Artemis

            Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was also the twin sister of Apollo and one of the three virgin goddesses. Many believe that Artemis and Apollo were born on the island of Delos. However, a growing number of scholars feel Artemis was born first on the island of Ortygia and then helped her mother across the river to the island of Delos. It was here that Artemis theoretically helped her mother in the delivery of Apollo on the following day. This theory lends itself to the first of several roles played by Artemis, guardian of children and women in childbirth. She has also been dubbed the goddess of fertility, which has been looked at as a contradiction in terms. Though women looked to Artemis for a quick and successful labor, her silver arrows were often blamed for the sudden death that occurred in others. Most notably, Artemis is known as the goddess of the wild, including all animals and the art of the hunt. For this reason, Artemis in art is most often be depicted with a deer and her silver bow and arrows. .
             Sometimes referred to as the virgin goddess, the ideals most important to Artemis herself were those of purity and chastity. She is found at the center of many intriguing and well-debated mythological tales about those who were punished for not upholding the same beliefs. In one, a hunter named Acteon comes across Artemis and her nymphs bathing in the river and stops to admire her. Artemis noticed her spectator and became angered over being seen "in the role of Aphrodite", or naked (Dawson, 2001). She punished him, instantly turning him into a stag to be torn to pieces by his own dogs. .
             Queen Niobe II felt the wrath of Artemis as well as Apollo after insulting their mother, Leto. Niobe shamelessly bragged of her twelve children in comparison to Leto's two children during a time when the number of your children is directly related to superiority. In an attempt to avenge their mother, the twins set off for Thebes.