Artemis the Hunting Goddess of Ancient Greece

Dr Archana Verma

Artemis and Apollo/Photo from Wikimedia

In a previous post I discussed the Hindu goddess of war. She is often represented as a virgin Goddess though in later legends she is harmonised with Parvati, the consort of Shiva. But in practice, she is always worshipped as an independent Goddess. Her most popular legend describes her s a virgin Goddess, who lives on a mountain and is surrounded by wild animals and rides a lion or a tiger. She has unsurpassed beauty. A powerful demon king who oppresses people, is enchanted by her beauty and offers to get married to her. But she lays a condition that she will marry only a person who will defeat her in battle. The demon agrees to battle with her and she kills him in battle.

She is the sister of Vishnu, the great god and is often born before Vishnu takes an incarnation on earth. Vishnu is harmonised with Sun the solar deity.

Artemis, the hunting goddess of ancient Greece is also associated with forest and wild animals. She is a virgin and has enchanting beauty. Young men who get enchanted by her are killed. She rides a chariot drawn by deer and carries bow and arrow.

Artemis is the sister of Apollo, the solar god in ancient Greco-Roman culture. She too is born before Apollo.

In Hinduism, the Goddess and Vishnu both are represented as masculine and feminine manifestations of the supreme formless deity and hence, are ever present and were never born, same as Shiva.

In contrast, Apollo and Zeus are children of Zeus, the great god in ancient Greece. Ancient Greece didn’t have a conception of a formless supreme deity, unlike Hinduism, in which the formless supreme deity can manifest in numerous forms at will.

In a previous post, I also talked about the sacrifice of Iphigenia, which seems to have lent it narrative fabric to the Sacrifice of Abraham in the Hebrew Bible.

In the legend of Iphigenia, she was going to be sacrificed to Artemis by her father Agamemnon, who had angered Artemis by killing her sacred deer. In the last moment, Artemis emerged from the clouds and replaced Iphigenia with a deer.

The legend shows the rituals cult of Artemis, who was propitiated by offering wild animals.

Artemis was also seen as a protector of children and women, especially during pregnancy. She was often represented with Athena another virgin war Goddess.