Beautiful virgin goddess Artemis in art

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Artemis with a hind, or Diana of Versailles, a Roman marble copy of a Greek original by Leochares, Greek sculptor from Athens

Beautiful virgin goddess Artemis in art. Artemis with a hind, or Diana of Versailles, a Roman marble copy of a Greek original by Leochares, Greek sculptor from Athens

Beautiful virgin goddess Artemis in art
Eternally young, beautiful goddess was born on Delos at the same time with her brother, the golden-haired Apollo. They are twins. The most sincere love, the most intimate friendship connect brother and sister. The same deeply they love their mother Latona. Artemis gives life to everyone. She takes care of all that lives on earth and grows in the forest and in the field, cares about wild animals, herds of livestock and people. She causes the growth of grass, flowers and trees, she blesses the birth, wedding and marriage. Greek women bring rich sacrifices to the glorious daughter of Zeus Artemis, who blesses and gives happiness in marriage, heals, and sends the disease.

A bronze copy of the statue of Artemis, 1813, the gardens of Fontainebleau

Eternally young, beautiful as a clear day, the goddess Artemis, with bow and quiver over her shoulder, a hunter with a spear in her hand, hunts gayly in shady forests and sun-drenched fields. Noisy crowd of nymphs accompany her, and she, majestic, in a short dress fancier, reaching only to the knees, quickly rushes through the wooded slopes of the mountains. No one can escape from her not knowing any slip arrows – neither skittish deer nor the timid deer, wild boar or furious, hiding in the reeds.

Beautiful virgin goddess Artemis in art

For Artemis hurry her companion-nymphs. Laughter, screams, barking pack of dogs is far distributed in the mountains, and mountain echo responds to them loudly. When the goddess is tired of the hunt, she hurries with the nymphs to the sacred Delphi, to her beloved brother Apollo. There she is resting. Under divine sounds of golden cittern of Apollo she leads the dances with the Muses and nymphs. Ahead of everyone goes dancing Artemis – slim, beautiful; she is more beautiful than all the nymphs and muses and the whole head is taller than them.

Diana of Versailles, Artemis

Artemis likes to relax in breathing with cool, entwined with the green Grotto, away from the eyes of mortals. Woe to him who disturbs the peace of her. Thus died and the young Actaeon, son of Autonoe, daughter of the Theban king Cadmus.

bust of Artemis

The oldest painting. Artemis stands in front of the chariot with a deer in her hand

Relations between Artemis and bears are curious and not well understood. In Braurone, off the east coast of Attica, was excavated the Brauron Temple of Artemis. On the one hand, this temple dedicated to clothing dead in childbirth women: it is connected with the function of Artemis as birth helper and does not contain any surprises. But with the same temple was associated strange custom: Athenian girls between the ages of five to ten, settled for a while in the temple, were called bears. Artemis, also transformed into a bear, and that was the animal look of Artemis.

Ancient Artemis – not only the huntress, but bear. Artemis is depicted in the form of sweaty Theron (Mistress of Animals) Boeotian amphora, ca. 680 BC

Classical Artemis – the eternal virgin; Accompanying her nymphs as a vow of celibacy, and those who do not comply with it – severely punished (like Callisto). Before the wedding to the goddess were brought the redemptive sacrifice. In many myths, she seems vindictive and cruel: kills Actaeon, children of Niobe, tells Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter. Destructive function of Artemis associated with her archaic past – mistress of animals in Crete. In the oldest of her incarnations she is not only the hunter, but also a bear.