Apollo -- Artemis an Examination Term Paper

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For instance, all of the men who became shipwrecked on the shores of Tauris were sacrificed to Artemis. Also, in the town of Brauron in Attica which held the stolen statue of Artemis from Tauric, there appeared one day a tame bear which was sacred to Artemis. This bear apparently wandered freely through the village and attacked a young girl with its claws. Soon after, this bear was killed by the girl's brother, an act which angered Artemis to no end. The oracle at Delphi then told the people of Tauric that they must "consecrate all of their daughters to Artemis" as a result of killing the bear. Thus, "every five years, a procession of young Tauric daughters, dressed in saffron-colored robes, solemnly walked to the temple of Artemis and voluntarily allowed themselves to be butchered" (Gimbutas, 312).

In addition, there are stories that Artemis was akin to a vampire, for she was often referred to as a "bloodthirsty goddess." For some reason, the statue of Artemis ended up in the town of Limnaion in Laconia which "glorified in the possession of the true Taurian Artemis." When this statue was initially discovered "standing upright in the middle of a thicket" and was taken into the village by its inhabitants, an outbreak of "madness, murder and epidemics" quickly consumed almost all of the inhabitants of Limnaion. Later on, the few survivors "succeeded in appeasing this bloodthirsty goddess with human sacrifices" which was later replaced by "the flagellation (i.e. whipping) of young men while kneeling in front of the statue of Artemis" (Fantham, 317).

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Yet despite all of these alleged atrocities perpetrated by Artemis, it would be wrong to conclude that she always exhibited barbarity and a zest for bloodletting. Though Artemis could often be found roaming the mountains and valleys of Arcadia, she also allowed herself to enjoy more common amusements. Since she was the sister of Apollo, she too was a goddess of music and was closely associated with a particular hymn known as the Artemis Hymnia which partially went "When the chase has rejoiced her heart, she unbends her bow and enters the vast dwelling-place of her brother in the rich lands of Delphi and joins the lovely choir of the Muses which she then leads in beautiful song and dance amid the woods and streams" (Hurwitt, 287).

In conclusion, the mythologies connected to Apollo and Artemis are exemplary examples on how the ancient Greeks celebrated their lives and how they viewed the world about them. Compared to other mythologies of Western civilization, those of the ancient Greeks are filled with both the supernatural and the natural world and help to demonstrate how the belief in many gods (i.e. polytheism) directed their thinking as well as their hearts.

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