CHAPTER TWO

ARTEMIS / DIANA

There exist two distinct traditions of archaistic Artemis. She is prominent

among the Olympian deities which are as a group first given archaistic
form on Neo-Attic reliefs, where she is closely related to Athena. 1 Such
similarity must be related to the fact that both the warlike Athena and
Artemis the huntress are goddesses of action. 2 This type of archaistic
Artemis finds expression in round statuary only in the Pompeii Artemis
type which, as is shown below, has a strong martial association. The se-
cond form of archaistic Artemis derives from her close association with
Hekate, perhaps the earliest deity archaized. The two goddesses share an
archaistic form at least as early as the fourth century B. C.; that their as-
similation is complete by the time of the Roman Empire is shown by the
archaistic image of Diana Nemorensis known from late Republican coins.
It is with the somewhat more complex Artemis-Hekate types that we
begin.

I. Artemis-Hekate

A. Artemis and Hekate

The association of Hekate with Artemis was both intimate and early.
Kraus has cited Homer's use of the epithet "tKato~" for Apollo and
Hekate's prominence in Apollo's early cult at Miletos as evidence for a
Carian dyad of Hekatos and Hekate soon Hellenized as Apollo and Arte-
mis. 3 An early goddess Hekate is also mentioned by Hesiod as a first cou-
sin to the Letoidae. 4 An alternative to Kraus' view sees in l:Ka,o~ and
EK<i,11 simple epithets for Apollo and Artemis-contractions for the more
common Homeric EKnTTti}6A.o~. 5 Whether an independent goddess
Hekate existed before the assimilation to Artemis or she is to be seen as
a later personification of some of Artemis' more dreadful aspects, the rela-

1 As seen on the Athens-Delos relief type, ca.100 B.C., the two figures are nearly in-

terchangeable with the necessary modifications in attributes. Cf. Fullerton 1987, 275.
Supra p.10.
2 Artemis and Athena are also alike in being unmarried and always shown fully
clothed, most often in a peplos, although Artemis as huntress usually wears a short chiton.
3 Kraus 1960, 11-13. For Artemis-Hekate and the related Artemis-Enodia: LIMC II

(1984) 686-689 (L. Kahil). Also on Enodia: A. Pantos, Archaiognosia 2 (1981) 96-106.
4 Hesiod, Theog. 404-452.
5 K. Wernicke, s.v. "Artemis," RE 2 1 1336-1440, especially 1356-1357. Hecken-
bach, s.v. "Hekate," RE 72 2769-2782.
14 ARTEMIS / DIANA

tionship between the two deities is certainly established by the early fifth
century, when the chorus in Aischylos' Suppliants (l.676) invokes Artemis-
Hekate as protectress of childbirth. Their later association is underlined
by a frequent sharing of epithets and attributes. The torch, held by
Hekate in the Archaic Homeric Hymn to Demeter (ll.51-58), is connected
with Artemis in the fifth century in literature, sculpture, and vase-
painting. 6 In Euripides' Phoenissae (l.109) Antigone invokes, "iro 1t6tvta
1tai Aawu~ 'EKci'ta."
Early representations of Hekate show a girlish peplophoros indistin-
guishable iconographically from Artemis. 7 With the erection of the
Hekate Epipyrgidia on the Athena Nike bastion c. 425, the archaistic
triple-bodied Hekataion is established as a virtually canonical form for
this goddess, who becomes one of the first deities to be archaized. 8 In
Late Classical times, at least one statue of Artemis resembles the type of
the Epipyrgidia in single-bodied form, although the archaistic details are
suppressed. Similar figures, both small scale and large, are common in the
Hellenistic and Roman era - especially, although not exclusively, in the
eastern Aegean. Where their identity can be surmised, these too represent
Artemis or Artemis-Hekate. 9 Their stylistic development mirrors that of
the numerous contemporary triple-bodied Hekataia. That the Romans
identified Hekate with Diana, sometimes in triple-bodied form, is obvious
already in Republican and Augustan poetry. Catullus ( Carm. 34) refers to
"Diana Trivia," and Vergil (Aen. IV,511) mentions "tergeminam Heca-
tem." Horace (Carm. 111,22) calls Diana "diva triformis." Meanwhile,
the production of triple-bodied hekataia continues undiminished through-
out the Roman Imperial era. 10

6 Sophokles, Tr. 214, presents Artemis as both archer and torchbearer. 0. T. 207 im-

plies her fire-wielding nature. Aristophanes, Lys. 443, calls her "q>o0<p6poc;." Artemis
with bow and torch occurs frequently in Classical times. Cf. LIMC II (1984) 654-662.
Some examples: on a relief in Berlin-C. Bliimel, Die klassische griechischen Skulpturen des
staatlichen Museen zu Berlin (Berlin 1966) 57-58, no. 66, fig.99; and on a lekythos by the
Achilles Painter-AR V2 993,80. Syracuse 21186, from Gela. MonAnt 17 (1906) pl.8. Both
of these are mid-fifth century works. From the later fifth century, representations of Arte-
mis with a torch: Bologna (Pell. 303). AR V2 1184,6. CVA Italia 27 pl.82.8 ( detail); notice
that Artemis' garment here is treated rather similarly to that of the Alkamenean Heka-
taion, especially the edge of the peplos overfold. From the fourth century: Vienna (inv.
no. 204). ARJ:12 1523,2. CVA Ost. 1, 26-27.
7 For a good recent treatment of the early iconography of Hekate: Edwards 1986, esp.
315-318.
8 Fullerton 1986, w/previous bibliography p.669 n.2.
9 This material has been recently collected: Fullerton 1987, 261-265. Cf. also supra
p.8 n.40.
JO Note also three examples in Roman wall painting of Artemis figures in hekataion
form dating from the first century B.C. to the first century A.C. LIMC II (1984) 810-811
nos. 45, 46, and 193. The last is from the so-called house of Livia on the Palatine ( cf. infra
n.18) and may actually represent the sanctuary at Nemi discussed below.