Читать книгу The Mythology of Greece and Rome, With Special Reference to Its Use in Art онлайн

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The Ephesian Artemis, known to us as “Diana of the Ephesians,” was distinct from all that have been mentioned. She was, in fact, an Asiatic, not a Hellenic deity.

The Roman Diana, who was early identified with the Greek Artemis, was likewise originally a goddess of the moon. As such, she possessed a very ancient shrine on Mount Algidus, near Tusculum. Like the Greek Artemis, she was also regarded as the tutelary goddess of women, and was invoked by women in childbirth. This was also the case with Artemis, although the matrons of Greece looked for more protection in this respect at the hands of Hera. She gained, however, a certain political importance in Rome after having been made by Servius Tullius the tutelary deity of the Latin League. As such, she possessed a sacred grove and temple on the Aventine.

Fig. 14.—Diana of Versailles.

Artemis is a favourite subject with the masters of the later Attic school. She is always represented as youthful, slender and light of foot, and without womanly fulness. Her devotion to the chase is clearly betokened by the quiver and bow which she generally bears, and by the high girt robe and Cretan shoes, which allow her to pass unencumbered through the thickets of the forest.