Zeus and Leto's union produced the divine twins Apollo and Artemis, born on the island of Delos after Hera pursued Leto across the earth.
Selene the moon goddess was gradually absorbed into Artemis in later Greek religion, just as Helios was absorbed into Apollo. Artemis gained Selene's lunar attributes and crescent-crown iconography.
Apollo and Artemis, twin children of Leto, fiercely defended their mother's honor. Together they slew the children of Niobe and the giant Tityos who assaulted Leto.
Artemis and the giant hunter Orion ranged the wilds together as hunting companions, matched in skill and love of the chase, until his death shattered the bond.
The Pleiades were companions of Artemis, sharing her love of hunting and the wild. When Orion began pursuing the sisters, Artemis appealed to Zeus to protect her attendants, leading to their catasterism.
Artemis and Aphrodite clashed over the mortal Hippolytus, Artemis's devoted follower who rejected love. Aphrodite destroyed him through Phaedra's cursed passion as punishment for scorning her domain.
Artemis tricked the giant brothers Otus and Ephialtes into killing each other by running between them in the form of a deer, causing each to hurl his spear at the other.
When the hunter Actaeon stumbled upon Artemis bathing, she transformed him into a stag. His own hunting hounds, not recognizing their master, pursued and tore him apart.
Artemis slew Ariadne on the island of Dia at the accusation of Dionysus, an alternate tradition to the more common account where Dionysus rescued and married her on Naxos.
⚠ Homer's Odyssey 11.321\u2013325 presents Ariadne's death at Artemis's hand as the outcome, while Hesiod (Theogony 947\u2013949) and most later sources give the marriage-to-Dionysus tradition instead.
Artemis struck down Bouphagus with her arrows on Mount Pholoe when the Arcadian hero attempted to assault her.
Artemis shot Chione dead with an arrow after the mortal woman boasted that her beauty surpassed the goddess's own.
Artemis killed Coronis with her arrows at Apollo's behest after a crow reported that Coronis had taken the mortal lover Ischys while pregnant with Asclepius.
Apollo struck down the sons of Niobe with his silver bow while they rode and wrestled on the plain before Thebes, and Artemis pierced the daughters one by one as they wept over their brothers' bodies — the slain Niobids left unburied for nine days.
⚠ Homer (Iliad 24.604) counts six sons and six daughters; Hesiod (fr. 183 MW) gives ten of each; the later tradition from Apollodorus and Ovid settles on seven and seven.
Artemis shot Orion with her arrows, slaying the great hunter whom she had once counted as her companion. He was set among the stars, forever pursued by the Scorpion across the night sky.
⚠ Sources sharply disagree on the circumstances: Apollodorus says Artemis killed Orion for challenging her or assaulting Opis; Hyginus says Apollo tricked Artemis into shooting Orion by pointing out a distant target at sea; Hesiod implies Artemis killed him for pursuing the Pleiades.
Apollo and Artemis slew the giant Tityos with their arrows when he attempted to assault their mother Leto at Delphi. In death, Tityos was stretched across nine acres in Tartarus, two vultures gnawing his liver for eternity.
The twelve principal gods of the Greek pantheon who overthrew the Titans and ruled from Mount Olympus. The canonical members varied by tradition, with Hestia sometimes yielding her seat to Dionysus.
Diana and Artemis are the same virgin huntress, fierce protector of the wild and of women in childbirth. Rome received her from Greece and gave her a home on the Aventine Hill, while her ancient rites at Lake Nemi preserved traditions older than the city itself.
Later Greek theology identified Hecate, Selene, and Artemis as a triple goddess of the moon — Selene the full moon, Artemis the crescent, and Hecate the dark moon and the crossroads between worlds.
Admetus forgot to sacrifice to Artemis at his wedding feast. The offended goddess filled his bridal chamber with a knot of snakes, and only Apollo's intervention appeased her wrath.
Artemis demanded the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia at Aulis as punishment for his offense against the goddess, holding the Greek fleet becalmed until he complied.
The Amazons worshipped Artemis as their patron goddess. Her independence, mastery of the bow, and association with the hunt mirrored their own warrior culture. Some traditions credited the Amazons with founding the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
Atalanta was a devoted follower of Artemis, raised in the wild after a she-bear sent by the goddess suckled her as an infant. She modeled her life on Artemis's ideals of hunting and virginity.
When Artemis discovered that her nymph Callisto was pregnant by Zeus, she punished her for breaking the vow of chastity by transforming her into a bear and driving her from her band.
Chiron taught Artemis the art of hunting in some traditions, particularly in Callimachus's Hymn to Artemis where the young goddess visits his cave.
Artemis stilled the winds at Aulis and demanded the sacrifice of Iphigenia as the price for the Greek fleet to sail, setting in motion Clytemnestra's decade of rage and the destruction of the House of Atreus.
Artemis was among the goddesses gathering flowers with Demeter's daughter Persephone when Hades seized her. Demeter later learned that no god, including Artemis, had intervened in the abduction Zeus sanctioned.
Artemis fought in the Gigantomachy, slaying the Giant Gration with her arrows. She and her brother Apollo together brought down Ephialtes in coordinated combat.
For his third labor, Heracles was tasked with capturing the Ceryneian Hind, a golden-antlered deer sacred to Artemis. After a year-long pursuit, he caught it and Artemis allowed him to borrow it, provided he returned it unharmed.
Hippolytus was the most devoted mortal follower of Artemis, swearing eternal chastity in her honor. His rejection of Aphrodite's domain caused the love goddess to destroy him through his stepmother Phaedra's doomed passion.
Artemis spirited Iphigenia away from the sacrificial altar at Aulis, substituting a deer in her place, and installed her as priestess of her temple among the Taurians.
Oeneus neglected to include Artemis in his harvest sacrifices at Calydon, provoking the goddess to send the monstrous Calydonian Boar to devastate his kingdom's fields and orchards.
In Euripides's Iphigenia in Tauris, Orestes journeyed to retrieve a sacred image of Artemis from the Taurians, fulfilling Apollo's final condition for his purification from matricide.
Artemis placed Orion among the stars after his death, the great hunter immortalized as the constellation that bears his name, forever visible in the winter sky.
Pan gave Artemis her hunting dogs, contributing to her role as divine huntress. In Callimachus's hymn, Artemis received the dogs directly from Pan in Arcadia.
Artemis sent a monstrous scorpion to hunt down Orion, and both hunter and beast were set among the stars, the Scorpion forever pursuing Orion across the night sky.
⚠ Sources disagree on who sent the scorpion: most attribute it to Artemis or Gaia (Eratosthenes, Hyginus), while some say Apollo arranged the attack to protect his sister's chastity.
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