Chapter 2: The Olympians
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♠ Hesiod, Theogony 918-20
And Leto was joined in love with Zeus who holds the aegis, and bore Apollo and Artemis delighting in arrows, children lovely above all the sons of Heaven. Greek Text
♠ Homeric Hymn to Apollo 14-18
Rejoice, blessed Leto, for you bare glorious children, the lord Apollo and Artemis who delights in arrows; her in Ortygia, and him in rocky Delos, as you rested against the great mass of the Cynthian hill hard by a palm-tree by the streams of Inopus. Greek Text
♠ ApB 1.4.1 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
But Latona for her intrigue with Zeus was hunted by Hera over the whole earth, till she came to Delos and brought forth first Artemis, by the help of whose midwifery she afterwards gave birth to Apollo. Greek Text
♠ Pindar, Paian 12 fr 52m.14-17 SM – Pindarus 2, pp. 49-52, ed. B. Snell and H. Maehler. Leipzig 1975.
♠ Homer, Odyssey 6.102-8
And even as Artemis, the archer, roves over the mountains, along the ridges of lofty Taygetus or Erymanthus, joying in the pursuit of boars and swift deer, and with her sport the wood-nymphs, the daughters of Zeus who bears the aegis, and Leto is glad at heart—high above them all Artemis holds her head and brows, and easily may she be known, though all are fair. Greek Text
♠ Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 5.16-20
Nor does laughter-loving Aphrodite ever tame in love Artemis, the huntress with shafts of gold; for she loves archery and the slaying of wild beasts in the mountains, the lyre also and dancing and thrilling cries and shady woods and the cities of upright men. Greek Text
♠ Homeric Hymn to Artemis 27.1-15
I sing of Artemis, whose shafts are of gold, who cheers on the hounds, the pure maiden, shooter of stags, who delights in archery, own sister to Apollo with the golden sword. Over the shadowy hills and windy peaks she draws her golden bow, rejoicing in the chase, and sends out grievous shafts. The tops of the high mountains tremble and the tangled wood echoes awesomely with the outcry of beasts: earth quakes and the sea also where fishes shoal. But the goddess with a bold heart turns every way destroying the race of wild beasts: and when she is satisfied and has cheered her heart, this huntress who delights in arrows slackens her supple bow and goes to the great house of her dear brother Phoebus Apollo, to the rich land of Delphi, there to order the lovely dance of the Muses and Graces. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Odyssey 11.171-73
What fate of grievous death overcame thee? Was it long disease, or did the archer, Artemis, assail thee with her gentle shafts, and slay thee? Greek Text
♠ Homer, Odyssey 15.478
then Artemis, the archer, smote the woman. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Iliad 6.428
and in her father’s halls Artemis the archer slew her. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Iliad 19.59-60
Would that amid the ships Artemis had slain her with an arrow on the day when I took her from out the spoil after I had laid waste Lyrnessus! Greek Text
♠ Homer, Odyssey 18.202-4
Would that pure Artemis would even now give so soft a death, that I might no more waste my life away with sorrow at heart. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Odyssey 20.60-63
to Artemis first of all the fair lady made her prayer: “Artemis, mighty goddess, daughter of Zeus, would that now thou wouldest fix thy arrow in my breast and take away my life even in this hour. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Odyssey 20.80-81
or that fair-tressed Artemis would smite me, so that with Odysseus before my mind I might even pass beneath the hateful earth. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Iliad 6.205
and his daughter was slain in wrath by Artemis of the golden reins. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Odyssey 5.121-24
Thus, when rosy-fingered Dawn took to herself Orion, ye gods that live at ease begrudged her, till in Ortygia chaste Artemis of the golden throne assailed him with her gentle shafts and slew him. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Iliad 9.533-40
For upon their folk had Artemis of the golden throne sent a plague in wrath that Oeneus offered not to her the first-fruits of the harvest in his rich orchard land; whereas the other gods feasted on hecatombs, and it was to the daughter of great Zeus alone that he offered not, whether haply he forgat, or marked it not; and he was greatly blinded in heart. Thereat the Archer-goddess, the child of Zeus, waxed wroth and sent against him a fierce wild boar, white of tusk, that wrought much evil, wasting the orchard land of Oeneus. Greek Text
♠ Bakchylides 5.94-110
And Meleager answered him, in tears, “It is hard for men on earth to sway the minds of the gods; for otherwise my father, horse-driving Oineus, would have appeased the anger of holy, white-armed Artemis with her garland of buds, when he entreated her with sacrifices of many goats and red-backed cattle. But the maiden goddess’ anger was unconquerable; she sent an immensely violent boar, a ruthless fighter, to Calydon, the place of lovely choruses; there, his strength raging like a flood, he cut down vine-rows with his tusk, and slaughtered flocks, and whatever mortals came across his path. Greek Text
♠ Homer, Odyssey, Nekuia 11.321-25
“And Phaedra and Procris I saw, and fair Ariadne, the daughter of Minos of baneful mind, whom once Theseus was fain to bear from Crete to the hill of sacred Athens; but he had no joy of her, for ere that Artemis slew her in sea-girt Dia because of the witness of Dionysus.” Greek Text
Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, February 2021
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