Artemis was the moon goddess. Daughter of Zeus and Leto. Twin sister of Apollo.
Artemis was also the goddess of hunting, and the protectress of huntsmen.She herself was a great archer.Like her twin brother Apollo, she hunted with silver bows and arrows,and she was often accompanied by stags1 and hounds2while going hunting.
Artemis was in love once or twice， and just like Apollo, all her love stories ended tragically. Endymion, Artemis's beautiful lover, when forced to make an awkward choice by Zeus between death and perpetual3 sleep united with perpetual youth, chose the latter, and became a perpetual sleeper.Orion, Artemis's beloved giant hunter, was accidentally shot by the goddess herself.
Artemis was thought to have had neither consort4 nor offspring.She was a virgin5 goddess and therefore the embodiment6 of chastity7 and purity. She was also a patroness of childbirth as was told in some versions8 of myth,which seems odd for a virgin. According to the legend, Artemis was born first and helped her mother to deliver Apollo without pain.
http://www.ryedu.net The cult9 of Artemis probably flourished in ancient Crete. In art, she was usually represented as a beautiful maiden10 clad11 in buckskins, carrying a silver bow and a quiver of arrows.Some depicted her wearing a half moon crown on her head. All wild animals were sacred to her. The pine and cypress12 were her trees.
阿耳特弥斯是月亮女神。她是宙斯和勒托的女儿，也是阿波罗的孪生姐姐。
阿耳特弥斯还是狩猎女神，因此是猎人的保护神，而她本人就是一位神射手。和她孪生兄弟阿波罗一样，她的狩猎用具也是银弓和银箭，伴她出猎的是牡鹿和猎狗。
阿耳特弥斯也曾有过一两次爱情，可是正如她的兄弟阿波罗一样，她的爱情故事总以悲剧告终。美少年恩狄弥翁是阿耳特弥斯的情人，宙斯让他在死亡和永葆青春的永恒睡眠间做出艰难的选择，他选择了后者，因此成了一名长眠者。而阿耳特弥斯所爱的巨人猎手俄里翁竟被误伤，惨死在她本人的箭下。
阿耳特弥斯既没有配偶也没有后嗣，她是一位处女神，象征童贞与纯洁。在某些神话故事中她还是妇女分娩的保护神，这对一位处女神来说似乎不可思议。根据神话传说，阿耳特弥斯出生后马上帮助她的母亲无痛分娩了阿波罗。
对阿耳特弥斯的崇拜在古代克里特岛十分兴盛，通常她的艺术形象是一位身穿鹿皮衣的美少女，佩着银弓和箭囊，也有些人把她描绘成头戴半月王冠的女神。所有的野兽都是她的圣物，松柏则是她的圣树。
注释：
1．stag n．成年牡鹿
2．hound n．猎狗，[谑] [贬]狗
3．perpetual adj．永久的，永恒的，长期的
4．consort n．配偶(尤指在位君主的配偶)
5．virgin n．处女，未婚女子
6．embodimentn．体现特定思想(或品质等)的具体形象，化身
7．chastity n. 贞洁，贞操
8．version n．(某人或从某一角度对事物所作的)一种描述，说法
9．cult n．(对人、事物、思想、主义等的)狂热崇拜，迷信
10．maiden n.(尤指美丽的)少女，年轻姑娘，(未婚的)年轻女子
11．clad vt．clothe的过去式和过去分词
12．cypress n．[植]柏，落羽杉，白扁柏
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