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Septimius Severus – Roman Emperor: 193-211 A.D. –
Bronze 19mm (5.71 grams) from the city of Perga in Pamphylia
CЄOVH-POC ΠЄPTIN – Laureate head right.
ΠЄPΓAIΩN – Artemis standing right holding bow and
drawing arrow from quiver.
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Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek
deities. Her
Roman
equivalent is
Diana
. Some scholars believe that the name, and
indeed the goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as
Artemis Agrotera,
Potnia Theron
: “Artemis of the wildland,
Mistress of Animals”. The
Arcadians
believed she was the daughter of
Demeter
.
In the classical period of
Greek mythology
, Artemis (Ancient
Greek: Ἄρτεμις) was often
described as the daughter of
Zeus and Leto
, and the twin sister of
Apollo
. She was the Hellenic goddess of the
hunt
,
wild animals
,
wilderness
,
childbirth
,
virginity
and protector of young girls,
bringing and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress
carrying a bow and arrows. The
deer and the
cypress
were sacred to her. In later
Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of
Eileithyia
in aiding childbirth.
Etymology
Didrachm from Ionie representing the goddess Artemis
Ancient Greek
writers linked Artemis (Doric
Artamis) by way of
folk etymology
to artemes (ἀρτεμής)
‘safe’ or artamos (ἄρταμος) ‘butcher’. However, the name
Artemis (variants Arktemis, Arktemisa) is most likely related
to Greek
árktos ‘bear’
, supported by the bear cult that the goddess had in
Attica
(Brauronia)
and the Neolithic
remains at the
Arkoudiotissa Cave
, as well as the story about
Callisto
, which was originally about Artemis (Arcadian
epithet kallisto).
This cult was a survival of very old totemic and shamanistic rituals and
formed part of a larger
bear cult
found further afield in other
Indo-European
cultures (e.g., Gaulish
Artio
). It is believed that a precursor of
Artemis was worshiped in
Minoan Crete
as the goddess of mountains and
hunting, Britomartis
. While connection with
Anatolian
names has been suggested, the
earliest attested forms of the name Artemis are the
Mycenaean Greek
a-te-mi-to and a-ti-mi-te,
written in Linear B
at
Pylos
. Artemis was venerated in
Lydia
as Artimus.
Artemis in mythology
Leto bore Apollon and Artemis, delighting in arrows,
Both of lovely shape like none of the heavenly gods,
As she joined in love to the
Aegis
-bearing ruler.
—Hesiod, Theogony,
lines 918–920 (written in the 7th century BC)
Birth
Artemis (on the left, with a deer) and Apollo (on the
right, holding a lyre) from
Myrina
, dating to approximately 25
BC
Apollo (left) and Artemis.
Brygos
(potter, signed),
Briseis Painter
, Tondo of an Attic
red-figure cup, ca. 470 BC,
Louvre
.
Various conflicting accounts are given in Classical Greek mythology of the
birth of Artemis and her twin brother, Apollo. All accounts agree, however, that
she was the daughter of Zeus
and
Leto and that she was the twin sister of Apollo.
An account by
Callimachus
has it that Hera forbade Leto to
give birth on either terra firma (the mainland) or on an island. Hera was angry
with Zeus, her husband, because he had impregnated Leto. But the island of
Delos
(or
Ortygia
in the
Homeric Hymn to Artemis
) disobeyed Hera, and
Leto gave birth there.
In ancient Cretan history Leto was worshipped at
Phaistos
and in Cretan mythology Leto gave
birth to Apollo and Artemis at the islands known today as the
Paximadia
.
A
scholium
of
Servius
on
Aeneid
iii. 72 accounts for the island’s
archaic name Ortygia by asserting that Zeus transformed Leto into a
quail
(ortux) in order to prevent Hera
from finding out his infidelity, and Kenneth McLeish suggested further that in
quail form Leto would have given birth with as few birth-pains as a mother quail
suffers when it lays an egg.
The myths also differ as to whether Artemis was born first, or Apollo. Most
stories depict Artemis as born first, becoming her mother’s mid-wife upon the
birth of her brother Apollo.
Childhood
Roman marble Bust of Artemis after
Kephisodotos
(Musei
Capitolini), Rome.
The childhood of Artemis is not fully related in any surviving myth. The
Iliad
reduced the figure of the dread
goddess to that of a girl, who, having been thrashed by
Hera, climbs weeping into the lap of Zeus. A poem of
Callimachus
to the goddess “who amuses herself
on mountains with archery” imagines some charming vignettes: according to
Callimachus, at three years old, Artemis, while sitting on the knee of her
father, Zeus, asked him to grant her six wishes: to remain always a virgin; to
have many names to set her apart from her brother
Apollo
; to be the Phaesporia or Light
Bringer; to have a bow and arrow and a knee-length tunic so that she could hunt;
to have sixty “daughters of
Okeanos
“, all nine years of age, to be her
choir; and for twenty Amnisides Nymphs as handmaidens to watch her dogs and bow
while she rested. She wished for no city dedicated to her, but to rule the
mountains, and for the ability to help women in the pains of childbirth.
Artemis believed that she had been chosen by
the Fates
to be a midwife, particularly since
she had assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin brother, Apollo. All of
her companions remained virgins, and Artemis closely guarded her own chastity.
Her symbols included the golden bow and arrow, the hunting dog, the stag, and
the moon. Callimachus tells how Artemis spent her girlhood seeking out the
things that she would need to be a huntress, how she obtained her bow and arrows
from the isle of Lipara
, where
Hephaestus
and the
Cyclops
worked.
Okeanus’ daughters were filled with fear, but the young Artemis bravely
approached and asked for bow and arrows. Callimachus then tells how Artemis
visited Pan
, the god of the forest, who gave her seven
bitches and six dogs. She then captured six golden-horned deer to pull her
chariot. Artemis practiced with her bow first by shooting at trees and then at
wild beasts.
Intimacy
As a virgin, Artemis had interested many gods and men, but only her hunting
companion, Orion, won her heart. Orion was accidentally killed either by Artemis
or by Gaia.
Alpheus
, a river god, was in love with Artemis,
but he realizes that he can do nothing to win her heart. So he decides to
capture her. Artemis, who is with her companions at Letrenoi, goes to Alpheus,
but, suspicious of his motives, she covers her face with mud so that the river
god does not recognize her. In another story, Alphaeus tries to rape Artemis’
attendant
Arethusa
. Artemis pities Arethusa and saves her
by transforming Arethusa into a spring in Artemis’ temple,
Artemis Alphaea
in Letrini, where the goddess
and her attendant drink.
Bouphagos, the son of the Titan Iapetos, sees Artemis and thinks about raping
her. Reading his sinful thoughts, Artemis strikes him at Mount Pholoe.
Sipriotes is a boy, who, either because he accidentally sees Artemis bathing
or because he attempts to rape her, is turned into a girl by the goddess.
Actaeon
Multiple versions Actaeon myth survive, though many are fragmentary. The
details vary but at the core they involve a great hunter,
Actaeon
who Artemis turns into a stag for a
transgression and who is then killed by hunting dogs. Usually the dogs are his
own, who no longer recognize their master. Sometimes they are Artemis’ hounds.
According to the standard modern text on the work, Lamar Ronald Lacey’s
The Myth of Aktaion: Literary and Iconographic Studies, the most likely
original version of the myth is that Actaeon was the hunting companion of the
goddess who, seeing her naked in her sacred spring, attempts to force himself on
her. For this hubris he is turned into a stag and devoured by his own hounds.
However, in some surviving versions Actaeon is a stranger who happens upon her.
Different tellings also diverge in the hunter’s transgression, which is
sometimes merely seeing the virgin goddess naked, sometimes boasting he is a
better hunter than she, or even merely being a rival of
Zeus for the affections of
Semele
.
Adonis
The Death of Adonis, by
Giuseppe Mazzuoli
, 1709 –
Hermitage Museum
.
In some versions of the story of
Adonis
, who was a late addition to Greek
mythology during the Hellenistic period, Artemis sent a
wild boar
to kill Adonis as punishment for his
hubristic boast that he was a better hunter than she.
In other versions, Artemis killed Adonis for revenge. In later myths, Adonis
had been related as a favorite of
Aphrodite
, and Aphrodite was responsible for
the death of
Hippolytus
, who had been a favorite of Artemis.
Therefore, Artemis killed Adonis to avenge Hippolytus’s death.
In yet another version, Adonis was not killed by Artemis, but by Ares, as
punishment for being with Aphrodite.
Orion
Orion
was Artemis’ hunting companion. In some
versions, he is killed by Artemis, while in others he is killed by a
scorpion
sent by
Gaia
. In some versions, Orion tries to seduce
Opis, one of her followers, and she killed him. In a version by
Aratus
, Orion took hold of Artemis’ robe and
she killed him in
self-defense
.
In yet another version, Apollo sends the scorpion. According to
Hyginus
Artemis once loved Orion (in spite of
the late source, this version appears to be a rare remnant of her as the
pre-Olympian goddess, who took consorts, as
Eos
did), but was tricked into killing him by her brother Apollo, who was
“protective” of his sister’s maidenhood.
The Aloadae
These twin sons of
Iphidemia
and
Poseidon
, Otos and Ephialtes, grew enormously
at a young age. They were aggressive, great hunters, and could not be killed
unless they killed each other. The growth of the
Aloadae
never stopped, and they boasted that as
soon as they could reach heaven, they would kidnap Artemis and
Hera and take them as wives. The gods were afraid of them, except for
Artemis who captured a fine deer (or in another version of the story, she
changed herself into a doe) and jumped out between them. The Aloadae threw their
spears and so mistakenly killed each other.
Callisto
Diana and Callisto
by
Titian
.
Callisto
was the daughter of Lycaon, King of
Arcadia and also was one of Artemis’s hunting attendants. As a companion of
Artemis, she took a vow of chastity. Zeus appeared to her disguised as Artemis,
or in some stories Apollo, gained her confidence, then took advantage of her (or
raped her, according to Ovid
). As a result of this encounter she
conceived a son, Arcas.
Enraged, Hera or Artemis (some accounts say both) changed her into a bear.
Arcas almost killed the bear, but Zeus stopped him just in time. Out of pity,
Zeus placed Callisto the bear into the heavens, thus the origin of Callisto the
Bear as a constellation. Some stories say that he placed both Arcas and Callisto
into the heavens as bears, forming the
Ursa Minor
and
Ursa Major
constellations.
Iphigenia
and the Taurian Artemis
Artemis punished
Agamemnon
after he killed a sacred stag in a
sacred grove
and boasted that he was a better
hunter than the goddess. When the Greek fleet was preparing at
Aulis
to depart for
Troy to begin the
Trojan War
, Artemis becalmed the winds. The
seer Calchas
advised Agamemnon that the only way to
appease Artemis was to sacrifice his daughter
Iphigenia
. Artemis then snatched Iphigenia from
the altar and substituted a deer. Various myths have been told around what
happened after Artemis took her. Either she was brought to Tauros and led the
priests there, or became Artemis’ immortal companion.
Niobe
A Queen of
Thebes
and wife of
Amphion
,
Niobe
boasted of her superiority to Leto
because while she had fourteen children (Niobids),
seven boys and seven girls, Leto had only one of each. When Artemis and Apollo
heard this impiety, Apollo killed her sons as they practiced athletics, and
Artemis shot her daughters, who died instantly without a sound. Apollo and
Artemis used poisoned arrows to kill them, though according to some versions two
of the Niobids were spared, one boy and one girl. Amphion, at the sight of his
dead sons, killed himself. A devastated Niobe and her remaining children were
turned to stone by Artemis as they wept. The gods themselves entombed them.
Chione
Chione was a princess of Pokis. She was beloved by two gods,
Hermes
and
Apollo
, and boasted that she was prettier than
Artemis because she made two gods fall in love with her at once. Artemis was
furious and killed Chione with her arrow or struck her dumb by shooting off her
tongue. However, some versions of this myth say Apollo and Hermes protected her
from Artemis’ wrath.
Atalanta, Oeneus and the Meleagrids
Artemis pouring a libation, c. 460-450 BC.
Artemis saved the infant
Atalanta
from dying of exposure after her
father abandoned her. She sent a female bear to suckle the baby, who was then
raised by hunters. But she later sent a bear to hurt Atalanta because people
said Atalanta was a better hunter. This is in some stories.
Among other adventures, Atalanta participated in the hunt for the
Calydonian Boar
, which Artemis had sent to
destroy Calydon
because King
Oeneus
had forgotten her at the harvest
sacrifices. In the hunt, Atalanta drew the first blood, and was awarded the
prize of the skin. She hung it in a sacred grove at
Tegea
as a dedication to Artemis.
Meleager
was a hero of Aetolia. King
Oeneus
had him gather heroes from all over
Greece to hunt the
Calydonian Boar
. After the death of
Meleager
, Artemis turned his grieving sisters,
the Meleagrids
into
guineafowl
that Artemis loved very much.
Aura
In Nonnus
Dionysiaca
,[26]
Aura
was Greek goddess of breezes and cool air,
daughter of Lelantos
and
Periboia
. She was a virgin huntress, just like
Artemis and proud of her maidenhood. One day, she claimed that the body of
Artemis was too womanly and she doubted her virginity. Artemis asked
Nemesis
for help to avenge her dignity and
caused the rape of Aura by
Dionysus
. Aura became a mad and dangerous
killer. When she bore twin sons, she ate one of them while the other one, Iakhos,
was saved by Artemis. Iakhos later became an attendant of
Demeter
and the leader of
Eleusinian Mysteries
.
Trojan War
Artemis may have been represented as a supporter of Troy because her brother
Apollo
was the patron god of the city and she
herself was widely worshipped in western Anatolia in historical times. In the
Iliad
she came to blows with Hera, when the
divine allies of the Greeks and Trojans engaged each other in conflict. Hera
struck Artemis on the ears with her own quiver, causing the arrows to fall out.
As Artemis fled crying to Zeus, Leto gathered up the bow and arrows.
Artemis played quite a large part in this war. Like her mother and brother,
who was widely worshiped at Troy, Artemis took the side of the Trojans. At the
Greek’s journey to Troy, Artemis becalmed the sea and stopped the journey until
an oracle came and said they could win the goddess’ heart by sacrificing
Iphigenia
,
Agamemnon
‘s daughter. Agamemnon once promised
the goddess he would sacrifice the dearest thing to him, which was Iphigenia,
but broke the promise. Other sources said he boasted about his hunting ability
and provoked the goddess’ anger. Artemis saved Iphigenia because of her bravery.
In some versions of the myth,, Artemis made Iphigenia her attendant or turned
her into Hecate
, goddess of night, witchcraft, and the
underworld.
Aeneas
was helped by Artemis, Leto, and Apollo.
Apollo found him wounded by Diomedes and lifted him to heaven. There, the three
of them secretly healed him in a great chamber.
Worship of Artemis
Roman Temple of Artemis in
Jerash, Jordan
, built during the
reign of
Antoninus Pius
.
Main article:
Brauronia
Artemis, the goddess of forests and hills, was worshipped throughout
ancient Greece
. Her best known
cults
were on the island of
Delos
(her birthplace); in Attica at
Brauron
and Mounikhia (near
Piraeus
); in
Sparta
. She was often depicted in paintings and
statues in a forest setting, carrying a bow and arrows, and accompanied by a
deer.
The ancient Spartans used to sacrifice to her as one of their patron
goddesses before starting a new
military campaign
.
Athenian festivals
in honor of Artemis included
Elaphebolia
,
Mounikhia
, Kharisteria, and
Brauronia
. The festival of
Artemis Orthia
was observed in
Sparta
.
Pre-pubescent and adolescent Athenian girls were sent to the sanctuary of
Artemis at Brauron to serve the Goddess for one year. During this time, the
girls were known as arktoi, or little she-bears. A myth explaining this
servitude states that a bear had formed the habit of regularly visiting the town
of Brauron, and the people there fed it, so that, over time, the bear became
tame. A girl teased the bear, and, in some versions of the myth, it killed her,
while, in other versions, it clawed out her eyes. Either way, the girl’s
brothers killed the bear, and Artemis was enraged. She demanded that young girls
“act the bear” at her sanctuary in atonement for the bear’s death.
Virginal Artemis was worshipped as a fertility/childbirth goddess in some
places, assimilating
Ilithyia
, since, according to some myths, she
assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. During the
Classical period
in
Athens
, she was identified with
Hecate
. Artemis also assimilated
Caryatis
(Carya).
Epithets
As Aeginaea, she was worshiped in
Sparta
; the name means either huntress of
chamois
, or the wielder of the javelin (αἰγανέα).[29][30]
She was worshipped at
Naupactus
as Aetole; in her temple in
that town there was a statue of white marble representing her throwing a
javelin.[31]
This “Aetolian Artemis” would not have been introduced at Naupactus, anciently a
place of
Ozolian Locris
, until it was awarded to the
Aetolians
by
Philip II of Macedon
. Strabo records another
precinct of “Aetolian Artemos” at the head of the
Adriatic
.[32]
As Agoraea
she was the protector of the
agora
.
As Agrotera
, she was especially associated as
the patron goddess of hunters. In
Elis she was worshiped as
Alphaea
. In Athens Artemis was often
associated with the local
Aeginian
goddess,
Aphaea
. As
Potnia Theron
, she was the patron of wild
animals; Homer
used this title. As Kourotrophos,
she was the nurse of youths. As Locheia, she was the goddess of
childbirth and midwives. She was sometimes known as
Cynthia
, from her birthplace on
Mount Cynthus
on
Delos
, or Amarynthia from a festival in
her honor originally held at Amarynthus in
Euboea
. She was sometimes identified by the
name Phoebe, the feminine form of her brother Apollo’s solar epithet
Phoebus
.
In Sparta the Artemis Lygodesma was worshipped. This epithet means
“willow-bound” from the Gr. lygos (λυγός, willow) and desmos (δεσμός,
bond). The willow tree appears in several ancient Greek myths and rituals.
Festivals
Sanctuary of Artemis at
Brauron
.
Artemis was born at the sixth day, the reason why it was sacred for her.
-
Festival of Artemis in Brauron
, where
girls, aged between five and ten, dressed in saffron robes and played the
bear to appease the goddess after she sent the plague when her bear was
killed.
- Festival of Amarysia is a celebration to worship Artemis Amarysia in
Attica
. In 2007, a team of Swiss and Greek
archaeologists found the ruin of Artemis Amarysia Temple, at Euboea, Greece.
- Festival of Artemis Saronia, a festival to celebrate Artemis in
Trozeinos, a town in
Argolis
. A king named Saron built a
sanctuary for the goddess after the goddess saved his life when he went on
hunting and swept by the wave and held a festival for her.[35]
- At the 16 of Metageitnio (second month on Athenian calendar), people
sacrifice to Artemis and Hecate at deme of Erchia.
- Kharisteria Festival on 6 of Boidromion (third month) to celebrate the
victory of
Marathon
and also known as the Athenian
“Thanksgiving”.
- Day six of Elaphobolia (ninth month) festival of Artemis the Deer
Huntress where she was offered cakes shaped like stags, made from dough,
honey and sesame-seeds.
- Day 6 of 16 of Mounikhion (tenth month) a celebration of her as the
goddess of nature and animal. A goat was being sacrificed to her.
- Day 6 of Thargelion (eleventh month) the ‘birthday’ of the goddess,
while the seventh was Apollo’s.
- A festival for Artemis Diktynna (of the net) in Hypsous.
-
Laphria
, a festival for Artemis in Patrai.
The procession started by setting the logs of wood around the altar, each of
them sixteen cubits long. On the altar, within the circle, is placed the
driest of their wood. Just before the time of the festival, they construct a
smooth ascent to the altar, piling earth upon the altar steps. The festival
begins with a most splendid procession in honor of Artemis, and the maiden
officiating as priestess rides last in the procession upon a chariot yoked
to four deer, Artemis’ traditional mode of transportation (see below). It
is, however, not until the next day that the sacrifice is offered.
- In Orchomenus, a sanctuary was built for Artemis Hymnia where her
festival was celebrated every year.
Artemis in art
Fourth century
Praxitelean
bronze head of a
goddess wearing a
lunate
crown, found at Issa (Vis,
Croatia).
The oldest representations of Artemis in Greek Archaic art portray her as
Potnia Theron
(“Queen of the Beasts”): a
winged goddess holding a stag and leopard in her hands, or sometimes a leopard
and a lion. This winged Artemis lingered in ex-votos as
Artemis Orthia
, with a sanctuary close by
Sparta
.
In Greek classical art she is usually portrayed as a maiden huntress, young,
tall and slim, clothed in a girl’s short skirt, with hunting boots, a quiver, a
bow and arrows. Often, she is shown in the shooting pose, and is accompanied by
a hunting dog
or stag. When portrayed as a
goddess of the moon, Artemis wore a long robe and sometimes a veil covered her
head. Her darker side is revealed in some vase paintings, where she is shown as
the death-bringing goddess whose arrows fell young maidens and women, such as
the daughters of Niobe
.
Only in post-Classical art do we find representations of Artemis-Diana with
the crown of the
crescent
moon, as
Luna
. In the ancient world, although she was
occasionally associated with the moon, she was never portrayed as the moon
itself. Ancient statues of Artemis have been found with crescent moons, but
these moons are always Renaissance-era additions.
On June 7, 2007, a Roman era bronze sculpture of
Artemis and the Stag
was sold at
Sotheby’s
auction house in New York state by
the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
for $25.5 million.
Attributes
The site of the
Temple of Artemis
at Ephesus.
According to the
Homeric Hymn
to Artemis, she had golden bow and
arrows, as her epithet was Khryselakatos, “of the Golden Shaft”, and
Iokheira (Showered by Arrows). The arrows of Artemis could also to bring
sudden death and disease to girls and women. Artemis got her bow and arrow for
the first time from The Kyklopes, as the one she asked from her father. The bow
of Artemis also became the witness of Callisto’s oath of her virginity. In later
cult, the bow became the symbol of waxing moon.
Artemis’ chariot was made of gold and was pulled by four golden horned deer (Elaphoi
Khrysokeroi). The bridles of her chariot were also made of gold.[44]
Although quite seldom, Artemis is sometimes portrayed with a hunting spear.
Her cult in Aetolia, the Artemis Aetolian, showed her with a hunting spear. The
description about Artemis’ spear can be found in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, while
Artemis with a fishing spear connected with her cult as a patron goddess of
fishing.
As a goddess of maiden dances and songs, Artemis is often portrayed with a
lyre.
Fauna
Deer were the only animals held sacred to Artemis herself. On seeing a deer
larger than a bull with horns shining, she fell in love with these creatures and
held them sacred. Deer were also the first animals she captured. She caught five
golden horned deer called Elaphoi Khrysokeroi and harnessed them to her
chariot. The
third labour of Heracles
, commanded by
Eurystheus
, consisted in catching the
Cerynitian Hind
alive. Heracles begged Artemis
for forgiveness and promised to return it alive. Artemis forgave him but
targeted Eurystheus for her wrath.
Artemis got her hunting dogs from
Pan
in the forest of Arcadia. Pan gave Artemis
two black-and-white dogs, three reddish ones, and one spotted one – these dogs
were able to hunt even lions. Pan also gave Artemis seven bitches of the finest
Arcadian race. However, Artemis only ever brought seven dogs hunting with her at
any one time.
The sacrifice of a bear for Artemis started with the Brauron cult. Every year
a girl between five and ten years of age was sent to Artemis’ temple at Brauron.
The Byzantine writer Suidos relayed the legend in Arktos e Brauroniois. A bear
was tamed by Artemis and introduced to the people of Athens. They touched it and
played with it until one day a group of girls poked the bear until it attacked
them. A brother of one of the girls killed the bear, so Artemis sent a plague in
revenge. The Athenians consulted an oracle to understand how to end the plague.
The oracle suggested that, in payment for the bear’s blood, no Athenian virgin
should be allowed to marry until she had served Artemis in her temple (‘played
the bear for the goddess’).
The boar is one of the favorite animals of the hunters, and also hard to
tame. In honor of Artemis’ skill, they sacrificed it to her. Oineus and Adonis
were both killed by Artemis’ boar.
Artemis felt pity for the Meleagrids as they mourned for their lost brother,
Meleagor, so she transformed them into Guinea Fowl to be her favorite animals.
Hawks were the favored birds of many of the gods, Artemis included.[citation
needed]
Flora
Palm
and
Cypress
were issued to be her birthplace. Other
plants sacred to Artemis are
Amaranth
and
Asphodel
.
Artemis as
the Lady of Ephesus
The Artemis of Ephesus, 1st century AD (Ephesus
Archaeological Museum)
At Ephesus in Ionia
, Turkey, her temple became one of the
Seven Wonders of the World
. It was probably the
best known center of her worship except for Delos. There the Lady whom the
Ionians associated with Artemis through
interpretatio graeca
was worshiped
primarily as a mother goddess, akin to the Phrygian goddess
Cybele
, in an ancient sanctuary where her
cult image
depicted the “Lady of Ephesus”
adorned with multiple rounded breast like protuberances on her chest. They have
been variously interpreted as multiple
accessory breasts
, as eggs, grapes, acorns, or
even bull testes. Excavation at the site of the Artemision in 1987-88
identified a multitude of tear-shaped
amber
beads that had adorned the ancient wooden
xoanon
. In
Acts of the Apostles
, Ephesian metalsmiths who
felt threatened by Saint Paul’s preaching of Christianity, jealously rioted in
her defense, shouting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Of the 121
columns of her temple, only one composite, made up of fragments, still stands as
a marker of the temple’s location. The rest were used for making churches,
roads, and forts.
Artemis in astronomy
A minor planet
,
(105) Artemis
; a
lunar crater
; the
Artemis Chasma
and the
Artemis Corona
have all been named for her.
Artemis is the acronym for “Architectures de bolometres pour des Telescopes a
grand champ de vue dans le domaine sub-Millimetrique au Sol,” a large
bolometer
camera in the
submillimeter
range that was installed in 2010
at the
Atacama Pathfinder Experiment
(APEX), located
in the
Atacama Desert
in northern Chile.
L ucius Septimius Severus (or rarely Severus I) (April 11,
145/146-February 4, 211) was a
Roman
general, and
Roman
Emperor
from April 14, 193 to 211. He was born in what is now the
Berber
part of
Rome’s historic
Africa Province
.
Septimius Severus was born and raised at
Leptis
Magna
(modern Berber
, southeast of
Carthage
,
modern Tunisia
).
Severus came from a wealthy, distinguished family of
equestrian
rank. Severus was of
Italian
Roman ancestry on his mother’s side and of
Punic
or
Libyan
-Punic
ancestry on his father’s. Little is known of his father,
Publius Septimius Geta
, who held no major political status but had two
cousins who served as consuls under emperor
Antoninus Pius
. His mother, Fulvia Pia’s family moved from
Italy
to
North
Africa
and was of the
Fulvius
gens,
an ancient and politically influential clan, which was originally of
plebeian
status. His siblings were a younger
Publius Septimius Geta
and Septimia Octavilla. Severus’s maternal cousin was
Praetorian Guard
and consul
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus
.
In 172, Severus was made a
Senator
by the then emperor
Marcus Aurelius
. In 187 he married secondly
Julia
Domna
. In 190 Severus became
consul
, and in
the following year received from the emperor
Commodus
(successor to Marcus Aurelius) the command of the
legions
in Pannonia
.
On the murder of
Pertinax
by
the troops in 193, they proclaimed Severus Emperor at
Carnuntum
,
whereupon he hurried to Italy. The former emperor,
Didius Julianus
, was condemned to death by the Senate and killed, and
Severus took possession of Rome without opposition.
The legions of
Syria
, however, had proclaimed
Pescennius Niger
emperor. At the same time, Severus felt it was reasonable
to offer
Clodius Albinus
, the powerful governor of Britannia who had probably
supported Didius against him, the rank of Caesar, which implied some claim to
succession. With his rearguard safe, he moved to the East and crushed Niger’s
forces at the
Battle of Issus
. The following year was devoted to suppressing Mesopotamia
and other Parthian vassals who had backed Niger. When afterwards Severus
declared openly his son
Caracalla
as successor, Albinus was hailed emperor by his troops and moved to Gallia.
Severus, after a short stay in Rome, moved northwards to meet him. On
February
19
, 197
,
in the
Battle of Lugdunum
, with an army of 100,000 men, mostly composed of
Illyrian
,
Moesian
and
Dacian
legions,
Severus defeated and killed Clodius Albinus, securing his full control over the
Empire.
Emperor
Severus was at heart a
soldier
, and
sought glory through military exploits. In 197 he waged a brief and successful
war against the
Parthian Empire
in retaliation for the support given to Pescennius Niger.
The Parthian capital
Ctesiphon
was sacked by the legions, and the northern half of
Mesopotamia
was restored to Rome.
His relations with the
Roman
Senate
were never good. He was unpopular with them from the outset, having
seized power with the help of the military, and he returned the sentiment.
Severus ordered the execution of dozens of Senators on charges of corruption and
conspiracy
against him, replacing them with his own favorites.
He also disbanded the
Praetorian Guard
and replaced it with one of his own, made up of 50,000
loyal soldiers mainly camped at
Albanum
, near Rome (also probably to grant the emperor a kind of centralized
reserve). During his reign the number of legions was also increased from 25/30
to 33. He also increased the number of auxiliary corps (numerii), many of
these troops coming from the Eastern borders. Additionally the annual wage for a
soldier was raised from 300 to 500
denarii
.
Although his actions turned Rome into a military
dictatorship
, he was popular with the citizens of Rome, having stamped out
the rampant corruption of Commodus’s reign. When he returned from his victory
over the Parthians, he erected the
Arch of Septimius Severus
in Rome.
According to Cassius Dio,
however, after 197 Severus fell heavily under the influence of his Praetorian
Prefect,
Gaius Fulvius Plautianus
, who came to have almost total control of most
branches of the imperial administration. Plautianus’s daughter,
Fulvia Plautilla
, was married to Severus’s son, Caracalla. Plautianus’s
excessive power came to an end in 205, when he was denounced by the Emperor’s
dying brother and killed.
The two following praefecti, including the jurist
Aemilius Papinianus
, received however even larger powers.
Campaigns in Caledonia (Scotland)
Starting from 208 Severus undertook a number of military actions in
Roman
Britain
, reconstructing
Hadrian’s Wall
and campaigning in
Scotland
.
He reached the area of the
Moray
Firth
in his last campaign in Caledonia, as was called Scotland by
the Romans..
In 210 obtained a peace with the
Picts
that lasted
practically until the final withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain,
before falling severely ill in
Eboracum
(York).
Death
He is famously said to have given the advice to his sons: “Be harmonious,
enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men” before he died at Eboracum on
February 4
,
211. Upon his death in 211, Severus was
deified
by the Senate and succeeded by his sons,
Caracalla
and
Geta
, who were advised by his wife
Julia
Domna
. The stability Severus provided the Empire was soon gone under their reign.
Accomplishments and Record
Though his military expenditure was costly to the empire, Severus was the
strong, able ruler that Rome needed at the time. He began a tradition of
effective emperors elevated solely by the military. His policy of an expanded
and better-rewarded army was criticized by his contemporary
Dio Cassius
and
Herodianus
: in particular, they pointed out the increasing burden (in the
form of taxes and services) the civilian population had to bear to maintain the
new army.
Severus was also distinguished for his buildings. Apart from the triumphal
arch in the Roman Forum carrying his full name, he also built the
Septizodium
in Rome and enriched greatly his native city of
Leptis
Magna
(including another triumphal arch on the occasion of his visit of
203).
Severus and Christianity
Christians were
persecuted
during the reign of Septimus Severus. Severus allowed the
enforcement of policies already long-established, which meant that Roman
authorities did not intentionally seek out Christians, but when people were
accused of being Christians they could either curse
Jesus
and make an
offering to
Roman gods
, or be executed. Furthermore, wishing to strengthen the peace by
encouraging religious harmony through
syncretism
,
Severus tried to limit the spread of the two quarrelsome groups who refused to
yield to syncretism by outlawing
conversion
to Christianity or
Judaism
.
Individual officials availed themselves of the laws to proceed with rigor
against the Christians. Naturally the emperor, with his strict conception of
law, did not hinder such partial persecution, which took place in
Egypt
and the
Thebaid
, as
well as in
Africa proconsularis
and the East. Christian
martyrs
were
numerous in Alexandria
(cf.
Clement of Alexandria
, Stromata, ii. 20;
Eusebius
, Church History, V., xxvi., VI., i.). No less severe were
the persecutions in Africa, which seem to have begun in 197 or 198 (cf.
Tertullian’s
Ad martyres), and included the Christians known in the
Roman martyrology
as the martyrs of
Madaura
.
Probably in 202 or 203
Felicitas
and
Perpetua
suffered for their faith. Persecution again raged for a short time
under the proconsul
Scapula
in
211, especially in
Numidia
and
Mauritania
.
Later accounts of a Gallic
persecution, especially at
Lyon, are
legendary. In general it may thus be said that the position of the Christians
under Septimius Severus was the same as under the
Antonines
;
but the law of this Emperor at least shows clearly that the
rescript
of
Trajan
[
neededclarification] had failed to execute its purpose.
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