Classical Mythology

ARTEMIS 203

of her primary functions as a goddess of childbirth early in her career (a role she
shares with Hera and Eileithyia, as we have seen). According to Ovid, after the
birth of Artemis and Apollo, Leto was forced by the anger of Hera to wander car-
rying her two babies. She came to Lycia, where the Lycians refused to allow her to
drink water from a marsh. In anger, she changed them into frogs, telling them that
they could live their lives in the marsh whose water they had refused to give her.
On other occasions, too, Artemis is closely linked with Apollo, both ap-
pearing as vehement and haughty agents of destruction with their shafts of
doom. Sudden death (particularly of the young) was often attributed to these
two deities, Artemis striking down the girls, Apollo the boys.

NIOBE AND HER CHILDREN

One of the most famous exploits of Artemis and Apollo concerns Niobe and her
children, told at length by Ovid (Metamorphoses 6. 148-315).
The women of Thebes bestowed great honor upon Leto and her twin children,
crowning their heads with laurel and offering up incense and prayers in obedience
to an injunction by the goddess herself. Niobe, however, was enraged by the whole
proceedings and rashly boasted that she was more deserving of tribute than Leto.
After all she was rich, beautiful, and the queen of Thebes.^2 Besides, Leto had borne
only two children, whereas Niobe was the mother of seven sons and seven daugh-
ters. Indeed Niobe was so confident in the abundance of her blessings that she felt
she could afford to lose some of them without serious consequences.
Leto was enraged at such hubris and complained bitterly to Artemis and
Apollo. Together the two deities swiftly glided down to the palace of Thebes to
avenge the insulted honor of their mother. Apollo struck down all the sons of
Niobe with his deadly and unerring arrows, and Artemis in turn killed all her
daughters. Just as Artemis was about to shoot the last child, Niobe in despera-
tion shielded the girl and pleaded that this one, her youngest, be spared. While
she was uttering this prayer, she was turned to stone; and a whirlwind whisked
her away to her homeland, Phrygia, where she was placed on a mountaintop.
Tears continue to trickle down from her marble face as she wastes away.^3

ACTAEON

Several stories illustrate the hallowed purity of the goddess Artemis. A famous

one concerns Actaeon,^4 an ardent hunter who lost his way and by accident (or

was it fate?) had the misfortune to see Artemis (Diana in Ovid's version) naked

(Metamorphoses 3. 138-255):

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Actaeon first tinged with grief the happiness of his grandfather, Cadmus. A

stag's horns grew on his head, and his hounds feasted on their master's flesh.

Yet, if you look closely, you will find that his guilt was misfortune, not a crime;

what crime indeed lies in an innocent mistake?