Artemis
Basic Information
Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt, archery, wilderness, animals, forests, the Moon, and maidenhood. She is also known as one of the Twin Archers, sharing that title with her twin brother Apollo. Artemis drives a moon chariot across the sky to bring in the night, originally the duty of Selene but after the goddess faded, Artemis took on that role.
Artemis is tall and is quite well-built with shoulder-length black hair as well as silver eyes. Like most goddesses, Artemis is described as extremely beautiful. She however is able to change her appearance like most gods and is typically seen as a woman younger than 20 years of age.
Brief History
Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Titaness Leto. When Artemis asked her aunt Hestia to take her to Mount Olympus to meet her father Zeus, he promised to give her anything that the young goddess wanted for her birthday. Her request was to be an eternal maiden as well as the goddess of the wilderness. In addition, she also asked for a group of eighty maiden followers who would be known as the Hunters of Artemis.
Throughout history, Artemis is known for a few significant events. The first being the Kalydonian Boar Hunt where Artemis has summoned a monstrous boar that she let free on the fields of Kalydon for a failure to honour Artemis at harvest time. She then made other hunters envious of the hunter that killed the boar which led to a civil war.
Another event that Artemis is known for is the killing of Queen Niobe of Thebes daughters after she had insulted Artemis' mother Leto.
Artemis has encountered a lot of mortals, including Actaeon who was hunting with his dogs when he stumbled upon a naked Artemis and her maidens bathing. He declared that he had to her as he fell in love with her at first sight. In response, Artemis transformed him into a deer and turned his own dogs against him. She can also be seen saving a different mortal named Sipriotes who had also stumbled upon them bathing, however he had begged for mercy.
Multiple people in Artemis' life have become constellations including Kallisto becoming the Ursa Major constellation after Zeus himself had destroyed her oath of maidenhood, Orion who became a constellation with the scorpion who had killed him and Zoë who was one of the Hunters of Artemis who died saving Artemis.
With Artemis' Hunters, she helped Percy Jackson face the manticore that he and his friends faced at Westover Hall as well as helping to find Annabeth Chase who was taken. During this mission, she was captured by the General Atlas where she would take over holding the sky as well as defeat the general and force him back to hold the sky again.
She continued to help battle the Titans, including Typhon as well as sending her Hunters to help the demigods of Camp Half-Blood fight the monsters.
Sources & Credits
Information from Riordan Wiki - Artemis
Written by Isolde Thompson