Temple of Zeus, at Olympia, showing Apollo
declaring victory in favor of the Lapiths in their struggle against the
Centaurs22.
Apollo is a common theme in Greek and Roman art and also in the art of
the Renaissance. The earliest Greek word for a statue is "delight" and the
sculptors tried to create forms which would inspire such guiding vision.
Greek art puts into Apollo the highest degree of power and beauty that
can be imagined. The sculptors derived this from observations on human
beings, but they also embodied in concrete form, issues beyond the reach
of ordinary thought23.
The naked bodies of the statues are associated with the cult of the body
that was essentially a religious activity. The muscular frames and limbs
combined with slim waists indicate the Greek desire for health, and the
physical capacity which was necessary in the hard Greek environment. The
statues of Apollo embody beauty, balance and inspire awe before the
beauty of the world24.

21 http://www.crystalinks.com/apollo.html
22 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html
23 http://www.crystalinks.com/apollo.html
24 http://www.crystalinks.com/apollo.html
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The goddess Artemis

Artemis, also called Diana by some, was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt,
of chastity, virginity, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, the moon, the
natural environment and protector of young girls, bringing and relieving
disease in women. She helped women in childbirth but also brought
sudden death with her arrows25.
She was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin sister of Apollo. She was born
on the island of Ortygia (Delos), where Leto had found shelter after being
hunted by the lawful wife of Zeus, Hera. As soon as Artemis was born, she
helped her mother give birth to her twin brother, thereby becoming the
protector of childbirth and labour, taking the place of Heras daughter
Eilithyia. She asked her father to grant her eternal chastity and virginity,
and never gave in to any potential lovers; devoted to hunting and nature,
she rejected marriage and love. She was the protector of nature and the
hunt; both wild and tame animals were under her protection. She also
protected the agriculture and animal herding26.
Artemis appeared in a number of myths. Niobe, queen of Thebes, once
boasted that she, a mere mortal, was better than Leto, the mother of the
divine twins, because she had bore more children while the goddess had
but two. Artemis and Apollo avenged this insult to their mother by killing
all or most of Niobe's children with their arrows. The weeping Niobe was
transformed into stone, in which form she continued to weep. Another
myth was when Apollo noticed that Artemis was spending a great deal of
time hunting with Orion, a giant and a great hunter. He became jealous
25 http://www.mythweb.com/gods/artemis.html
26 http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Artemis/artemis.html
10

and decided to put an end to the relationship. He challenged Artemis to

prove her skill at archery by shooting at a barely visible speck floating far
out at sea. Her shot was perfect. The target turned out to be the head of
Orion27. Upon his death she swore to never love again.
Aura was the goddess of breezes and cool air, who was also a huntress
and a virgin. She was quite proud of her maidenhood but made the
mistake of saying that Artemis body was too womanly and questioned her
virginity. Not one to let a slight against her person go, Artemis engaged
Nemesis, the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumbed to
hubris against the gods, to conspire to have Aura raped by Dionysus. Aura
became a mad and dangerous killer and when she bore twin sons she ate
one of them while the other, Iakhos was saved by Artemis28. Iakhos later
became an attendant of Demeter and the leader of Eleusinian Mysteries.
Shes often was depicted as a young woman clad in buckskins, a huntress
carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows, with the crescent of the moon
above her forehead and was sometimes identified with Selene (the
goddess of the moon)29. She wears a knee-length tunic that would allow
her to hunt in long grass30. She is often accompanied by wild creatures
such as a stag or a she-bear31 which were her sacred animals. Her main
vocation was to roam mountain forests and uncultivated land with her
nymphs in attendance hunting for lions, panthers, hinds and stags.
Contradictory to the later, she helped in protecting and seeing to their
well-being, also their safety and reproduction32.
In one legend, Artemis was born one day before her brother Apollo. Her
mother gave birth to her on the island of Ortygia, then, almost
immediately after her birth, she helped her mother to cross the straits
over to Delos, where she then delivered Apollo. This was the beginning of
27 http://www.mythweb.com/gods/artemis.html
28 http://www.swide.com/art-culture/greek-mythology-10-facts-about-huntgoddess-artemis-including-loves-and-family/2014/02/17
29 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html
30 http://www.swide.com/art-culture/greek-mythology-10-facts-about-huntgoddess-artemis-including-loves-and-family/2014/02/17
31 http://www.mythweb.com/gods/artemis.html
32 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html
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her role as guardian of young children and patron of women in childbirth.

Being a goddess of contradictions, she was the protectress of women in
labor, but it was said that the arrows of Artemis brought them sudden
death while giving birth. As was her brother, Apollo, Artemis was a divinity
of healing, but also brought and spread diseases such as leprosy, rabies
and even gout33.
Being associated with chastity, Artemis at an early age (in one legend she
was three years old) asked her father, the great god Zeus, to grant her
eternal virginity. Also, all her companions were virgins. Artemis was very
protective of her purity, and gave grave punishment to any man who
attempted to dishonor her in any form. One such was Actaeon. While out
hunting, he accidentally came upon Artemis and her nymphs, who bathing
naked in a secluded pool. Seeing them in all their naked beauty, the
stunned Actaeon stopped and gazed at them (in some versions he tried to
rape Artemis), but when Artemis saw him ogling them she transformed
him into a stag and set his own hounds upon him34. The dogs tore him to
pieces thinking he was a real stag.
Callisto was one of Artemis's hunting attendants. As a companion of
Artemis, she took a vow of chastity. Zeus appeared to her disguised as
Artemis then raped her. As a result of this encounter she conceived a son,
Arcas. Enraged, Artemis changed her into a bear. Arcas almost killed the
bear, but Zeus stopped him just in time. Out of pity, Zeus placed Callisto
the bear into the heavens, thus came the origin of Callisto the Bear as a
constellation. Some stories say that he placed both Arcas and Callisto into
the heavens as bears, forming the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major
constellations35.
Artemis was very possessive. She would show her wrath on anyone who
disobeyed her wishes, especially against her sacred animals. Even the
great hero Agamemnon came upon the wrath of Artemis, when he killed a
stag in her sacred grove. His punishment came when his ships were
becalmed, while he made his way to besiege Troy. With no winds to sail his
ships he was told by the seer Calchas that the only way Artemis would
bring back the winds was for him to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. Some
versions say he did sacrifice Iphigenia, others that Artemis exchanged a
deer in her place, and took Iphigenia to the land of the Tauri (the Crimea)
33 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html
34 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html
35 http://www.crystalinks.com/artemis.html
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as a priestess, to prepare strangers for sacrifice to Artemis36. That version

was depicted in the classical drama Iphigenia in Tauris.
Artemis was worshiped in most Greek cities but only as a secondary deity.
However, to the Greeks in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) she was a
prominent deity. In Ephesus, a principal city of Asia Minor, a great temple
was built in her honor, the temple of Artemis, which became one of the
"Seven Wonders of the Ancient World". But at Ephesus she was worshiped
mainly as a fertility goddess, and was identified with Cybele the mother
goddess of eastern lands. The cult statues of the Ephesian Artemis differ
greatly from those of mainland Greece, whereas she is depicted as a
huntress with her bow and arrows. Those found at Ephesus show her in the
eastern style, standing erect with numerous nodes on her chest. There
have been many theories as to what they represent. Some say they are
breasts, others that they are bull testes which were sacrificed to her. So
the true interpretation remains uncertain, we can say that each represents
fertility37.
There were festivals in honor of Artemis, such as the Brauronia, which was
held in Brauron; and the festival of Artemis Orthia, held at Sparta, when
young Spartan boys would try to steal cheeses from the altar. As they tried
they would be whipped, the meaning of Orthia and the nature of the ritual
whipping has been lost and there is no logical explanation or translation.
Among the epithets given to Artemis are: Potnia Theron (mistress of wild
animals) this title was mentioned by the great poet Homer; Kourotrophos
(nurse of youth's); Locheia (helper in childbirth); Agrotera (huntress); and
Cynthia (taken from her birthplace on Mount Cynthus on Delos). When
young girls reached puberty they were initiated into her cult, but when
they decided to marry, which Artemis was not against, they were asked to
lay in front of the altar all the paraphernalia of their virginity, toys, dolls
and locks of their hair, they then left the domain of the virgin goddess38.
-

Art

In art, she was typically portrayed with a crescent moon above her head
and her bow and arrows, created by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes. These
arrows, in contrast to her role as goddess of childbirth, were said to be the
cause of women dying in childbirth. Her brother Apollo exhibited
36 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html
37 http://www.ephesus.us/ephesus/mythology_of_artemis.htm
38 http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html
13

contradiction as well, as he was a god of healing who brought leprosy,

rabies and gout.

In Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis became one of the Seven Wonders of

the World. In Ephesus, and elsewhere in Asia Minor, she was worshipped
primarily as an Earth and fertility goddess, akin to Cybele, in mainland
Greece. Statues in Greece depict her with her bow and arrow. In Asia
Minor, she was often depicted with multiple rounded protuberances on her
chest. They were formerly believed to be multiple breasts but are now
known to have represented bull testes39.

39 http://www.crystalinks.com/artemis.html
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Biography
- http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greekmythology
- http://www.greek-gods.info/greekgods/apollo/myths/apollo-artemis-birth/
- http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Apollo/apollo.h
tml
- http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html
- http://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/gods/apollo/
- http://www.mythweb.com/gods/apollo.html
- http://www.crystalinks.com/apollo.html
- http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html
http://www.mythweb.com/gods/artemis.html
http://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Artemis/artemi
s.html
http://www.swide.com/art-culture/greek-mythology-10facts-about-hunt-goddess-artemis-including-loves-andfamily/2014/02/17
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html
http://www.crystalinks.com/artemis.html
- http://www.ephesus.us/ephesus/mythology_of_artemis.htm

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