Now that we have that large piece of philosophy under out belts more or less, it's time to move on to a few of my other favorite gods: Artemis and Apollo! These two are both very fun (and a bit scary!), and I really love them. They also, like Athena, have quite the origin story! So let's get started.
Artemis and Apollo are the twin children of Leto. You remember Leto? Daughter of the Titans Coeus (Polaris) and Pheobe? Their names mean Questioning and The Shining One (Pheobe is often associated with the moon). Leto’s sister is Asteria, the stars. Leto, on the other hand, is the hidden one. And hide away she must! As with Metis, Leto was a lover of Zeus, and one whom had to hide away from Hera’s wrath. Luckily for Leto, this did not involve being swallowed! Unluckily for Leto, it meant something possibly worse.
When Hera found out that Leto was pregnant by Zeus she was furious, and pronounced a curse against Leto: No land - not mainland, not island, not even the bottom of the sea - was to shelter Leto or give her harbor. Effectively, Leto was forbidden from giving birth (yikes!). She was to wander the earth eternally, unable to rest, and unable to deliver her ill-begotten children. Hera also sent a great serpent after her - Python - to chase poor Leto constantly, that she might never stop anywhere for too long. Leto wandered for months, struggling to survive. It is said that at one point, to travel more easily and to hide from Python, Leto lived disguised as a great She-Wolf. (This is sounding almost Norse! Interestingly, Leto is also often associated with Hyperborea, that is “North of the North Wind” basically, and it's said that she comes from there. I’ve always wondered if it meant to indicate a place like what we now call Russia, or the Nordic lands, etc.). But no matter where Leto went - however far north, south, east, or west, she found nowhere she could rest and give birth.
Finally, Poseidon took pity on Leto, and helped her come to Delos. Now Delos was a special place. It was neither land nor island, for it floated in the sea, not tethered to the sea floor. It was not “terra firma” (or whatever the greek form of that would be). And as such, it was not bound by Hera’s curse. Leto was finally able to rest on the floating rock, under a palm tree which grew there. There she finally went into labor.
After so long wandering, the first of Leto’s children was born without trial; painless and quick. This was Artemis. Her birth was in itself miraculous, as Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, was not at Leto’s side (prevented from attending her by Hera). Leto, however, was pregnant with twins. And the second twin’s birth was long and terrible. Nine days and nine nights Leto was in labor with her son. Her daughter Artemis, newborn but a goddess in her own right, held her mother’s hand, and was her only aide and midwife in that barren not-quite-land. This is why Artemis, though a virgin, is called a goddess of childbirth - assisting in childbirth, that is. When Artemis was nine days old, her brother was finally born: Apollo, shining like the brilliant sun, came squealing out into its light.
After these divine births, the island of Delos was anchored to the sea, to stop its wandering around the Aegean, and became a holy shrine to the Twin Gods, and especially Apollo. An ancient law of that place states that no one else is permitted be born on Delos, or to die in that holy place. Instead, they must go to the nearby Mykonos if they want to do these bloody things.
After Artemis and Apollo were born Hera could no longer stop them from joining their father on Olympus. As a birthday/welcoming gift, Zeus gave them each a mighty bow made by Hephaestus. Apollo’s bow is made of gold and shines bright, his arrows swift and violent, tearing through anything he aims them at like fire. Artemis’ bow is made of silver, and is swift, sure, and silent. It’s arrows fly true and take life with mercy and reverence, painless and instant. These bows feature in many mythic stories, and are often associated with sickness. When someone dies in their sleep, it may have been Artemis' revenge, or if they die of the plague, it might have been Apollo's wrath. The Iliad begins the the Greek army trying to recover from upsetting Apollo and thus being beset by sickness and death.
Artemis and Apollo have always intrigued me because they are such compliments: Sun and Moon, Male and Female, etc. Yet unlike so many other couples in mythology, there are no myths of the two ever joining and having a child (don't act like you would be surprised by a myth about twins having a child together. That's exactly something mythology would do). They are compliments, but are also very VERY different, and could easily exist outside of each other. They mostly have their own stories and do their own thing.
One thing that unites them however is their fierce loyalty to their mother. After receiving their bows, Artemis and Apollo hunted down and killed the mighty Python which had pursued her during her months wandering. And after this they became just as fiercely defendant of her honor. Once, a mortal woman with seven sons and seven daughters boasted that she was greater than the revered mother Leto, since Leto only had one son and one daughter. Leto never lifted a hand against the mortal mother, but Artemis and Apollo’s vengeance was swift. Apollo fired his fiery bow in quick succession, and soon all seven of the woman’s sons were dead, shot from their mounts while out hunting and toppled to the ground, their horses to return without their masters. Artemis fired next, her arrows quieter than the wind. In a breathless moment, all seven of the woman’s daughters were dead, fallen asleep never to rise again. The woman was distraught to lose all 14 of her children in one day and one night, and as Arachne, learned better than to boast. They say she turned to stone, and her tears became a great river. I don't remember which one.
But that's most of the similarities these two have in common. So let's look at each of them a bit more in depth. And as has proven the pattern in myth, let's look at the younger of the two first:
Upon coming to their new home in Olympus Apollo took to the life of a God instantly. He takes after his father in many ways including his womanizing, or woman-terrorizing maybe. Apollo is most definitely bisexual, though (not that Zeus isn't), so men are far from except from all this. Apollo spends most of his time composing music and pursuing athletes or wood nymphs, things of that nature. Apollo is the ideal Greek young man - beautiful, youthful, talented, creative, active, knowledgeable, and very sexually active too.
There are many MANY tales of Apollo's sexual escapades. Far too many to recount. Some of these stories resemble his father's, but Apollo is at least a little bit more likely to honestly woo his lovers than to rape them. Beauty over power and all that. There is one notable exception. Once Apollo and Eros (Cupid. We'll get to him when we discuss his mother Aphrodite) got into a bit of a fight. You see they were both terrific archers, but Eros boasted that his arrows, which planted love, were more powerful than Apollo's, which planted death. To prove this, Eros struck Apollo with an arrow of love, causing him to fall head over heels with a nymph named Daphne. Daphne, however, wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. Some even say that Eros has another arrow - the arrow of hatred - and that he shot Daphne through with this as well. Apollo pursued Daphne, who avoided him in every available manner, until finally she could not escape. Rather than consenting, however, Daphne called to Gaia for aide, and turned herself into a tree, to end Apollo's advances forever. She turned into a Laurel tree. And Apollo, still in love with her, made wreaths out of her branches and wore them as a crown.
There were many others. It was said that Apollo, the god of music, was a lover of all nine muses, but could not choose between them, and so never married. He took various women to bed, including several mortals and nymphs, but never stayed long. He was somewhat more faithful to his male lovers. For instance, a few times through his life Apollo was exiled from Olympus for a time, and sentenced to servitude under a certain king, named Admetus. And although it sounds degrading for a god, Apollo was fine with it mostly because he and Admetus were lovers for years.
Then there was Hyacinth, perhaps the most famous of Apollo's lovers. He and Apollo were happy together for some time, but unfortunately, any time someone is too happy in Ancient Greek mythology, someone else has to get jealous and ruin it for them. In this case the jealous party was Zephyrus, the West Wind. He also loved Hyacinth, and was jealous of Apollo. And he took it out in the worst way possible: One day while Apollo and his lover were out practicing discus, Zephyrus blew one of the discus' which Apollo had thrown off course, killing Hyacinth. Apollo was distraught to have slain his love even by accident, and transformed him into the flower we still know today.
It wasn't all love and sex, though. As with Athena, Apollo was challenged a few times to musical duels by mortals - mainly satyrs and the like, not humans - who claimed to be better at music than he. These usually ended with the opponent dead or, in one memorable case, with one of the judges sprouting a new pair of donkey's ears.
Out of all of this, though, Apollo is perhaps best known for his role as the god of Prophesy. Or at least, he was the most influential in this regard, for Apollo spoke to the people of Greece and beyond through his Oracle at Delphi. If you've never heard of the Oracles before, they were like Prophets of the Greek world. They predicted the future, or spoke on behalf of the gods - they gave divine advice and wisdom, and answered questions, that sort of thing. Delphi was far from the only oracle, and not even the only one who claimed to speak for Apollo, but was by FAR the most revered. Set high up on Mount Parnassus in Phokis, the Oracle of Delphi was a place of worship and also a person - the Oracle herself, called the Pythia (Called so because the Oracle was said to be where Apollo killed the great serpent Python). Pilgrims came to Delphi from all over to offer sacrifice and seek the god's wisdom. And because of this, the Pythia had immense power. Wars were fought and peace was brokered because of the Pythia's words. People were saved or executed, fleets were raised, alliances forged, etc. All by the will of Apollo, spoken through his Oracle. And every day matters too: Farms were sold, inheritance decided, arguments settled, marriages arranged, etc. It was said that a friend of Socrates once visited Delphi and asked Apollo who the wisest man in Athens was - and the Oracle told him: Socrates. Socrates respected the god's judgement, but spent the rest of his life purportedly attempting to prove the god wrong, by trying to find someone wiser than he. Where did these messages come from? Possibly Apollo. Possibly the copious amount of drugs and smoke and fumes involved in the Pythia's secretive rituals. They say that the temple was built on a great vent in the earth, and that sage and other incense was always burnt there. So yeah. No one is to say that Apollo wasn't also the god of mind altering drugs. (Say No to drugs, kids.)
Apollo also had several famous children, but I think I'll hold off on them until we get to the tales of mortal heroes. Because we still need to talk about his elder sister, Artemis!
Unlike her brother, Artemis never took to the Olympian life as well. Apprehensive, she asked her mighty father Zeus to promise her one thing: That he would never ask or force her to marry a man, but let her always live her life free and her own. Zeus agreed, and Artemis took to the woodlands. There she stays with her entourage of nymphs - all sworn to celibacy.
Now, the Greek ideal of celibacy is interesting, and not the same as the modern/Christian idea of 'no sex ever, period'. Sometimes it did, but more often is seems that in Greece, celibacy/"maidenhood" means that a person would 1.) Remain unwed, and 2.) Never do anything that could result in pregnancy. Which is not the same thing as no sex ever (there are in fact several types of sex which don't involve pregnancy). Sometimes maidenhood did mean a woman never having any kind of sex with a man, but again, this didn't mean not having sex period. Like I said: Lesbians. Lesbian sex didn't "count" as sex in the greek mindset. But neither did certain other sex acts. It's a whole lot. Just know that if anyone tries to tell you that Artemis was a fertility goddess (people say this a lot about Artemis of Ephesus, mentioned in the Biblical book of Acts) This is incorrect. She is a goddess of Maidenhood. Many young women chose to follow Artemis’ way of life, either to escape marriage or just to live on their own terms. Many joined her cult and her temples. Some, though, doubtless, followed her into the woods, where she is said to run naked through the trees and hunt by moonlight.
One story in particular about Artemis stands out: The story of Akteaon, a foolish man who once, while hunting, stumbled upon the grove where lady Artemis and her followers bathed. Aktaeon, instead of covering his eyes or turning away, stopped his hunting to come have a good look at the naked goddess. Artemis saw him and was outraged, and in recompense turned the young hunter into a stag, the very beast he had set out from home to hunt. When Akteaon’s hounds caught the smell of the beast, they no longer recognized their master, and chased the stag down, killed, and ate it. All because Akteaon wished to boast he had seen Artemis bathing. So the moral of that story is Don’t be A Creep.
What other stories can I tell about Artemis? She has several which involve the Constellations. These are stories of mortals, but here's a good a place as any.
Artemis mostly went about with her band of young nymphs and oceanids (river and sea goddesses). There were a few men who earned her favor and friendship though. Orion was one, the great hunter. His life was one self inflicted tragedy after another (most Greek stories are). It was said he was a son of Poseidon, and could walk on water because of this, and walk from island to island across the Aegean. He has two major myths: The first, that one day on the isle of Chios he got drunk and attacked a woman, whose father struck Orion blind and sent him away. Orion wandered then, blind, all around the Greek world, lost at sea until finally he heard someone who could help. He heard the mighty hammers of Hephaestus' forge under the isle of Lemnos, and followed the sound. Hepheastus helped him, guiding him to the farthest eastern lands where Helios, the Sun, healed him and restored his sight (we will get to Helios and others after we're done with the pantheon). After this Orion turned to hunting, and spent time on Crete with Artemis. He was said to be the only man Artemis ever loved. Unfortunately, being so good a hunter that he gained Artemis' favor gave Orion a big head. He boasted that he would hunt and kill every animal in the world! And this, combined with his great power for a mortal and also his history, gave Mother Gaia a Concern. She sent a Challenger to Orion, a great Scorpion, which stung the mighty hunter and killed him. Artemis was distraught to loose such a companion, and helped to install Orion in the sky, so that he might never be forgotten. Thus the constellations of both Orion and Scorpius.
Unfortunately, a lot of Artemis' other myths aren't super savory. You see, when you run a band of Maidens, and someone is rendered no longer a maiden (pregnant), you have to kick them out. Even, apparently, if they are pregnant due to rape. So that sucks. Way to shame the victim, Artemis. One of these stories in particular is especially sad. The story of Kallisto, one of Artemis' maidens, whom Zeus seduced IN THE FORM OF ARTEMIS. Like this woman thought she was going to bed with Lady Artemis, but no, it was Zeus The Rapist the whole time. And she became pregnant with a son, Arkas. Artemis was furious, and so was Hera. Artemis was forced to expel the pregnant woman from her troupe, and when she was no longer under Artemis' protection, Hera took the opportunity to avenge her husband's bad behavior on Kallisto too. She turned the woman into a bear. Years later, Kallisto's son Arkas was out hunting, and nearly killed his own mother, the bear. At the last moment, tho, Zeus intervened, installing both the bear and her child into the heavens: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (the big and little dippers). Both "Ursa" (latin) and "Arkas" (greek) mean Bear (which is why the brown bear being called Ursus Arctos is hilarious).
But Artemis' stories aren't always cruel. For instance, once Agamemnon (we'll get to him) killed a sacred deer, and claimed to be a better hunter than Artemis (seriously people, STOP doing this!!). Artemis took her revenge subtly. When Agamemnon was attempting to sail home after 10 years at war, Artemis becalmed all the winds of the sea, leaving him stranded and far from home. Agamemnon - who hadn't proven himself enough of an idiot yet - swore that if the goddess would forgive him and help him home, he would sacrifice to her whatever was the first thing he saw when he reached home, no matter how precious or expensive. Unfortunately, the first thing Agamemnon saw was his daughter, Iphigenia, who had rushed to the shore to welcome him home. Agamemnon, grief stricken that after a decade of war he would be forced to kill his only daughter, nonetheless readied made good on his promise. But at the last moment, Artemis intervened. She did not want the young maiden killed, but merely dedicated to her service as a maiden forever. Artemis spirited Iphigenia away, leaving a deer in her place to be sacrificed. Unfortunately, this didn't stop Agamemnon's wife from despising him, and that's a whoooole other story we may get to later.
I feel like I should have more good stories of Artemis? I am quite the fan. But perhaps I just have a thing for maiden goddesses. Artemis does her own thing and spends time with animals. What more could you want?
Oh! I almost forgot. I alluded to a story about Artemis earlier when I wrote about Ares - remember those two giants who attacked Olympus, and Ares tried to fight them but he ended up imprisoned in a bronze urn? Yeah. So one of their demands on Olympus was the hand of Artemis in marriage. So Artemis played a trick on them. Knowing they were keen hunters and wished to prove themselves to her, she transformed herself into a beautiful, majestic doe, the most wonderful ever seen, and she leapt between them. Each of the brothers was so eager to bring down the doe for Artemis, and do so first and so win her hand, and Artemis was so clever and agile, that when each of the giant brother let loose his javelin they brought down one another instead, each pierced by his brother's thrown spear. Artemis was able to free the very upset Ares, as the danger was no more.
Ok. This post is long enough. What analysis can I do? One interesting thing about these two is that in Greek myth at least (can't speak for Roman), Artemis and Apollo are not physically the Sun and Moon themselves - that's Helios and Selene - but they are OF the Sun and Moon. They are also not the children of the Sun or Moon. It's complicated. I've always thought it interesting that the two are so tied and so different. It's kind of refreshing. A lot of the time twins in myth are basically the same person, but these two are definitely not.
There's a lot of critique I could offer here, mostly about sexual ethics (why is Apollo allowed to have a lot of lovers, male and female, while Artemis has to kick out a lover of hers because she was raped (by Zeus no less)? What's with all the victim blaming and rape in myth anyway? Was this a problem in historical Greece? (it undoubtedly was). But even despite all of this, I like the twins. They are lovely; ideals of youthful beauty, without being bland or even cliche. They have so much character! And I hope I was able to get some of that across.
And where are they today? It's kind of hard to say. Artemis you could say is another idol of self-reliance. The idol of Independence. Of never asking for help, of pushing others away of being an Island, as it were (perhaps like Delos; floating from place to place, never tied down). The Idol of Freedom. Interestingly, the people who seem most culturally primed for this are young men, bachelors who don't want to be tied down, etc. But I think it's deeper than that. This is the Idol of the self-made, self-sufficient life. Of thinking we have to do it all, and that it's good to do it all and never let anyone help or let anyone close. I think we all fall into that from time to time - some more than others. Be it college students, single moms, men who think they have to be The Man Of The Home, kids who grew up without support systems, people who are estranged from their family for one reason or another, and everyone in between.
But what light of truth does Artemis reflect? Freedom. If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed. Artemis is not cowed by cultural norms - and neither should we be. SO much of Christian history has been marred by the Church trying to enforce cultural norms as if they were essential to the Christian faith - I'm talking everything from gender norms to colonialism. It's bad. And this is a reminder that Different can be Good. Whether that Different can be chose chastity or something else. Artemis can serve as a reminder to us that we are to live lives free of shame. We are not slaves to sin.
This is important in several regards, but to me the most personally impact has been in regard to gender. I struggled to come to terms with my gender a lot growing up, and I still do, and the most powerful message I have encountered to help me in this was this: There are only two people who get to dictate what it means for me to be a woman: Me, and God. And God hasn't said very much. Every other message about what it means for me to be a woman, I can take or leave. Society doesn't get to tell me what it means, how I ought to act, who I ought to be, etc. I am a woman, so anything that I do is now a womanly thing. If i cut my hair short and don't shave my legs, then it is now a womanly thing to do so, for I, a woman, and doing it. I'm not being 'masculine'. It just turns out that those things were never masculine to begin with. Just human. Does that make sense? I could talk about this for ages. But it is part of the glorious freedom to which we are called, and which we are often so afraid to enter.
Artemis also brings out the love of Nature - and I think God definitely wants us to appreciate and care for and spend time in his Created world more. But I think a lot of Greek gods shine forth this light. When every tree and flower (such as Laurel and Hyacinth) has a story, when every river and glade is a nymph or naiad, you look at nature differently. And while nature may not be divine, as the Greeks believed, it was shaped by divine hands, and for God's glory.
As for Apollo, the man is a mess. He's got so much going on. Prophesy, Music, Archery, Sunlight, it just goes on and on doesn't it? Apollo has been called the "most greek god" in that he represents so much of the ideals which Greece held. He is young, athletic, intelligent, cultured, skilled, bisexual - all very greek things to be. Apollo IS Greek Culture in a lot of way. And he had a huge impact on it, especially through the Pythia/Oracle of Delphi. But where is he in the modern world? It's a lot harder to say. I've been pretty much making these up on the fly, but Apollo I've had to give more thought to. There are a couple routes to take. Apollo may be the Idolization of Youth, both in beauty and in ability/skill. The idea that our additions to culture is all that matters. Even if the production isn't "practical" (it's art), the equation of art produced with self worth is dangerous. Perhaps he is the idolization of art in general. Or we could try something on the prophesy route and align Apollo with some new age mysticism, etc, idk, the horoscopes or something. All of this seems kind of half-assed though. I'm not sure who Apollo's modern followers are, honestly. It seems like they would be the kind of people going through life just LOOKING for something to give them meaning, and believing that the little things they do will one day be enough to fill that void. Whether it's art or exercise or culture or travel or spirituality. He's not an idol so much as the search for one.
As for the truth of Apollo - all beauty is God's beauty, and Apollo and Artemis are both beautiful. Apollo's finest quality is Excellence - dedication to doing something as best you can, which is God honoring in a way that many people wish to belittle. Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might, right? and do it as unto the Lord. Apollo's miscellaneous nature can help incarnate to us how every thing we do can be done well, and that is is morally good for us to strive for excellence in our endeavors. It is laudable and praiseworthy to do things well - whether they are art or sport or more practical endeavors. We shine forth God's beauty when we participate in his creation and use well all the gifts he's given us. I once gave a whole talk on this to a bunch of college freshmen. It was one of the greatest lessons I myself learned at JBU: EVERY subject is objectively worth studying. Whether it's something I find interesting or not. Microbiology? Worth studying. Linguistics? Worth studying. Calculus? Worth studying. Business? Worth studying. Now I don't have to be the one to DO the studying in every area, but there are no areas we should feel like are a waste of time. It reminds me of something Chesterton wrote, "There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person" (Heretics, Chapter 3).
With this I may leave you. This post has gotten long enough already. I wish I could better express how much I like Artemis and Apollo, and had better stories to tell of them. I'm sure they will come up again soon!
Thanks for reading
Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below, praise him above ye heavenly host, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
R
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