The Ephesian Artemis was a divinity totally distinct from the Greek goddess of the same name. She seems to have been the personification of the fructifying and all-nourishing powers of nature. It is an opinion almost universally adopted, that she was an ancient Asiatic divinity whose worship the Greeks found established in Ionia, when they settled there, and that, for some resemblance they discovered, they applied to her the name of Artemis. As soon as this identity of the Asiatic goddess with the Greek Artemis was recognised, other features, also originally peculiar to the Greek Artemis, were transferred to her; and thus she is called a daughter of Leto, who gave birth to her in the neighbourhood of Ephesus.
(Strab. xiv. p. 641)
BIRTH OF ARTEMIS
"And Leto was joined in love with Zeus who holds the aigis, and bare Apollon and Artemis delighting in arrows (iokheaira), children lovely above all the sons of Heaven."
"Blessed Leto, you bare glorious children, the lord Apollon and Artemis Iokheaira (who delights in arrows); her in Ortygia, and him in rocky Delos."
Homeric Hymn 3 to Delian Apollo 16 (C7th or 6th B.C.)
Veils have universal and symbolic meanings of protection and concealment. The notion of being cloaked establishes a critical boundary between the seen and hidden, known and unknown, openness and intimacy. Symbolizing simultaneously fragility and seduction, weakness and power, helplessness and invulnerability, such a mantle is widely worn by women and could be linked to their sexual status. Veils frequently invite lifting or removal for the purpose of disclosure, revelation, and possession of what the wearer previously deemed private and privileged. The symbolism of a personified, female Nature, Universal Mother or “mistress of all elements” zealously guarding her secrets remained alluring. The metaphor offered two options: one recommended respect and preservation since divine mysteries were too profound and cryptic for human understanding. The opposite approach suggested piercing or removing the vestment to search and discover the architecture and functionality of the natural world. Thus, the scientific enterprise came to be symbolically equated with a gradual lifting of the divine veil.40
Guenter B. Risse: THE VEIL OF ISIS ALLEGORY: HISTORICAL VISIONS OF THE NATURAL WORLD
"Of Artemis we hymn--no light thing is it for singers to forget her - whose study is the bow and the shooting of hares and the spacious dance and sport upon the mountains.
[The story of her birth and childhood follow, see The Childhood of Artemis for this part of the hymn.] . . .
O venerable Goddess, hear my prayer, for labour pains are thy peculiar care. In thee, when stretched upon the bed of grief, the sex, as in a mirror, view relief. Guard of the race, endued with gentle mind, to helpless youth benevolent and kind; benignant nourisher; great nature's key belongs to no divinity but thee. Thou dwellest with all immanifest to sight, and solemn festivals are thy delight. Thine is the task to loose the virgin's zone and thou in every work art seen and known. With births you sympathise, though pleased to see the numerous offspring of fertility. When racked with labour pangs, and sore distressed the sex invoke thee, as the soul's sure rest; for thou Eileithyia alone canst give relief to pain, which art attempts to ease, but tries in vain. Artemis Eileithyia, venerable power, who bringest relief in labour's dreadful hour; hear, Prothyraia and make the infant race thy constant care.
Orphic Hymn 2 to Prothhyraea (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) : "To Prothyraia [Artemis], Fumigation from Storax.
"Of Artemis we hymn--no light thing is it for singers to forget her - whose study is the bow and the shooting of hares and the spacious dance and sport upon the mountains.
[The story of her birth and childhood follow, see The Childhood of Artemis for this part of the hymn.] . . .
Mousa, sing of Artemis, sister of Hekatos (the far-shooter), Parthenos Iokheaira (the virgin who
delights in arrows), who was fostered with Apollon. She waters her horses from Meles deep in
reeds [a river in Lydia], and swifty drives her all-golden chariot through Smyrna to vine-clad
Klaros where Apollon Argyrotoxos (god of the silver bow), sits waiting for Hekatebolon
Iokheaira (far-shooting delighter in arrows). And so hail to you, Artemis, in my song and to all
goddesses as well. Of you first I sing and with you I begin; now that I have begun with you, I
will turn to another song,
Homeric Hymns to Artemis (trans. Evelyn-White)
The influence of Artemis, however, was not only in Ephesus. Inscriptions dated 162-164 AD state that Artemis Ephesia was worshipped “everywhere” by Greeks and non-Greeks alike (Horsley 1992:154). Archaeological evidence confirms this and the Artemis cult is attested in places like Italy, France, the Greek islands and mainland, the north coast of the Black Sea and Palestine (Horsley 1992:155). The temple of Artemis in Ephesus was only destroyed in the fifth century AD when pagan temples were demolished in line with Christian policy .
(Murphy- O’Connor 2008:119).
The Ephesian Artemis was clothed from head to foot in garments and decorations that signified her power. While retaining some archaic Anatolian features, her appearance primarily signified that she possessed a vital power which included power over cosmic forces and astrological fate, as well as power of wild animals and demons. With this power, Artemis benevolently protected her city of Ephesus for over a millennium. As sovereign, she had a pervasive and potent influence on the daily life of the Ephesians, and they reciprocated by regarding their goddess with devotion and loyalty.
Marg Mowczko
“Goddess serene, transcending every star!
Queen of the sky, whose beams are seen afar!
By night Heaven owns thy sway, by day the grove,
When, as chaste Dian, here thou deign’st to rove”
—from The Episode of Nisus and Euryalus
Lord Byron
In the shadows of mountains and in the wind on mountain-tops
She loves to take her bow
Her bow made all of silver
And shoot off her shafts of woe.
The peaks of great mountains tremble
The forest in its darkness screams …
The whole earth starts shaking even the sea, the sea-life …
And when she has hung up this unstrung bow,
When she has put away her arrows,
She puts on over her flesh a beautiful dress
Then she begins the dances …
Homeric Hymn to Artemis
ARTEMIS
Singe uns Muse von Artemis, der Tochter des Zeus und der Leto
Unbezähmbare Göttin, erhöre uns!
Den Schwangeren eilst du zu Hilfe,
streifst des Nachts umher mit silbernem Bogen,
bist die Freundin wilder Tiere und der Bauern,
Herrin über die unberührte Natur, Khaire!
Du erhältst die Einheit des Weltalls,
ewige Jungfrau, stolz und stark bist du,
Göttin, komm uns in der Not zu Hilfe!
Schieße mit deinen silbernen Pfeilen
Krankheiten und Schmerzen auf die einsamen Spitzen der Berge,
öffne unsere Augen für die Mysterien der Nacht,
die Würde der wilden Tiere.
Du bist die Zuflucht der Verfolgten und die Klarheit des Mondes,
Melíchia, richte uns auf,
trage die Scherben zerstörten Lebens zusammen,
gewähre Schutz
und bewahre uns vor tückischer Krankheit.
