Kate, London
According to Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was known as the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, chastity and childbirth, to name a few. She is universally depicted as a youthful huntress, typically accompanied by stags or hunting dogs.
The name “Artemis” itself is gender-neutral, and of Greek derivation meaning “butcher”, so although it originates from the female ancient Greek goddess, the name is very commonly used for boys in Greece, due to her representation as the goddess of the hunt.
In her role as a protector of young children and women, she was loved and respected by the Greeks, and hand a band of loyal followers, also known as the hunters. These were (almost always) young maidens who took a sacred oath of virginity in return for the reward of immortality, partaking in their patron’s many excursions.
However, on rare occasions, men were also admitted to the hunt, yet their stories never seem to have a happy ending. Orion, believed to be the son of the sea-god Poseidon and Euryale, the daughter of King Minos of Crete, was a giant hunter of great prowess, described as the most handsome of earthborn men. He journeyed to Crete, where he met Artemis, and joined her in her hunt. There are many different tales relating the miserable fate of Orion, one being that during their excursions, he fell deeply in love with Artemis, and it is argued that she in turn grew fond of him. But Apollo was firmly set against such an affair taking place, not least because of his sister’s symbolism of chastity and purity. Therefore, one day, when Orion was swimming in a lake, Apollo challenged her archery skills, daring her to shoot at his head from a considerable distance. Artemis naturally hit her target, ignorant of the fact that the man she had just killed was her close fried and supposed lover – the gods had to intervene in a rare situation where they could not rely on Artemis honouring her virginity.
Another myth relates the story of Siproites, also known as Sypretes, a fellow hunter from Crete, who had the misfortune of accidentally walking in on the goddess Artemis bathing and unclothed. He had marred her image of purity, so consequently, in her rage, she transformed the young man into a girl and had to serve the hunting goddess. Although it may, not be as serious a punishment as Artemis could have incurred on Siproites for his blasphemic actions, it is an early example of how sex-change occurred in classical mythology.
Last but not least, there is Hippolytus: son of Theseus, the king of Athens, who is famous for slaying the minotaur of Crete. Hippolytus, like the other men above, had a love for hunting, yet instead of honouring the goddess of his practise as was expected in ancient Greece, he went one step further: he became a priest of Artemis and worshipped her alone, swearing to chastity like the goddess he revered. Such an expression of loyalty and devotion instilled jealousy in Aphrodite, as his oath of celibacy meant he snubbed her in her role as ruler of sexual love and desire. So the fact that Hippolytus moulded his own path to display an affection not typical of masculinity at that time meant his decision was not accepted, and from this point on, his fate miserable took the trajectory of a downwards spiral, despite his loyal persona.
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