Artemis was born to Leto and Zeus. Hera, angry at Leto for bearing her husband’s child, demands that she may not give birth on terra firma or any island. However, the island of Delos took pity on Leto and allowed her to have the children there.
Artemis as a Child
She grew up beautiful, often compared to Aphrodite, and sometimes claimed to be even finer a beauty than even the goddess of love and beauty herself. Hera resented Artemis as a child and took to thrashing her, which led a distraught Artemis to climb upon her father Zeus’ lap and beg to be allowed to remain a virgin forever and live a life in the wilderness with other young virgin huntresses to attend her. This request was granted by Zeus and Artemis took off on her own.
A Virgin Goddess
Artemis held true to her virginity though many a man and god took interest in her from Ovid to the brothers Otos and Ephialtes. None won, however and the unforgiving goddess took to strict punishment to any man she felt threatened her virginity. Such was the case of Actaeon who one day stumbled upon Artemis bathing in a river. He hid behind a tree believing he would not be seen. Artemis, however, discovered him and promptly turned him into a stag and had him hunted and killed by his own dogs.
In some accounts of this incident, it is said that the man was Adonis, not Actaeon at all. Yet still, another version claims that Actaeon had merely boasted that he was a better hunter than Artemis and she responded with the same punishment. Artemis was just as strict with her virgin huntresses as she was with herself and their virginity was vital.
The Case Of Callisto
Callisto was the daughter of the King of Arcadia who joined the huntresses and took a vow of chastity. Zeus fancied her and came to her disguised as Artemis herself to gain her confidence and raped her, according to the Ovid, from which she conceived a son named Arcas. Enraged Artemis (or some accounts say Hera) turned her into a bear and her own son, Arcas nearly killed her.
Niobe
Niobe was a woman proud of her fertility and boasted her numbers of children and teased Leto about only having one son and one daughter. Taking offense for their mother, Apollo and Artemis each got poison arrows and Apollo slaughtered all the sons, except one and Artemis killed all the daughters except one. Niobe was devastated (the origin of the phrase “Like Niobe, all tears) and she and her remaining two grieving children were turned into stone by Artemis.
The Goddess of the Hunt
Artemis was known as the goddess of the hunt. She was also the goddess of wild animals, childbirth, female children and virginity. Like Hecate and Selene, Artemis was also a goddess of the moon. She was usually depicted carrying a bow and arrows, of which she was highly skilled at using as well as hunting dogs (seven bitches and six dogs) which were a gift to her from Pan. Deer, as well as the Cyprus were sacred to her. Artemis was worshiped across Greece, most especially by the young marriageable girls who were sent to the Temple of Artemis for one year before they considered marriage. In some places, she was also worshiped as a childbirth and/or fertility goddess atop of the huntress and protector of virgins