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MANY DIVINITIES HAVE Involvement with women via the rituals that impact directly, or by myths that impact perhaps indirectly, upon women's lives in classical Athens. Athena, Demeter, Hera, Dionysos and Artemis are some of the deities most obviously associated with women. Dowden cautions that although the spheres of the different deities can be distinguished, “synoikism is a powerful force in making such distinctions available by combination of divinities from different locales, and local systems may in origin have been much simpler.” Festivals for these deities attest to their importance in society. The Eleusinia was celebrated in honour of Demeter and Persephone, her daughter. The Thesmophoria, the female festival which celebrated fertility and agriculture, ascribed to Demeter, was celebrated not only in Athens but in other parts of Greece. The Eleusian mysteries were also celebrated for the divine pair. Demeter and Kore, In which individuals were initiated into the mysteries to ensure an afterlife. The Great Panathenaia festival in honour of Athena, the patroness of Athens, and also the patroness of such female arts as weaving, is commemorated on the friezes of the Parthenon. Two virgins also served as arrhephoroi for Athena at her temple on the Acropolis and weave her robe. Hera was worshipped as a marriage goddess especially at Argos but her cult spread all over Greece. For Dionysos, the City Dionysia and the Lenaea were celebrated, in which celebrations tragedies and comedies were performed for the populace which placed women in the social arena. Dionysos was also the god of frenzied, ecstatic women. Demeter, as the mother who must surrender her daughter, Persephone, through death to marriage in order for the death and rebirth of agriculture to occur is very important in the context of the study of the total passage of a woman and especially in the rite of passage through liminality into marriage.
Despite all the overlapping of functions and involvement in females’ lives, it seems that in all facets of women’s lives it is the goddess Artemis who is most prominent, in particular when transitions are required in the females’ lives. She is not the only goddess of transition, but as a liminal goddess she is most applicable to this concepts of this study. She is the goddess who oversees the young girl’s development from a child into a marriageable parthenos with the ritual of the arkteia. Artemis, although not specifically a marriage goddess, is involved with the transition into the institution of marriage. Artemis also oversees the transition of the parthenos to a complete gyne with the birth of a child in the marriage situation. Artemis, as a goddess of liminality, is instrumental in understanding the role of women in Athenian society, not only because women must move through various stages to mitigate their liminality, but also because at every stage of the girl’s development, Artemis is involved. Although it is recognised that other deities played a significant part in the lives and times of women in classical Athens, Artemis alone will be considered in the subsequent chapter as the deity most singularly applicable to this study.
The development of the various spheres of influence that Artemis presides over is a product of and therefore reflects structuration in society. The goddess surely evolved from pre-classical roots, as did most deities, but this evolution cannot be demonstrated with any certainty because of a dearth in evidence. In classical Athenian times, deities are not static but part of a system.
Systematic divides between deities and their respective areas of influence are not always helpful, but certain specialities in their functions can be detected. Artemis’ status as the liminal goddess of transitions mirrors the social concepts of the place and role of women in status society. The place and role of Artemis in myths and religious Iconography justifies the structures in society. Such structures all seem to fall under domain as important by their very problematisation as the subjects of a complex discourse like tragedy. Artemis embodies the nexus of overlapping information about women which contributes to the shape of their lives.
In the case of myths of the virgin sacrifice, by killing the potentially troublesome, but necessary, undetermined sexual storehouse of the society, society could enforce normative values by holding the virgin up as an example of one who did not conform (after all, she died unmarried, her telos unfulfilled, robbing the community of the power of her reproduction). This myth expressed the cultural need of a polls for virgins to marry and produce progeny. The myths of warrior women living outside the normative social structure established for women, the Amazons, also reinforce this cultural need. Artemis is a key part of the knowledgeable creation of normative values, especially where women are concerned. These values are challenged both by men and women.
Many divinities have involvement with women via the rituals that impact directly, or by myths that impact perhaps indirectly, upon women's lives in classical Athens. Athena, Demeter, Hera, Dionysos and Artemis are some of the deities most obviously associated with women. Dowden cautions that although the spheres of the different deities can be distinguished, “synoikism is a powerful force in making such distinctions available by combination of divinities from different locales, and local systems may in origin have been much simpler.” Festivals for these deities attest to their importance in society. The Eleusinia was celebrated in honour of Demeter and Persephone, her daughter. The Thesmophoria, the female festival which celebrated fertility and agriculture, ascribed to Demeter, was celebrated not only in Athens but in other parts of Greece. The Eleusian mysteries were also celebrated for the divine pair, Demeter and Kore, in which individuals were initiated into the mysteries to ensure an afterlife. The Great Panathenaia festival in honour of Athena, the patroness of Athens, and also the patroness of such female arts as weaving, is commemorated on the friezes of the Parthenon. Two virgins also served as arrhephoroi for Athena at her temple on the Acropolis and weave her robe. Hera was worshipped as a marriage goddess especially at Argos but her cult spread all over Greece. For Dionysos, the City Dionysia and the Lenaea were celebrated, in which celebrations tragedies and comedies were performed for the populace which placed women in the social arena. Dionysos was also the god of frenzied, ecstatic women. Demeter, as the mother who must surrender her daughter, Persephone, through death to marriage in order for the death and rebirth of agriculture to occur is very important in the context of the study of the total passage of a woman and especially in the rite of passage through liminality into marriage.
Despite all the overlapping of functions and involvement in females’ lives, it seems that in all facets of women’s lives it is the goddess Artemis who is most prominent, in particular when transitions are required in the females’ lives. She is not the only goddess of transition, but as a liminal goddess she is most applicable to this concepts of this study. She is the goddess who oversees the young girl’s development from a child into a marriageable parthenos with the ritual of the arktela. Artemis, although not specifically a marriage goddess, is involved with the transition into the institution of marriage. Artemis also oversees the transition of the parthenos to a complete gyne with the birth of a child in the marriage situation. Artemis, as a goddess of liminality, is instrumental in understanding the role of women in Athenian society, not only because women must move through various stages to mitigate their liminality, but also because at every stage of the girl’s development, Artemis is involved. Although it is recognised that other deities played a significant part in the lives and times of women in classical Athens, Artemis alone will be considered in the subsequent chapter as the deity most singularly applicable to this study.
The development of the various spheres of influence that Artemis presides over is a product of and therefore reflects structuration in society. The goddess surely evolved from pre-classical roots, as did most deities, but this evolution cannot be demonstrated with any certainty because of a dearth in evidence. In classical Athenian times, deities are not static but part of a system. Systematic divides between deities and their respective areas of influence are not always helpful, but certain specialities in their functions can be detected. Artemis’ status as the liminal goddess of transitions mirrors the social concepts of the place and role of women in status society. The place and role of Artemis in myths and religious iconography justifies the structures in society. Such structures all seem to fall under domain as important by their very problematisation as the subjects of a complex discourse like tragedy. Artemis embodies the nexus of overlapping information about women which contributes to the shape of their lives.
It seems prudent before analysing the manifestation of the goddess Artemis in the Classical Age, and in particular her representation, character, attributes and functions in 5th century Attica, to attempt to investigate the “detectable historical developments” in her personality. It seems that what, in part, becomes known as the goddess Artemis may have had some origins in the Mycenaean-Minoan Age in the second millennium BC, and indeed, perhaps even earlier.
Artemis was the most widespread and popular goddess in Ancient Greece, particularly amongst the rural population. It has long been debated whether her name appears in the Linear B script or not, as the etymological origins of her name seem lost. Since the published decipherment of Linear B in 1958, however, it is known that the tablets preserved contain lists with many names and numbers, referring to different dedications to gods and goddesses, confirming that the Mycenaeans were truly polytheistic. Some words found in Linear B tablets from the palaces at Knossos and Pylos seem to coincide completely with later Greek gods and goddesses’ names, like Hera, Zeus and Poseidon. What is under consideration here is the question of whether Artemis’ name is contained in any of these lists.
Sourvinou-lnwood investigates whether two words found in Pylos tablet ON 219, a-te-mi-to and a-ti-mi-te, could perhaps be forms of a theonym for Artemis. On the basis of her linguistic investigation she concludes that the equation of these words with Artemis is impossible, whilst her contextual investigation makes it hardly more likely. She concludes “we may affirm that the name of Artemis does not occur in the Linear B tablets. The words interpreted as forms of this theonym may designate a cult person,” but this position has not gone unchallenged.
The disputed appearance of a word or words implying Artemis aside, what does appear in Linear B is many occurrences of the title potinija or πότνια in Greek, transliterated as potnia, perhaps carrying the simple meaning of “mistress.”^ This term seems to be a general one, and different goddesses can be distinguished only when another name or word is added to potnia. It seems that the various goddesses implied with the use of the title potnia “are not differentiated by name but by sphere of activity. On the other hand, however, this term could be considered to represent a distinct individual goddess Of all the Hellenic gods and goddesses, Artemis has some of the most primitive elements. Her cult can be divided into the later, more Hellenic huntress manifestation or the seemingly infinite small cults of a primitive goddess of nature, a potnia theron type. It is this term, and the multi-faceted goddess or goddesses implied by it, which perhaps holds the key to some of earliest functions and traits of the goddess who eventually was called Artemis.
The term potnia theron is applied to this type of goddess by scholars. She is often pictured surrounded by many and various animals, as evidenced in material culture such as vases, gems, bronzes, and statuettes. Often this type of goddess is seated in between two animals in a heraldic scene and her protectress relationship with them is expressed by her touching some part of them or holding their tails or legs. These archaic representations are very similar to the Minoan/Mycenaean representation of a goddess with animals which is common on Minoan/Mycenaean gems. This unnamed Bronze and Archaic age type of goddess with her animals is known by Homer’s appellation, potnia theron.
Van Leuven posits that the title potnia, so diverse in its use and context, means something different depending upon those criteria. This word is found in Linear B at every main Mycenaean site. He conclude that there is no evidence to support the theory that the title ever referred to a single goddess, but instead was used as an honorific, generic title to address the deities who later were, in part, conceived of as the Greek Artemis, Hera, Aphrodite, Demeter, Leto or Athena.
Iconography provides some examples of the potnia theron type from both the Minoan/Mycenaean and Hellenic era. The most common type for the Minoan/Mycenaean age is of a female goddess between two animals, birds or four-legged beasts, often fawns. There are six rings from the National Museum of Athens which show a goddess who is recognised as a potnia theron type. The first ring from Mycenae shows the goddess amongst lions and underneath a double axe, a symbol which was particularly prevalent in the Minoan/Mycenaean cults. The next example is from Pylos and it shows a goddess with a serpent around her head between two creatures with lions’ heads. The next, a seal, from Vapheio shows a goddess in the familiar centre position between two birds, holding one in each hand by the neck. The fourth ring, from Pylos, is interesting because it suggests this type of goddess’ association with aquatic life as well, as she is shown between two dolphins. Another seal impression from Knossos shows a goddess on a mountain peak in profile between two lions with one arm bent, the other outstretched holding some sort of a shaft, and a male figure in front looks at her, seemingly a devotee, while a cultic structure with horns is visible to the left.
A fresco from the palace of Hagia Triada from the New Palace Period represents a goddess in a natural setting with animals watching women collect flowers, particularly lilies and crocuses. Showing the goddess surrounded by nature and animals seems to be a typical sign used to identify her with her role of a potnia theron type. Artemis, with her dominion over animals, as leader of nymphs, comfortable both in marshy and watery areas and on mountains, continued in the same vein as this potnia theron type. As Kahil states:
Cet aspect de son iconographie, sous lequel elle se perpétuera partout jusqu’ à Téxtrême fin du monde gréco-romain, est aussi un héritage de cette réalité si complex, et encore si mal connue, la Maîtresse des Fauves, la Potnia theron égéenne et anatolienné, c’est encore sous ce nom qu’Homère connaît Artémis dans Hliade et bien que plusieurs divinités féminines de la religion grecque conservent certains aspects de la Potnia, c’est certainement Artémis qu’en dérive le plus directement.
Dancing can be a rite performed for the propagation of the human species and for the propagation of animals for the hunt to maintain the humans. The dancers were often represented as clad in animal skins or masks. A seal impression from Hagia Triada shows a group of three women dancing In the flounced bell-shaped skirts with exposed breasts typical in representations from the Minoan Age. Another ring found in a tomb at Midea shows two women, again clad in the flounced bell skirts and with exposed breasts, dancing. A gold ring from Vapheio dating from the Bronze Age shows a Minoan/Mycenaean style figure eight shield with “ecstatic dancing and the shaking down of a tree." The species of tree often associated with the potnia theron type is difficult to identify in the iconography, but is of varying types. The palm, however, was held in particular reverence in Crete (as on Delos, where it was supposedly used as the prop upon which Leto lent to deliver Apollo and Artemis) from the Minoan period. This reverence seems to have continued into Classical Greece. There are many representations from the Minoan/Mycenaean Era which associate the goddess with a sacred tree. A gold ring from Mycenae shows this type of goddess receiving worship from females underneath a tree of uncertain type, whilst another gold ring shows this type of goddess under a palm tree with a monkey paying attendance to her. A ring from Mochios depicts the goddess and a sacred tree in a boat arriving at a cult shrine. Four epiphany scenes show the goddess with a tree and human worshippers supporting the conclusion that trees indicate a ritual or cultic place. The trees, however, although common in Minoan cult scenes with the goddess, do not represent a cult of trees so much as they emphasise the tie the goddess shared with vegetation and, through vegetation, with fertility and fecundity.
It has been demonstrated that this type of Minoan/Mycenaean goddess(es) who has been called potnia theron, was viewed as a mistress of animals, at home in natural settings. This type f goddess was mentioned in the Linear B texts and was represented on material culture from this period as existing in harmony with animals, comfortable in natural surroundings. Many elements of this type of goddess’ nature are lost to us, and it is impossible to prove that this type of goddess bequeathed parts, if any, of her character to Classical goddesses such as Artemis.” A direct link between the potnia type of the Minoan and Mycenaean age and her later incarnations in Classical times is impossible to build beyond probabilities and similarities. However, some locations where Artemis is particularly important in Classical times, like Brauron, Mounichia and especially Athens, show settlement from the 13th century BC onwards.
The Classical Artemis performed a myriad of functions which had been associated with her overtime. These functions are evidenced by the great variety of epithets by which Artemis was known in the 5th century and their connected particular realms of activity. A number of local goddesses and heroines were associated with Artemis and eventually some of these were incorporated into her character. Artemis’ functions and realms of activity are convoluted, overlapping and intertwined.
Artemis is the huntress, the mistress of animals and nature goddess, at home equally on mountains and near springs and water. She is the mistress of fertility and fecundity and is involved in all aspects of women’s lives: menarche, marriage, childbirth, childrearing and death. She is also the protectress of sailors and is involved in war. Distinctions between her various functions are not clear, nor are her roles under various epithets. The goddess is a blending of all her different realms of activity; individual elements when combined produce a true, if somewhat convoluted, picture of the Classical Artemis. A common aspect of all her functions, however, is that they all serve to mediate between two events, locations, or states of being. Artemis is, first and foremost, a goddess of liminality.
Artemis’ association with animals is twofold. She is both the instrument of their protection and procreation as the goddess of fertility, but she is also the instrument of their death as the huntress.
The most common function attributed to Artemis from Homer’s time on is that of a huntress. Homer refers to Artemis as the archer ιοχέαιρα more frequently than any other name or function. Artemis is a huntress with her bow as her favourite weapon against the traditional quarry of animals. Homer relates that she, the mighty hunter, the archer Artemis, had taught Scamandrius to hunt all the wild animals in the mountains and forests. Artemis not only hunts animals with her arrows, she also uses her weapon to “hunt” mortals, both women and men. The archer Artemis killed Andromache’s mother. Achilles, bewailing Patroclos’ death, wishes that Artemis had used her arrows to kill the girl Briseis. The archer Artemis killed the daughters of Niobe and Orion with her “gentle shafts;” Odysseus asks his mother in Hades whether it was Artemis “the archer” who slew her with her “gentle shafts.
In the Homeric Hymn to Artemis 9, Artemis is an arrow-shooter, ιοχέαιραν and she is also the ‘far shooting arrow goddess’. In the Homeric Hymn to Artemis 27, Artemis has golden arrows and she is twice called an ‘arrow shooter”. She has a golden bow and sends out “moan-making arrows”. In Hesiod’s Theogony Artemis is again ιοχέαιραν. There are numerous instances in 5th century tragedy and comedy which refer to her huntress aspect and the bow as her weapon of choice. Callimachus Hymn to Artemis 3 often refers to her with her bow, arrow or both.
In artistic representations of Artemis in all periods she is often shown with the bow and arrow. From the archaic age, a bronze handle of a mirror probably from Boeotia from about 530 BC shows Artemis with a bow in her left hand and an arrow in the quiver on her right. From the classical period the representations of Artemis with the bow and arrow continue. For instance, a terracotta statuette from Corfu from the beginning of the 5th century BC shows Artemis holding a bow in her left hand and a fruit against her breast with her right arm. More will be said on the issue of “hunting” women below.
It is clear that as an archer, Artemis was linked with the hunt. In the Homeric Hvmn to Artemis 27 she is a huntress and in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 5, Artemis is described as enjoying the hunt of wild animals. She is the guardian or patroness of the hunt, as she was considered under some of her many epithets. The epithet αγροτέρα for Artemis is first recorded by Homer at II 21.470-471, meaning fond of the chase,’ ‘huntress.’ This epithet was thoroughly associated with Artemis throughout Classical and later Greek literature.
Xenophon, in his treatise on hunting, explains that for a successful hunt, the hunter must vow to give Apollo and Artemis Agrotera a share in the spoils. Xenophon claims that hunting and the pack of dogs used in it are inventions of Apollo and Artemis, he further states that hunters leave the small and young of their quarry for Artemis, whether for her to hunt or because they are under her protection is not made clear.
As the huntress, Artemis is closely related with dogs in Classical literature. In Classical art Artemis is often shown with hunting dogs or represented with dogs by her side, as on a tin medallion from Eretria from about 420 BC showing Artemis in the centre with her face in profile to the right with a javelin in her left hand and a bow and arrow in her right. At her left a dog is beside her and to her right is an altar with a bird suspended over it. A gold jewel from Western Greece from the second half of the 4th century BC shows Artemis with a dog by her side, illustrating that this association of Artemis with dogs may have continued into 4th century in art. This continuation would be natural as her huntress function was entrenched as part of her character. The dog is more closely associated with Artemis than any other deity.
Her capacity as Artemis ελαφηβόλος also connects Artemis with the hunt. The word ελαφηβολία means the shooting of a deer. Closely connected with this title is that of Artemis' Ελαφιαία from the word meaning a young deer. The goddess was known by this epithet at Letrinoi in Eleia. Thirteen sanctuaries of Artemis held deer representations. Other than Dionysos, Artemis is the only deity to have a title relating her to deer. Artemis was very frequently represented with deer in art from the Archaic period. For example, she is represented on a crater from Chiusi from about 570-560 BC showing Artemis as a potnia type of goddess in profile holding two lions on her right side, whilst to her left there is a panther and she holds a stag by its neck. At some point during the Archaic age, it seems that deer became associated solely with Artemis. As the huntress Artemis was naturally associated with stags and deer in the Classical period, as illustrated by an Attic marble relief from the end of the 5th century BC which shows Artemis in a long peplos chasing a stag and piercing it with her lance. The fawn is sometimes associated with girls and the realm of Artemis as the guardian of females in their transitions to womanhood through marriage.
The epithet Λαφρία connotes Artemis’ nature as goddess of the chase as well as of the wilds, woods, and war. In Aetolia there was a sanctuary with a marble statue of Artemis hurling a javellin. Artemis Σαρωνία is again instrumental in the hunting of a doe in a tale from Saronia. Apart from these epithets, she is also described by Homer as κελαδεινή or noisy, referring to the din of the hunt. This term is used by other authors to describe Artemis.
Artemis assimilated the cultic activity of three Minoan goddesses into who retained cults in historical times: Elleithyia in the cave at Amnisus, Britomartis at Olsus and Dictynna at Lisus and Cydonia. Dictynna and Britomartis are two Cretan goddesses who are sometimes named to denote nymph attendants of Artemis. Sometimes they are identical to Artemis, being used either as epithets or alternate names for the Olympian deity. Callimachus Hvmn to Artemis 3.189-191 considers Britomartis as a separate entity. So by Callimachus’ time, Britomartls was considered a subordinate to the goddess Artemis. This goddess Britomartis was probably a separate, indigenous goddess in Crete. Whatever her origins may have been, she became associated with Artemis. She received cult and was worshipped as a goddess in her own right. However, since the functions Britomartis performed were so similar to those in which Artemis was involved, Artemis easily could have absorbed her cult. Thus in this way, she preserved the name of the earlier goddess and it may have become an epithet for Artemis or, as shown by Callimachus, the role of the lesser goddess may have been subordinated to the role of one of Artemis’ nymphs. What remains constant is the function of huntress and the goddess’ natural habitat. As Callimachus wrote, Artemis loved Britomartis as “slayer of stags, the goodly archer”, likely to be found in the hills of Crete. There was another tradition that says Britomartis was the daughter of Zeus and the mortal Karme. Strabo relates that at the harbour of Chersonesos, there was a temple of Britomartis. This information about Britomartis links her, and also Artemis, with another Cretan goddess who is sometimes conflated with Britomartis, who is also connected to Artemis as an epithet of the Olympian or as one of her nymphs: Dictynna.
Dictynna most obviously means ‘she of Mt. Dicte’. The scholiast on Aristophanes Frogs 1359 writes that Britomartis was a hunting companion of Artemis. When fleeing Minos, she fell into the nets and was saved by Artemis. Dictynna is often confused with Britomartis and the origins of these two Cretan goddesses cannot be known with certainty. It may be postulated that they were confused because Britomartis, fleeing rape by Minos, threw herself into the ocean off Crete, into the nets (dictya), which led her to be known as Dictynna. Thus she is known as Dictynna and was thus associated with Artemis.
It seems that at some earlier point Britomartis and Dictynna may have been individual personalities. Dictynna may have received her name from her prowess at hunting with nets. As entities both from Crete, both with links to nature, through the sea in Britomartis’ case, or through hunting in Dictynna’s case, they were at some point mixed with each other. They eventually assumed an inferior position as nymphs or indeed mere epithets of the goddess Artemis.
Regardless of the origins of the epithet, Dictynna was firmly established in the Classical age as an alternate name for Artemis, used either alone or in conjunction with the Olympian name Artemis. It seems that Dictynna was regarded as another name for Artemis by Euripides. Euripides refers to the goddess Artemis as Dictynna. He names her function as a huntress and her realm as that of the mountains, as well as over the sea; in short, this goddess belongs in nature. Euripides again refers to Artemis in the Hippolytus as Dictynna and mentions her huntress function. Clearly the audience listening to such words in a performance must have known that Euripides and Aristophanes were referring to Artemis, especially when they interchanged and alternated between these names. It is clear that by the 5th century, Artemis is identified with Dictynna. This association with Britomartis and Dictynna is an example of more epithets, identities and functions being associated with Artemis overtime, often taken from nymphs and deities whom she supersedes and eventually eclipses.
It is clear from these examples that Artemis was considered a huntress par excellence and used the bow arrow and dogs to hunt. She is also very comfortable in nature, especially in mountains and forests with natural elements like animals and trees. Britomartis and Dictynna are just two examples of Cretan deities who display some of the potnia theron type’s links with nature. With the growing predominance of Artemis, these lesser Cretan deities were eventually associated and subsumed under Artemis’ Classical character.
Homer refers to Artemis as potnia theron. As this mistress of the animals, she is involved with all animal life and is considered a nature goddess. Her realm is the mountains, forests, rivers and springs. Her activities in her capacity as the nature goddess, the mistress of animals, coincide with that of also being a huntress. While Artemis is mistress of wild things, she is not wild; she “sees to it that the boundaries between the wild and the civilised are permeable in some way, however, these boundaries remain perfectly distinct.” Many epithets applied to her attest to her function as mistress of nature and the animal realm. Stymphalos is the name of a mountain and a city in Arcadia, as well as an epithet of Artemis where she is related to birds in myth and at her temple, on the roof of which birds are carved.
Artemis highest “of the peak” is known on Mt. Koryphon near Epidaurus. As Dictynna mentioned above, Artemis was familiar to the mountains, as was Britomartis, and likely to be found roaming over the hills of Crete. Artemis is placed in the mountains by Homer, Euripides, and Sophocles. In the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 5, Artemis enjoys hunting in the mountains and she also enjoys the shady woods. In the Homeric Hymn to Artemis 27 she draws her bow over the shady mountain and windy peaks and she hunts in the mountains and in the deep woods
Karyatis, a name of Artemis, is associated with a place name, Caryae in Laconia, which was sacred to Artemis and her nymphs and at her sanctuary where annual maiden dances were held. This name also associated Artemis with nut trees, again linking Artemis with nature. At Orchomenus in Arcadia there was a wooden statue of Artemis standing in a large cedar tree, from which she is named of Artemis κεδρεάτις “of the cedar tree.” On a fragment of an Attic vase from the Acropolis Artemis holds a flower in front of her face.
In Sparta cult tribute was paid to her as Artemis Λυγοδέσμα, the willow goddess, supposedly because her statue was found in a thicket of wiliows. According to Strabo, Artemis νεμυδιά was worshipped in Teuthea in Achaea, as the goddess of pastures. The word for the laurel or bay tree gives its name to Artemis' epithet, δαφναία for whom there was a sanctuary at Hypsoi in Laconia. There was an annual festival at Olympia for Artemis Alpheiania (see below), Artemis Elaphiaea (see below) and Artemis Daphnia.
Besides her haunts in the mountain forests, Artemis also enjoyed marshy and wet areas around rivers and their outlets to the sea, and harbours. Callimachus Hymn to Artemis 3 states that Ortygia is the haunt of ποταμίας Αρτέμιδος. Artemis Αλφειαία is so named after the river Alpheius. The outlet of the river is sacred to Artemis’ Αλφειονία. Pausanias states that there was an altar at Olympia for Artemis, and another at which sacrifices were performed for Artemis and Alpheius together. Another tale related to this epithet explains how the River Alpheius fell in love with the nymph Arethusa and followed her from Arcadia to Sicily where she was turned into a fountain on the island of Ortygia at Syracuse. Artemis was worshipped on Ortygia, the site of the first settlement in Syracuse, because the nymph had been one of Artemis’ band. This association is at least as old as Homer, who associates Artemis with Ortygia. It is presumably because of this association of Ortygia with Artemis, and her associations with Delos as her birthplace, that Pindar calls Ortygia the sister of Delos. Artemis is again associated with this island and its name by Pindar in the second Pythian Ode where he states “Ortygia, the haunt of the river goddess Artemis.”
Artemis’ Elaphiaea is known near Colophon, where there is a small island sacred to her to which deer swim to bear their young. Callimachus calls her ιμβρασίν after the river Imbraxos in Samos. Many other inscriptions bear evidence for the popularity of these water-related epithets, and recall Artemis’ nature and animal mistress function.
According to the Homeric Hymn to Artemis 9.3, she waters her horses in the deep grown reeds, as of a marsh, βαθυσχοίνοιο. Artemis Ελεία is the goddess of the marsh. In Euripides’ Hippolytus Phaedra calls to “Artemis the Mere of the sea”. There were many sanctuaries of Artemis Λιμνήτης throughout the ancient world. Artemis Issoria is also surnamed 'of the lake' at her sanctuary in Sparta in Laconia. Strabo, however, relates that the temple of Artemis at Limnae was where the Messenians supposedly raped some maidens who had come to sacrifice. It is after this Limnae that the temple of Artemis in Sparta, the Limnaeum, is called.
Despite all the literary and cult allusions to Artemis and her function surrounding watery and marshy areas, this allusion is lacking in the artwork of Artemis’ cult. Water is a suitable location and association for Artemis as it is not man’s natural habitat: it is a liminal location.
Since Artemis is associated with rivers and marshes, it is not surprising to find her associated with another watery area: harbours. Artemis is concerned with mediating between wild and civilised; her patronage of harbours is an indication of this bridging function. Four of the most prominent sanctuaries of Artemis near harbours are Aulis, Brauron, Mounichia, and Halai Araphenides. Rituals like the Apatouria, Mounichia and Brauronia took place at sanctuaries at harbour sites. Artemis’ connection with harbour sites may be incidental to her nature, but it seems unlikely. Even if Artemis' functions had nothing to do with the sea, the location of some of her many temples at harbours, and the rituals of marginality and liminality, like the Brauronia which occurred there, is important for the understanding of her character. The harbour is an area between the land and sea: a perfect place for Artemis, the goddess of liminality.
Animals sacrificed to a deity were often protected or specially connected with that deity. Artemis, like most gods, received sacrifices of animals and Artemis was considered to be the mistress of animals. In this capacity, she was the huntress par excellence, but she was also closely associated with a great variety of animals in cult and legend as their protectress and guardian of their propagation.
Artemis is especially connected with the young animals who are seen to be under her protection. Beyond the few associations Artemis shares with Poseidon in her function as a goddess of harbours, she also shares another trait with this god: horses are associated with both deities.
Artemis gained the epithet Ευρίππα “finder of horses” when Odysseus’ lost mares were found at her sanctuary in Pheneus in Arcadia. The Homeric Hymn to Artemis describes Artemis watering her horses from Melos. Pindar relates how Artemis helped guide the winning horses in the chariot race. In Pindar OI.3 Artemis is described as “Leda’s daughter that drives the steed.” A fragment of Pindar again refers to her as the goddess who drives the swift steeds.
Horses have been associated with Artemis from a very early period, as on a terracotta relief from the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta from about 635-500 BC, which shows the head of Artemis as potnia type between the heads of two horses. It seems that Artemis related to horses more than any other deity except Zeus, especially at the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta.
In cult and legend, Artemis Is so consistently connected with the bear that the animal is often considered as embodying the goddess herself. The bear and its special connection with Artemis will be considered below.
Birds are associated with Artemis by classical authors such as Aristophanes and Sophocles, but she does not seem to be linked with any particular species of birds. At the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta there were over fifty representations of birds, many of them hawks and water birds. These water birds associated Artemis with moisture and fertility, and Artemis received more water bird dedications in cult than any other goddess except Athena.
Artemis’ association with birds in art extends back into the archaic period. She was represented after the fashion of a potnia theron type, frequently represented in an heraldic arrangement and flanked by or touching two birds, as on a vase from a tomb in Arcadia, dated from 675-650 BC. This vase shows Artemis standing upright, facing out, holding a branch in each hand and flanked by two birds. The association of Artemis with birds continues into art of the Classical era when there are many examples of Artemis amongst birds, like the six terracotta statuettes from Corfu from the 5th century which show Artemis holding or touching birds. The potnia theron type goddess, as related in the previous section, often appeared in a heraldic arrangement between two lions, or less frequently, with a partner. In Archaic art, many representations of a potnia type identified with Artemis, associate her with the lion, or alternatively, a partner. By the 5th century representations of a goddess standing with a lion were dedicated solely to Artemis. The association of Artemis with lions continues into the 4th century. It has been shown that Artemis is associated with many different animals In cult by epithets and iconography. This association stems both from her huntress and nature goddess functions.
Artemis, as a goddess of liminality, is also well suited to be a keeper of oaths. Oaths, by their very nature, promise to keep the parties involved from straying into neutral territory, be that on land or in thought, deed, state or classification. She also protects those who are in limbo, who are existing in a state of marginality, like fugitives and individuals whose place in the ordered society has been usurped or compromised. Perhaps the most well-known example of Artemis performing this duty is when the Danaids request that Artemis protect them from marriage.
In Athens, young Athenians would receive their arms, and perform a sacrifice in honour of Artemis Agrotera. They would take their oath of loyalty upon admission to citizenship in the sanctuary of Aglauros on the Acropolis. Aglauros was an unwed virgin, daughter of the mythological founder, Cecrops. She died under mysterious circumstances and may have sacrificed herself for her state. She is therefore remembered and honoured by the young men seeking this particular change in status from boys to warriors; “she represents not only the value placed on the ephebes' youth and their perceived connection with the health and welfare of the land as a whole, but also their willingness to devote themselves to the city’s service and to die in battle if necessary.’’ Aglauros, because she died while still under Artemis’ supervision, is perpetually linked with the goddess Sacrifices preliminary to setting off for war were made at the sanctuary of the Hyakinthides, also sometimes understood to be daughters of an Erechtheus who sacrificed themselves for the state, in order that the Athenians might beat Eumolpos in the Eleusinian War. A commemorative sacrifice was performed by soldiers before leaving for war in honour of the self-sacrifice the daughters of Erechtheus made on behalf of Athens when the city found herself in peril against Eleusis. The sacrifice “guaranteed success in the subsequent bloodshed and victory in battle.” As is mentioned below, animal sacrifice in honour of Artemis Agrotera immediately preceding battle in full view of the opposing army has been recorded. What is of interest here is that virgins associated with Artemis, giving their lives for the state, are honoured by armies of men who undertake the same task: to protect the state engaging in the anti-structure of warfare.
Artemis is also called upon to avenge wrongful deeds and help the young, weak or underdogs. The only seeming constant is that those who seek her aid and those individuals whom she aids are themselves in a liminal period or state. Callimachus represents Artemis as taking aim with her bow and arrow against wrongdoers. At Pellene in Arcadia a grove was sacred to Artemis Soteira “by whom they swear their most solemn oaths.” At Troizen in Corinth there is a temple of Artemis Saviour founded and named by Theseus after he returned from defeating the Minotaur and overcoming the maze on Crete, both were liminal experiences. In the case of the Minotaur, Theseus was doing battle with a beast. The fact that he fights a being tainted with the supernatural and not a mortal makes the battle situation liminal; that is, it is outside the expected structures of status-style battle. In the case of the maze, again Theseus is in an environment structured and removed from the normal structure of society. Indeed, the maze, being a place of confusion, is a prime example of a liminal location.
Artemis was a “patron of women’s life in all its phases,’’ including rites of passage from puberty into adolescence, marriage, childbirth and death. Women in tragedy and comedy from the 5th century often swear by her.
The role of the marriage goddess is traditionally associated with Hera. However, Artemis shares this function with her and also functions as a goddess of marriage. Artemis is concerned with the change of status in the female occasioned by marriage. At Cyrene new brides and women about to bear children must sacrifice at the sanctuary of Artemis Katagogis. The priestess of Artemis Katagogis is called άρκτος.
This animal, the bear, is closely connected with Artemis and her role as overseeing the transitions in women’s life, as in the arkteia when girls enter adolescence. Bears are linked with Artemis as she pertains both to marriage and childbirth, and this connection will be discussed. Laws from the fourth century BC which can be understood as obtaining earlier require women to “pay the penalty” to Artemis before their marriage. Greek brides performed the προτέλεια a sacrifice before marriage. On Delos, girls and boys cut their hair in honour of the Hyperborean maidens who died on Delos. Before marriage girls dedicate a lock of their hair wound about a spindle and boys dedicate their hair wound about a plant’s stalk to the maidens at their sanctuary in the temple of Artemis.
Sometimes pre-nuptial sacrifices to liminal characters seen to be in Artemis’ realm are also a tribute to the goddess. It was customary for girls to bring libations to the tomb on Delos of the virgin Iphinoe who died unwed and to offer a lock of their hair before their marriage. Artemis promises that girls in Troezen will cut their hair before their wedding for Hippolytus, one of her favourites.
Artemis “peitho” is also connected with marriage through the legend of Hypermestra. This girl defends herself for not killing her husband Lynceus like the rest of her sisters, the Danaids, on their wedding night. There was a sanctuary to Artemis peitho in the marketplace of Sparta which Hypermestra apparently set up after winning this case. This tale was taken as a parable for a wife to honour the institution of marriage. Pindar knows peitho as a goddess in her own right where she has keys ‘unlocking the shrine of love. In Hesiod peitho is a nymph, a daughter of Ocean. As discussed with Dictynna and Britomartis, Artemis sometimes takes as an epithet the names of her nymphs. In this example both the deity’s and the nymph’s connection with water is shown by her relation to Oceanus.
Artemis as a marriage goddess is probably best known as Ευκλεία, of 'fair fame' or ‘good repute’. This title, however, also refers to her function as a goddess of war, another curious parallel between the female type of warfare, childbirth, and the traditional masculine warfare. In Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus Artemis as Eukleia sits in the marketplace. Artemis is known by this title especially in Boeotia. There is a temple to Artemis Ευκλεία in Athens, built as a thanks-offering for the victory over the Persians at Marathon.
Plato relates that Artemis, although childless, was a goddess of childbirth. Plato Theaetetus 149C continues: “it would seem that she [Artemis] did not allow barren women to be midwives because human nature is too weak to acquire an art which deals with matters of which it has no experience, but she gave the office to those who, on account of age were not bearing children, honouring them for their likeness to herself.” If it is inappropriate for women without experience in giving birth to act as midwives, is it not also inappropriate for a goddess who is eternally a virgin to be in charge of childbirth? At first thought It may seem inappropriate for a childless virgin goddess to oversee weddings and especially childbirth. However, there are some mediating factors in the case of Artemis which may explain her association with these ventures which she will never undertake. Artemis inherited some of the flavour of a potnia theron type goddess from the Minoan/Mycenaean age, and this type of goddess was not childless and indeed was intimately liked with fertility and vegetation. Also, as a goddess of liminality, Artemis is most appropriate to help women in the liminal states of the marriage ritual and in childbirth, in both of which they move from one status in society to another. In the Hippolytus the chorus states that it cried out to "the heavenly one, the lady of the arrows, Artemis, and enviably ever by the gods' grace she visits me.” In the Suppliant Maidens the chorus calls out to Artemis-Hecate to watch over the childbed of their women. Artemis is also responsible for giving women a “gentle death" by the arrow whilst they were in pangs of labour.
It is clear that from Homer’s time, the deity Eileithyia was viewed as a childbirth goddess. When this deity was first associated with Artemis is, however, indeterminable. As Eileithyia and Artemis shared the same function of overseeing childbirth, it seems that when Artemis was needed in her childbirth guise, she was sometimes referred to under the name Eileithyia. This is another example of different deities with overlapping functions and spheres of activity being associated with each other and perhaps even confused with each other. Ultimately, at least in the 5th century BC, it seems Artemis in her childbirth guise would be understood when the term Eileithyia was used.
It has been shown that Artemis oversees the birth of new life. Artemis, as kourotrophos, also led the young to the point at which they depart from her realm. Artemis would, after watching over the birth of a child, act as the child’s protectress until she could deliver the child into adolescence. Artemis herself “defines a line of demarcation between boys and girls, young and adults, beasts and men.” as with her huntress and mistress of animals’ function, her role as kourotrophos is dual in that what she protects she also has the ability to destroy. According to Vernant, some of the epithets of Artemis attest to this function. In this role, Artemis was not frequently represented in material culture. More likely, as the kourotrophos, statuettes of young children would be offered to her. However, there were a number of terracotta statuettes from the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron, dating from the middle of the 5th century, which represented Artemis as kourotrophos carrying a little girl.
Artemis was not a warrior goddess, as Hera delights in reminding her when she chides her in the lliad. She is involved in battle and war activities only insofar as to “guide and save.” Artemis is called upon before battle and when the violence is particularly bad, “when warfare abandons civilised codes through which the rules of martial struggle are maintained.” Before the battle of Marathon in 490 BC, the Athenians vowed a goat to Artemis Agrotera for every Persian they might kill. After their victory, they were unable to find such a great number of goats to fulfil their vow. The Athenians, therefore, instituted an annual sacrifice of 500 animals for the goddess. In 394 BC, during a battle between Sparta and Athens with her allies, the Spartans, according to their custom, sacrificed a goat to Artemis’ Agrotera when battle was about to be engaged .As is increasingly clear from this survey, Artemis was a mistress of boundaries, mediating between two states or modes of being, whatever they may be. Battle is a liminal situation in which the normal rules of status society no longer apply. It is understandable, therefore, that Artemis, who has many dealings with other liminal situations, was associated with warfare as well.
Artemis Ευκλεία serves as a marriage goddess but also as a mediator between the savage and civilised in war, a role which was firmly in place at least as early as the Battle of Marathon. In Athens a temple to her commemorated the victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. At Thebes there was an altar for her with the representation of a lion before it, said to have been dedicated by Heracles after he conquered the Orchomenians in battle.
Besides the link between Artemis and warfare through her liminality function, she may also have been associated with warfare and battle through her huntress function. Artemis herself was not a fierce warrior, like Athena, but she was firmly accepted in Homer’s time as a huntress goddess. The hunt could be considered a test of strength as battle was. It would not be difficult for a huntress, armed with weapons, to develop influence over the sphere of battle. Artemis’ association with warfare, then, probably developed and grew both out of her huntress role and her association with liminal states.
Many instances in which Artemis was involved in death of both humans and animals have been noted above. Those cases where Artemis is the cause of women’s death in childbirth are most common. It seems that from this function and from her huntress of animals function Artemis was seen as a goddess of death, particularly, but not exclusively, for women. There are many references to Artemis’ involvement in the death of women in Homer. While it seems that Artemis functioned mostly as a goddess of death for women, killing them especially in childbirth, she is sometimes seen as indiscriminate as to whom she brings death, for example when she killed Orion. An Attic amphora from about 470-460 BC shows Artemis advancing towards the right holding an arrow from the quiver and a bow in her left hand. Apollo holds a palm in his right hand and is holding his left hand towards Orion’s tomb. Artemis killed Orion on Delos, which may explain the presence of the palm, which was often associated with the divine twins and especially revered on Delos. The texts do not associate Apollo with Orion’s death, but some think that Artemis killed Orion at the instigation of Apollo. On Ortygia, Artemis comes and kills old people with her arrows.
According to various later sources, Actaeon was killed by his own pack, at the Instigation of Artemis, because he saw her bathing. Although this myth may not have been frequent in early literature. It was often portrayed In art, as on a Boeotian vase fragment from around 470 BC which shows Artemis holding a bow and walking towards the left, turning towards the body of Acteon. There are other unidentified personages and three dogs also in the representation.
Artemis is described as loving dancing in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, Aphrodite explains to Anchlses, whom she is trying to convince she is a mortal, that she was taken from the dances of the huntress Artemis. In the Homeric Hymn to Artemis. Artemis directs the dances of the Muses and Graces in Delphi and then she hangs up her bow and heads and leads these dances herself. Homer writes that Argeiphontes becomes enamoured of a girl while she was among the singing maidens on the dancing floor of Artemis. Homer has Odysseus address Alcinous as a companion of Artemis whose parents and brothers must rejoice when she enters the dance. In Euripides, women are often represented as dancing and singing for Artemis.
Dancing is, for obvious reasons, difficult to find represented on pieces of material culture. It is, nevertheless, integral in most cults. However, it seems that a pyxis fragment from Naples from about 440 BC represents the armed dance in honour of Artemis. An armed man with a lance runs to the right in front of an altar in the direction of the statue of Artemis in her temple. The statue of Artemis holds a bow in her left hand and a torch in her right. Dancing is usually associated with Artemis as the patroness of rituals of fertility, transitions, and maturation, such as the arkteia. Artemis as Agrotera was also involved in war, and the pyxis fragment is a testimony to this involvement of the goddess.
Some distinctive black figure vase fragments of poor quality and often local manufacture found at the sanctuary of Artemis in Brauron by Papadimitrios’ excavation and at other sanctuaries of Artemis were analysed by Kahil. They are generally smaller than normal kraters, with double handles, with their base often in the shape of a truncated cone, and have been dated to the end of the 5th century B C and have been given the name ‘krateriskoi’. The fragments are of several types. One type has linear designs with undulating black or brown lines. Another type, seemingly quite rare, had representations of some fantastic animals which cannot be directly linked to Artemis. The last type encompasses the greatest number of fragments and showed themes related to the cult of Artemis. The scenes displayed on the fragments are interpreted as representing the arkteia, the dance in the Brauronia festival in honour of Artemis.
The virginity of Artemis is attested as early as Homer in the Odyssey where he refers to the goddess as chastens and pure. Artemis is ''parthenoi' in the Homeric Hymns and Aphrodite cannot bend or tame Artemis’ heart to love. Euripides also refers to her virginity, as does Sophocles and Aeschylus. The chastity of Artemis which is so prominent in literature is missing from the cults of Artemis. Parthenos was not a proper cult epithet of Artemis. Although Artemis is referred to as such, she did not receive worship qua virgin. Whatever the original state of the sexuality of Artemis, from at least as far back as Homer she is firmly established as a virgin.
Vernant believes that: “the hunt, care of the young, childbirth, war and battle,- Artemis always operates as a divinity of margins with the twofold power of managing the necessary passages between savagery and civilisation, and of strictly maintaining boundaries at the very moment they have been crossed. We believe that this statement is accurate: Artemis, as the goddess of liminality, moves individuals from one state to another but also guards those boundaries. Artemis is known as a goddess of nature, a huntress and protectress of animals and young life. It seems that for the Greeks and Athenians in particular, Artemis is the protectress goddess of life. Artemis fulfils a variety of functions, but she is particularly well suited as a patroness of transitions, especially in women’s lives. It is this function, as the mediator of transitions, and the nexus of cultic and ritual activity in myth and thought that surrounds it, that is shown most clearly in the living example of the role of Artemis in the arkteia ritual performed at Brauron. The arkteia is an example of praxis, of the overlap, combination of myth with ritual in real life.
The arkteia is an active illustration of the theory of praxis, how social structures are affected and changed by the needs of a society. The cult and myth of Artemis functions in a significant ritual in the lives of all Athenians, and especially in the lives of young girls. Before this ritual can be discussed, the animal, the bear, after which the festival and the young female participants, the arktoi, are named must be investigated.
Bears were especially associated with Artemis, particularly with regard to her kourotrophos and childbirth functions. The bear was seen as the embodiment of motherhood. As such it was naturally associated with Artemis, as the goddess who not only led young girls Into that state but also supervised and watched over the young which were produced. Bears are one of the rarest animal dedications represented in Greek sanctuaries, but they were dedicated to Artemis more than to any other deity. There were images of bears dedicated at five different sanctuaries: the Acropolis in Athens, Argive Heraion, Artemis of Thasos, Artemis Orthia in Sparta, and Artemis Alea in Tegea. Artemis’ Arcadian sanctuary in Lousoi revealed bear teeth which were dedicated to the goddess, but no bear images per se. Tales about bears and transformations into bears are linked with only one deity, and that is Artemis.
The she-bear has traditionally been linked with Artemis in legend and cult. “The she-bear, then, as denizen of the wilderness and as an ancient symbol of motherhood, was the appropriate adjunct for Artemis, at once mistress of wild animals and patron goddess of children and childbearing. The reproductive cycle of the she bear was adopted as a paradigm for female initiation rites.” Artemis’ connection with many animals has been shown. Her link with the bear goes beyond her function as a huntress and mistress of the animals. The bear was believed to be a fierce exemplar for motherhood. She-bears are particularly resourceful and fierce in protecting their offspring, and they look and act like humans. The paradigm of the bear as the exemplar for motherhood was established some time before Aristotle and other authors dwelt on this topic. Myths involving bears, like those of Kalllsto and Atalanta, also involve the goddess Artemis, mostly because the females fail to fulfil their socially imposed and entrenched telos: bearing legitimate children in the arena of marriage.
These heroines are associated with Artemis, just as dying a virgin associated a female with Artemis in that they fail to achieve their telos: bearing children. They either have illegitimate children which they cannot raise or do not have children at all. In these myths, Artemis’ function as protectress and guide of females from the virginal state, from a period of marginality outside of society, into the socially acceptable and demanded role of wife and mother, is frustrated. In both myths and in real life, consequences of the girls’ failure to fulfil their biologically and socially pre-ordained roles as wives and mothers results in death or transformation. In Atalanta’s case it results in masculinity and death, in Kallisto’s case it results in death. When real women fail to move into the role of wife and mother, it is death which claims them.
In both these myths and in the case of a real female, those who fail to bear legitimate children in the socially acceptable arena of marriage share an enduring and eternal association with Artemis. These women have ‘failed’ because they have not fulfilled their telos. Their failure associates them with the transitional liminal realm in which Artemis is prominent. Artemis also, however, emphasises that telos. In Artemis Kalliste’s sanctuary in Athens several objects dedicated indicate that she was considered a childbirth goddess, and indeed, this is the goal, motherhood, towards which she is directing young femaies.336 iphigeneia, associated with Artemis and even serving her as priestess of her cult at Brauron, was probably originally a childbirth goddess, and thus naturally associated with the animal which most embodied that function, the bear. In the Cypria a hind was substituted for Iphigeneia but the Atthidographer Phanodemos claims it was a bear. The role of the paradigm for motherhood, the bear, would be associated with mother, and especially failed mother figures like Kallisto, Atalanta and lphigeneia.
If biology is destiny, then even in mythology it would seem that simple physiology dictated socially acceptable positions. The production and reproduction of society is a skilled performance on the part of its actors. If half these actors, the females, do not fulfil their parts, society is not reproduced and ultimately collapses. The myths of Kallisto and Atalanta associate them with Artemis in her liminal but necessary realm as unfulfilled females who were not contained within the pre-given and socially created confines of marriage and motherhood. Their failure to conform to this role, to reproduce society, was, immortalised in myth, like those myths of virgin sacrifice and the Amazons, to illustrate the dangers inherent in the actions of these fictional characters. These actions frustrated social expectations. Yet, these actions, through the myths, also served to emphasis the dangers inherent in such a path and the necessity of the structures established and upheld in status-structured society.
The bears’ many associations in legend and cult practices with Artemis as a patroness of childbearing and rearing serves to emphasis Artemis’ role in this capacity. “The origins of these rites would seem to have been extremely ancient, and the same is likely to be true of the origins of the cult of Brauron.” The arkteia can be considered as the rite of separation which necessarily preceded the rite of marginality that virgins exist in after menarche but before the birth of their first child. The birth was the rite of aggregation, the dénouement of the rite of passage from parthenos to gyne. It is an active example of the overlap of myth in the ritual and thought of participants in the cultic activity which surrounded the goddess Artemis, with her attendant influence in the lives of real women. The arkteia ritual, created by a society which subscribed to the nexus of mythical thought that surrounded the goddess for whom it was performed, was also the means through which (symbolically, at least) half its members must pass in order to be eligible for full acculturation and acceptance in that society.
This ritual is an example of the theory of praxis, in which the actions of the actors in a society (in which nothing is static but is ever-changing and growing in its meanings and symbolism) are constantly informed and are informing the growth and development of myth and ritual and their meanings in that society.
We have seen that society’s concept of women and their role in it was referenced in its medicine and mythology. Rituals surrounding such mythology and religion, like the arkteia ritual for the goddess Artemis, fits the structuration of society. Artemis’ evolution and the assignment of different functions to her, as well as the association of different virgin heroines with her, reflect the social justification and expectation for the role of women in status-structured society.
Bourdieu has demonstrated that there are actions in society that constitute the habitus. Actions like rituals of marriage, the arkteia, and tragic performances are evolving practices which contribute to the discourse about phenomena in society. Furthermore, Turner’s concept of liminality and liminal periods is evidenced and indeed, necessary in the way society is structured by the actions and expectations of its agents. These liminal periods are regularised through actions, such as rituals, in society.
The goddess Artemis, embodying liminality itself, oversees the rites of passage of young bears in the arkteia ritual. She oversees their movement into the liminal period with the shedding of the blood of the menarche, and their movement out of this period with the shedding of the blood of defloration in marriage. The ritual of “putting on the bear” to appease the goddess emphasises structures of society which contain such liminal periods culminating in the re-intergration of certain members into status society as prepared to become complete social agents. Girls are not cultural dupes but agents who participate in the arkteia and who are by their actions, in the larger sense, participating in the creation and recreation of the status structured society In which they will eventually be included as knowledgeable agents.
