Artemis: Greek Goddess of Hunting

October 25, 2026

Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. In the version of the mythographer Apollodorus she was born first, and her mother then gave birth to Apollo with her help as midwife. The short Homeric Hymn to Artemis sings of her as “the pure maiden, shooter of stags, who delights in archery”.

Artemis and her gifts

In the Hymn to Artemis by the poet Callimachus, the little goddess sits on her father’s knees and asks for her gifts: “Give me to keep my maidenhood, Father, forever”. She asks for many names and for all the mountains; the Cyclopes will make her bow and arrows. She will go down to the cities only when women in childbirth call her, because the Fates made her their helper. Pan gives her hunting dogs, and deer draw her golden chariot.

Her anger is part of her story. Callimachus tells how the hunter Actaeon sees the goddess bathing, against his own will, and how his own dogs then devour their master. Her great temple at Ephesus was counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Artemis and her companions

A hunt is only part of the scene in Homeric Hymn 27. When Artemis has finished, she loosens her bow and travels to Delphi, to Apollo’s house. There she puts away her weapons and leads the Muses and Graces in a dance. The movement from the sounding mountains to a gathering of singers gives the hymn two distinct rhythms. Read as poetry, it allows Artemis to be both an independent archer and the leader of a company. Her freedom does not mean that she has no companions.

Callimachus gives that company individual names. Artemis teaches Atalanta to hunt with dogs and shoot well, and makes Cyrene her companion. He also tells of Britomartis, pursued across Crete by Minos until she leaps from a cliff into fishermen’s nets. The poem connects her rescue with the name Dictyna, the Lady of the Nets. These are episodes within Callimachus’s hymn, not a single biography shared by every ancient author. They place skilled women and relationships between women close to the centre of Artemis’s world.

Artemis at Brauron

The places where Artemis was honoured also had their own stories. At Brauron, Pausanias records a tradition that Iphigenia arrived carrying an image of Artemis after escaping from the Tauri. He says that an old wooden image stood there, while reserving his judgement about who actually possessed the statue brought from abroad. That small reservation matters. Even an ancient visitor could distinguish a sanctuary’s local tradition from his own conclusion. Brauron brings another setting into view beside Ephesus: a particular place with a particular claim about the goddess’s image.

The meaning of the name Artemis

The name Artemis reaches further back than these accounts. Linguist Václav Blažek discusses the forms a-te-mi-to and a-ti-mi-te in Linear B records from Pylos. His study surveys competing explanations of the name and proposes another hypothesis. The early forms establish its antiquity, but not a settled translation. Keeping the name untranslated avoids reducing the goddess to one explanatory word.

Artemis of Versailles

An ancient statue offers a different route into her imagery. The Louvre’s Artemis of Versailles wears a short chiton and carries a quiver; a deer forms part of the support. The museum identifies the work as Roman imperial and cautiously associates its earlier model with Leochares. Its catalogue also records extensive restorations, including both arms and parts of the deer. Looking at this sculpture therefore involves two histories: the ancient image of a moving huntress and the later work that helped give the surviving object its present appearance.

Frequently asked questions

What was Artemis the goddess of?

Of hunting and the wild. The Homeric Hymn calls her the goddess “who cheers on the hounds” and the “shooter of stags”. In Callimachus she also helps women in childbirth, and scholarly overviews describe her as a protector of children, especially girls. She chose never to marry. Artemis was also identified with Selene, the personification of the Moon.

Is Artemis the daughter of Zeus?

Yes. Hesiod’s Theogony says that Leto was joined in love with Zeus and bore Apollo and Artemis. Artemis and Apollo are twins: according to Apollodorus, Artemis was born first and then helped her mother at the birth of her brother.

What is the symbol of Artemis?

Above all the bow and arrows: the Homeric Hymn calls her the goddess “whose shafts are of gold”. The deer was also sacred to her. In Callimachus, deer draw her golden chariot and Pan gives her hunting dogs.

Who did Artemis fall in love with?

In Callimachus she asks Zeus to let her remain a maiden forever, and the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite counts her among the three goddesses whom Aphrodite cannot tame. One version, attributed to the writer Istrus and reported by Hyginus, says that she loved the hunter Orion and almost married him, until Apollo tricked her into shooting him.

How is Artemis connected with Iphigenia at Brauron?

Pausanias records a local tradition that Iphigenia arrived at Brauron with an image of Artemis after escaping from the Tauri. He also mentions an old wooden image there, while reserving his own judgement about the imported statue’s location. The account distinguishes the sanctuary’s tradition from the traveller’s assessment.

What was Artemis’s weakness?

The Iliad gives a specific scene rather than a permanent weakness. In book 21, Hera overpowers Artemis and strikes her with her own weapons. Artemis flees in tears, and Leto gathers up the fallen bow and arrows. This episode shows her being defeated within that poem’s conflict among the gods.

Was Artemis LGBTQ?

LGBTQ is a modern category. Callimachus depicts Artemis choosing lifelong maidenhood and surrounding herself with female companions. A modern reader may find personal resonance in that world, but the hymn does not supply a modern sexual identity. Its explicit statements concern her choice and her relationships within the poem.

See the sculpture: Artemis