Birth Story of Artemis
Birth Story of Artemis
This Artemis story was written by our professional local tour guides.
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Did you know that Ephesus Ancient City has the ruins of the temple of Artemis? Greek goddess Artemis is known for the goddess of hunting, wild nature and the moon. She was imagined as a fierce huntress. In her earliest representations, she was depicted as a young female holding a bow and arrow in her hands.
According to the Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo who was the god of the Sun, fine arts and music. Zeus was notorious for cheating on his wife Hera consistently. He moved his way from one love affair to the next. As a result, he had an incredible number of children among which are Apollo and Artemis. According to the legend, Leto became pregnant with twins of Zeus. Hera, finding out this, got furios and cursed Leto not to find any solid ground to give birth to her children. Leto wandered all around Greece trying to find a place to bear Apollo and Artemis.
In the end, she was able to give birth in Delos Island. Determined to punish Leto, Hera had kidnapped Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth and midwives, so that she would not help Leto. Legend says that, Leto gave birth to Artemis first. In the absence of Eileithyia, Leto was in great pain while delivering Apollo and therefore, Artemis helped Leto to give birth to Apollo. Artemis, who witnessed her mother's labor pains, swore to remain as a virgin forever and stareted to be known as a protector of mothers and pregnant women although she gave birth to no child.
Cult of Artemis spreaded all over the Ancient Greece and Western Anatolia which is a part of Modern Turkey today. The Temple of Artemis is located in Ephesus, Turkey and it is regarded as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Temple of Artemis
The Temple of Artemis is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. It has been built in the areas of Ephesus on a flat area which has over the centuries turned into a swamp. If you visit Ephesus today, you can only see the ruins of the foundations of this marvelous construction of the Hellenistic Age, entirely made of marble and full of sculptured columns' capitals and shafts. The most beautiful remaining of this temple are today exhibited in the London British Museum.
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