Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo and daughter of Zeus and the Titan Leto. Her other siblings include Athena, Hephaestus, Hebe, Ares, Aphrodite, Dionysus and Hermes. Her uncles are Hades and Poseidon, and her aunts are Demeter and Hestia. Her stepmother is Zeus' wife Hera.http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/greek.gods.html Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, and the protector of wild animals and chaste women.http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Greekhistory&gods.htm

Like her brother, she is a skilled archer. She is associated with the moon and the cypress tree. She is also a chaste and virgin goddess, never reaching adolescence. At the same time she is the goddess of childbirth, because in the myth of her own birth she caused Leto no pain.http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/gg/olympian.html#Artemis

One of the myths that involves Artemis is the tale of the mortal hunter Actaeon. Artemis was bathing in the forest when Actaeon was hunting with his dogs. He stumbled upon her and saw her naked, which is forbidden. Angered, she splashed water onto him, turning him into a stag. Unable to identify himself to his dogs, he was chased down and killed by them.http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/coffeyartemis/artemis.html

Another myth involving Artemis and a hunter is the tale of Orion. Orion met his death at the hands of Artemis in one of three ways, depending on which version of the myth is told. He either attempted to rape her and she killed him, she sent a scorpion to kill him for boasting that he would kill all the animals on earth, or Apollo tricked her into shooting him with an arrow. After his death, in all versions of the myth, he was made into a constellation. http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/coffeyartemis/artemis.html

Artemis plays a role in The Iliad as well. Agamemnon had angered Artemis by, depending on the account, killing one of her deer or by claiming after shooting a stag that not even Artemis could have done it.http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/coffeyartemis/artemis.html When he tries to sail to Troy, she calms the winds and will only allow them again if Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigeneia to her. Agamemnon agrees, but at the last moment Artemis changes her into a deer and sends her to Taurus to be one of her priestesses.http://www.arthistory.sbc.edu/imageswomen/papers/coffeyartemis/artemis.html During the Trojan War, Artemis sides with the Trojans along with Ares, Aphrodite and her twin Apollo. She meets Hera in combat but is driven from the battle field.http://www.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/info/index.php?page=iliad