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Good morning Whyville! This week I got to interview Artemis; Godess of the moon, childbirth, wildlife, hunting, and all young and living things. Some Greeks thought of Artemis as the moon, other's thought she took on a woman's form. Some even thought she was a woman who could change into the moon!
megmeg9: Hello Artemis.
Artemis: Hello.
megmeg9: So, who does your family consist of?
Artemis: Zeus is my father, and the nymph, Leto would be my mother, and then I have a twin brother, Apollo.
megmeg9: Shouldn't be surprised by Zeus being your father. You probably have A LOT of half siblings . . . Anyway, there are some rumors that you helped deliver your own brother?
Artemis: Yes. My mother, Leto, was constantly on the run from Hera, and no city would take her in, because they were too scared of Hera. So, Mom went to an island, and that was where I was born. Right after me, Mom was about to give birth to Apollo, and I assisted his delivery, thus giving me the title, Goddess of Childbirth.
megmeg9: Wow. You must have been like, two minutes old? So, how are you the Goddess of Wildlife, and Hunting? Is it possible to protect animals when you yourself hunt them?
Artmeis: I had to hunt, to keep the Greeks from eating the animals with terrible disease, and I had to make sure there weren't too many animals, or not enough where my people would starve. When I hunted, my kills were quick, and painless.
megmeg9: That sounds reasonable. I also heard some scary stories about you and Apollo killing The Queen of Niobe, and all of her children?
Artemis: Hehe, yes. My brother and I are not ashamed by this, it was the queen who wouldn't stop bragging about how she was so much better than our mother Leto, because Leto only had two children, and Niobe had seven daughters, and seven sons. So, Apollo killed all of her sons, and I killed all of her daughters.
megmeg9: What is it with the gods and goddesses using violence to get what they want? Next question, why do you think that most people only consider you as a secondary goddess?
Artemis: This makes me so mad. Most of the Greeks gave up my place as one of the 12 main gods, to Dionysys. The Greeks thought that I was too violent to bring honor to their country, even though most of their 'main' gods and goddesses were just as violent as me, maybe even more.
megmeg9: That's not fair. Violence can be pretty scary though . . . moving on, why did you kill Orion, I heard that you loved him?
Artemis: Ohh, I did love him, very much. Unfortunately, Apollo was jealous. One day Apollo sent a giant scorpion to attack Orion, Orion jumped into the ocean, and started to swim away. By the time I came, Apollo told me that the person swimming was a mortal who insulted one of my priestesses, and that I must kill this mortal. So I took my brother's advice, once I found out that I really killed Orion, I couldn't stand myself.
Imagine that, only 10 times bigger!
megmeg9: That's so sad. I'm surprised you didn't kill Apollo, knowing how revenge-hungry you gods are.
Artemis: I could never kill my own brother!
megmeg9: Right. Well, thank you for your time. That's all I needed to know.
Artemis: You're welcome.
This is Meg, still trying to find a god or goddess that isn't so violent.
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Author's Note: I got the fabulous pictures from tinypic.com, as usual. I also got all of my information from my school's text books, and notes I took in class.
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