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Mistress of animals (1)

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01 Religious and ideological doctrines and imagery




 		Keywords
Artemis
mistress of animals
Period
No period specified 		Channel
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Text
The epithet of Greek Artemis was ‘mistress of wild animals’ (πότνια θηρῶν), who at the same time delighted in hunting them with bow and arrows. In Assyria the same title of ‘mistress of wild animals’ (bēlet nammašti) was applied to Ištar, who is also described as yoking lions and leopards. The Ugaritic goddess ˁAṯtartu (= Astarte) is described going hunting, and it is possible that an echo of Astarte in this aspect is preserved in Artemis’ title of Astrateia at Pyrrhichos in Laconia.

Bibliography

West 1997, 56West, Martin L. The East Face of Helicon. West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth. Oxford: Clarendon Press 1997.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001192.php

Illustrations (click an image to view the full-size version in a new window)

Fig. 1: Artemis as Mistress of Beasts (Potnia Theron); from a Boeotian vase, ca. 700 BCE.
Fig. 2: Ivory box lid dated to 1550-1200/1150 BCE from Ugarit-Minet el-Beida. Located in the Louvre.

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