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Artemis: of Conservation Author(s): J. Donald Hughes Source: Forest & Conservation History, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Oct., 1990), pp. 191-197 Published by: Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3983705 . Accessed: 07/05/2014 23:17

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This content downloaded from 128.95.104.66 on Wed, 7 May 2014 23:17:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Goddess of Conservation

J. Donald Hughes

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The ancientGreeks represented the -I- ancientGreece resulted from the trans- spiritof conservationin the shape formationof a generaltype that had of a formidableprotectress of ani- existed for millennia. The mistressof mals and plants, the goddess Artemis. was believedto protectwild ani- In the Louvreone can view a striking mals in general,or certain species, and statueof Artemis(or as the Romans to exact retributionfrom huntersin called her, ) in a runningpose, cases of disrespector improperinjury known as the ,a or killing. She has been detectedas Roman copy of a Greekoriginali This early as the Paleolithicperiod. In the work of art displaystwo facetsof the DnieperValley, for example, archae- goddess, as huntressand protectress: ologists excavateda circleof mammoth though she is armedwith bow and ar- skulls arrangedaround a female statu- The Dianaof Versailles,a Roman copy of a rows, her hand restscherishingly on the ette. JosephCampbell, calling the stat- Greekoriginal of the goddess antler of the stag that runs beside her. Artemisaccompanied by a stag. Now in the uette "OurLady of the Mammoths," The Diana of Versaillesis only one ,, France. Copy of an illustra- remarks, "Who, . . . reading of the fig- of an innumerableseries of images in tion in MaximilienGauthier, The Louvre: ure amid the mammothskulls, does art, literature,and popularculture that Sculpture,Ceramics, Objets d'Art (New not think of Artemis as . . . the lady of revealfacets of this complex . Ar- York:Appleton-Century, 1964), p. 86. the wild things?"4 temis would be an importantfigure in In early art the lady of beasts is often intellectualhistory even if these images representedas standingbetween and wereonly mattersof artisticsymbolism. holding two animals, possibly with But Artemiswas morethan an artistic Artemis as Protectress of other animalspresent, often in pairs, symbol. The worshipof this goddess Wild Beasts includingbirds, , and fish. This involvedcustoms affecting the treatment motif occursas earlyas times: of living organisms,both as species Artemisis an example of one of the sculpturesof a regalgoddess figureen- and in communities,and the use of oldest figuresin the iconographyof thronedbetween two felines havebeen certaincategories of . Forexample, Europe,the Middle East, and beyond: found at Catal Huyuk, an Anatolian sanctuariesof Artemisand other gods the mistress(or master)of game, which farmingvillage of about 6000 B.C.5 often consistedof tractsof forestwhere has been noted amonghunting societies Anotherinstance of the archetypecan huntingof and other animalswas all overthe world. In ancientGreece, be found in a ceramicstatue of the god- forbidden.2Thus the study of her cult Artemiswas sometimesreferred to as dess of Minoan Creteholding a snakein is essentialfor understandingancient Theron (the lady of wild things, each hand, with a on her head.6 Greekattitudes and practicesrelating or mistressof beasts).3The Artemisof to wildlife, forests,and the wilderness. The notes to this articlebegin on page 196.

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This content downloaded from 128.95.104.66 on Wed, 7 May 2014 23:17:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions patcheda huge to sting him to death33 After his death, when he was made a ,Artemis put Taurusthe bull facinghim so he could not kill the Pleiades,who had been turnedinto wild doves04 But the most famousmortal to incur the ire of Artemiswas . As Sophoclestells it, "Whentaking his pleasurein her sacredgrove, he [Aga- memnon] startledan antleredstag with dappledhide, shot it, and shooting made some carelessboast.''15 In retalia- tion, Artemissent winds to preventthe *1 *. I'.' 'i-. t. *i.X, o sailingof the Greekarmada against until Agamemnonsacrificed his daugh- ter, ,"in quittancefor the wild creature'slife.''16 Drawing of a Greek vase from , ninth century B.C., showing the Mistress of Wild A favoritesubject of Greeksculptors Animals with animals, birds, and fish. Copy of an illustrationin Lewis RichardFarnell, The and painterswas the death of another Cults of the GreekStates (Oxford, England:Clarendon Press, 1896), vol. 2, plate XXIXa. hunter,. Artemis got rid of him by turninghim into a stag and havinghis A Greekvase dated from between900 pany with her followers,the wood own hounds tear him to pieces, sup- and 800 B.C. displaysa geometricde- ,among the beasts of the forests posedly becausehe saw her naked7 piction of Artemiswith her extended and mountains.As the Odysseyde- But the story of his spyingon the god- arms holding two birdsover two lions scribesit, dess is not found beforethe Hellenistic (or perhapswolves). To one side is a Artemisgoes along mountains, period, late in GreekhistoryY8 A plausi- bull'shead, and there is a largefish on Along the lofty Taygetosor Erimanthos, ble earlierversion of this might the lowerpart of her robe.7Archaic and Delightingin the boars and in the swift deer; have involvedActaeon's a deer classicalGreek art shows Artemismost And field-hauntingnymphs, daughters of - sacredto the goddess. In such a telling, bearingZeus, often in companywith , stags, Playwith her!0 the mannerof his death was a punish- hinds, and fawns, though she is also ment that truly fit the crime. Like Aga- seen with wild horses and bulls, lynxes Most favoredby Artemiswere ani- memnon, he had boasted to Artemisof and other wild , wolves, foxes, mals that had not been subjugatedby his huntingprowessO hares,water birds, and quails. humans. Indeed, she was closely iden- The archetypewas a mothergoddess, tified with them: a from displayingattributes of fecundityand portraysher with stag'santlers on her reproductivesexuality. Similar features headP1A more sinisterside of this iden- are displayedin some forms of Artemis tificationwas her vindictivepursuit that persistedinto the classicalGreek and punishmentof those who killed her il- period, such as the many-breastedAr- sacredcharges. There are numerous temis of the Ephesians.8This image is lustrationsof this in Greekmyth. One coveredwith animalsin high relief, such tale is the story of Teuthras,who includinglions, deer,oxen, and bees, chased a , which sought shel- to emphasizeArtemis's fecundity as ter in a sanctuaryof Artemisand ap- motherof living creatures.Though pealed to the hunterto spareits life Artemiswas certainlynot the only de- in the name of the goddess. When scendantof the primalmother goddess Teuthrasheedlessly slaughtered the in Greekmythology,9 she did most fully animal anyway,Artemis afflicted the embody one aspect often attributedto hunterwith leprousscabs and drove the mothergoddess: defenderof wild- him insane. Only plentifuland costly life. Eventhough she is usuallydepicted sacrificesoffered by Teuthras'smother in classicalGreek mythology as the soothed the angrygoddessY2 quintessentialvirgin, she nevertheless Another such tale is the story of the remainedpatroness of childbirthand mighty hunterOrion, who was Arte- Romancopy of thestatue of Artemisof guardianof the young. mis's companion until he boasted that ,a maternalfigure decorated with Accordingto ancientGreek writers, he would slay all the wild beasts on multiplebreasts and images of beesand otheranimals, in the Villaof , Artemisloved all wild creaturesand . Ratherthan allow so many spe- cies to be endangered,Artemis dis- Tivoli, .Photograph by PaulShepard, delightedin runningplayfully in com- used by permission.

192 Forest& Conservation History October 1990

This content downloaded from 128.95.104.66 on Wed, 7 May 2014 23:17:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The only who manageda suc- The environmentalrelevance of Ar- and valleyswere hers, forestsand cessful exploit with one of Artemis's temis'svirginity was that things sacred meadows. One of her sanctuarieswas sacredanimals without being punished to her, whether animals, forests,or a stretchof sand dunes;others were was ,whose third labor was mountains,must remainintact. "Who- marshes.32But Artemisalso held sacred the captureof the Cerynitianhind. everviolates her purity is condemned springsof water,streams, and rivers; This creaturewas largerthan a bull, had to death. This virginityis that of wild twenty rivernymphs were her atten- brazenhooves and, although female, nature,untamed like the goddess her- dants.33Clearing obstructions or pol- golden antlers.Heracles pursued the self.'23It is perhapsnot stretchingthe lution from a streamwas an act of deer for a year,until it collapsed in matterto suggestthat "thevirgin's for- obeisanceto Artemis.34At , wearinessand he was able to captureit. est" and "thevirgin forest"may be con- EpidaurosLimera, and Sicyonshe was Artemisforgave him becausehe had not nected, and that the lattermight well "ladyof the lake."35She loved the sea, killed it or spilled a drop of its blood.20 have derivedfrom the former.24 had maritimetitles, sharedtemples The mythspresented in Greeklitera- "[Artemis]is the goddess of un- with the sea god ,and was ture and art contain the tenets of the touchednature," says AndreBonnard.25 worshippedin mermaidshape.36 prehistoricnature religion of the ances- The image of the Artemisof Icariais As would be expected, the particular tral .In its early form, this was an unhewn, uncarvedblock of wood; speciesof treeschosen for Artemis not a religionwith a hierarchyand and the word hyle in Greekcan be used werewild ones. The , from books, but a body of traditions,, both for wood and the basic substance which the image of ArtemisOrthia at and ritualstransmitted orally. In classi- of nature.26As ChristineDowning says, Spartawas carved,is best known, but cal times, it survivedin folk culture, "Artemisis herselfthe wilderness,the many other specieswere associated influencedart and literature,and was an wild and untamed, and not simply its with her: cedar,myrtle, laurel (the activeforce that inhibitedexploitation mistress."27In termsof ancientreligious specialtree of her brother,), of wildlife. feeling,Artemis endowed the wilderness wild fig, nut-bearingtrees, and pine. Though Artemisinspired respect for with sacredness;in psychologicalterms, On Delos, at her birthplace,the Greeks animal life, she permittedthe hunt, she was the projectionof whateverit is revereda palm tree. providedthat the hunterobeyed the in the human psychethat finds the The very name "Artemis"may have rules and ritualsthat justifieda human's sacredand the inviolablein nature.28 derivedfrom the Greekterm for a sanc- obtainingnourishment by the ,the ancientauthor of a hand- tuary,, plural temene.Shepard of animal life. Beforekilling an animal, book on hunting,warned against incur- and Sandersmaintain that the firstpart a prudentGreek considered whether ring the wrathof nature'sgods: "Somen of "Artemis'ark-, derivesfrom arktos, the act would offend Artemis.Accord- who areinterested in huntingshould not which means ","and also occurs in ing to , a good hunterwould neglect Artemisof the wild . . . or any the names or titles Arklos and Arkas.37 sparevery young haresfor Artemis's other god of the mountains.If they do I suggestthat the second elementin the sake.2'Such preservationof young ani- neglect them, needs must that their en- goddess'sname, -tem-,comes from mals and pregnantfemales had the deavorsfall short of completion. Their temno, a verbmeaning "to cut"or "to effect of encouragingthe reproduction hounds will be injured,their horses divide, demarcate, aside" which is of game species. But a prudenthunter lamed; their men come to grief."29As the root of temenos, "sacredenclosure." took careeven in the case of a dangerous protectressof spacesthat were sacred Thus the etymologyof the name Ar- large animal prone to attack, because and wild, Artemispunished violators temis would be ark-temnis,"bear- Artemiswas known to send such crea- with her arrows,with the fierceanimals sanctuary,'or morefully paraphrased, turesto avengeaffronts to herselfor that obeyedher commands,with the "shewho establishes(or protects)the her protge's.22 winds, the plague, and with the dangers bear sanctuary."Such sanctuarieswere of childbirth,over which she presided. commonlyand most characteristically Artemisas Protedressof A hunterwhose wife had miscarriedin grovesof trees. his absencewould examine his own be- Comprehensiveregulations protected the Wildemess havior on the hunt for transgressions the grovesof the gods, includingthose Artemiswas protectressnot only of againstArtemis. of Artemis.These rules, intendedto wildlife but also of the wildernessitself. Artemisianwildlife refugescould not preservethe sanctuariesfrom destruc- Many of her sanctuariesexcluded the have been betterlocated if a modern tion, wereenforced both throughcivil woodcutter'stools as well as the hunter's land managerhad chosen them to rep- and religiouspenalties.38 The wildlife weapons. Artemis'srole in protecting resenteach Mediterraneanecosystem. that inhabitedsuch sacredlands were wildernessinvolves one of her con- Most sacredto Artemiswere the un- also protected.Hunting and fishing spicuous characteristics:her . spoiled landscapesof mountainsand were forbiddenor strictlyregulated. Though she was referredto as , forests.Myth says that when Artemis's Since the groveswere numerous and "thewild one" she was also referredto father,, allowedher to choose her often large, they protectedmany spe- as agne,"the pure,' and parthenia, own presentsas a girl, among her re- cies overa long period of time. The "thevirgin." quests were all the mountainsin the presenceof the formidablefigure of world.30Aeschylus calls her "thelady Artemisin the Greekpantheon in- of the wild mountains.'3'Certain hills hibitedhuman invasion of sacredforests

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Artemisas the Huntress As a huntress,39Artemis is often shown in sculptureand vase painting armedwith bow, arrows,and quiver, sometimesaccompanied by the hunting hounds given her by anothernature god, . Her title elapheboleliterally means "stag-shooter,'and she was also called tauropole(bull hunter)and kaprophage(wild-boar eater).40 She was said to have killed so many ani- mals that Apollo was able to build an altarout of their horns. At one of her festivals,adult men wore stags'antlers on their heads, which impliedtheir identificationwith the sacredanimal. At festivalswild animalswere sacrificedto the goddess, who was known to enjoy the chase and its fruits.Sometimes Reliefof Artemis, stag, worshipper,and childrenfrom the Templeof Artemis,. hunting in her precinctswas permitted Photographtaken byJ. Donald Hughes in the ArchaeologicalMuseum of Brauron, with the sole purposeof catchingani- by permission. mals for sacrificeto Artemis. Since Artemiswas goddess of the Artemisfor success and safety.Arrian's To quote LewisFarnell, "The aboriginal wild, domestic animalssuch as sheep huntinghandbook says, "Huntersmust Artemis ... [reflected]in her charac- and calveswere often taboo in her wor- pay homageto ArtemisAgrotera (She of ter the life of her worshipperswho ship, and the ox, horse, and pig were the Wild), must pour , crown [supported]themselves by hunting and rarelyoffered. The favoriteanimal for her, sing hymns and offer first-fruitsof fishingrather than by agriculture,. . . her ritualswas the , which easily the game taken.'42The month called and [gave]a peculiarstatus to women, becomes feral. On the other hand Artemisionin manycities was in and [her]religion was full of ideas re- may have been singled out for named Elaphebolion(the hunters' lating to totemism and the sacredchar- sacrificebecause they destroytrees and ). Huntersin Greekmythology acterof the clan-animal'"44 brush and were thereforeenemies of were both male and female. Many of One may deduce an unwrittenances- the wild woods that Artemisprotected. Artemis'scompanions were feminine tral Artemisian"hunters' code" that de- At Patrae,annual holocaustsof liv- hunting spirits,and Atalantathe Hunt- mandedrespect for animals and plants ing wild animalswere offeredto Ar- ress was a humanizedmanifestation of and permittedthe slayingof game only temis Laphria(Artemis the devourer).41 Artemisherself.43 becauseit was necessaryfor human Descriptionsof the scene sound appal- A protectressof wildlife who is her- beings to nourish themselves.What ling, with animalsescaping from the self a huntress,who grantssuccess in might be termedthe commandments flames only to be caught and thrown the hunt, and who acceptsor even of Artemis,that is, the rules and rituals back in. Such scenes representthe sin- demandsa portion of the hunter'sbag enjoinedupon huntersby traditionand ister side of the goddess, counterbal- as an offeringrequires explanation. custom, were intendedto demonstrate ancing the protectivestance examined What seems a paradoxto the modern reverencefor life and to heal the breach above. But such ritualswere not com- mind, however,is not one in primal provokedby its taking. Needless killing mon. In some festivalscakes in the huntingsocieties that see animalsnot and hurtingwere forbiddennot only shape of deer were substitutedfor real as game, nor as enemiesto be slain, out of sentiment,kindness to animals, animals. The real animalsmost com- but as powerfulbeings whose spiritual but also as a sacredobligation imposed monly sacrificedwere she-goats,whose protectorsmust be propitiated.Of by all the force and terriblesanctions reductionwould surelyhave been posi- course the culturalattitudes of classical of a religionof immemorialantiquity. tive for the Mediterraneanenviron- Greekhunters cannot be equatedwith This obligation could thereforecount ment. Fivehundred of them were slain those of the ancestralfolk. But Artemis on the support of both the hunter's in thanksgivingto Artemisfor the derivedfrom the primalhunters' reli- unconsciousmind and Greektradi- Athenianvictory at Marathonalone. gion, and her cult preservedbeliefs and tional culture. Artemiswas patronessof those who practicesof the Greeks'early forebears. The ancientreligious rituals associ- followedthe chase. Huntersprayed to ated with hunting, fishing, and gather-

194 Forest& Conservation History October 1990

This content downloaded from 128.95.104.66 on Wed, 7 May 2014 23:17:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ing containedan implicitethic of respect lanta the huntress,and the hind that fed beforepuberty- to undergoa period for other forms of life. The extent to Telephos,the son of , Artemis's of ritual'wildness.' "53 The paradig- which this ancestraltradition exercised priestessand alterego.49 Initiation matic age of initiationwas nine years, a hold on the Greekpsyche is illustrated ceremoniesfor maidensand youthswere but in practicethe girls rangedin age by an incidentrecorded by the historian, held in her honor in many cities, of from five to ten.54 Diodorus of Sicily.45Phintias, of which one example was the festivalof In the initiation, the goddess, the Acragas,dreamed that while he was on Arkteiaat the cult centerof Brauron, children,and the bear were "considered a boar hunt he was attackedand killed in ruralAttica outside Athens. to be as of one natureand called by the by a wild sow. Deeply troubled,he Arkteiawas celebratedevery four same name.'55Artemis was worshipped asked Artemis'said, promisingto issue years,at least duringthe fifth century, as the Great-She-Bearand the girls with the head of the goddess on althoughearlier it may have been an became her images, arktoi, sometimes one side and a wild boar'shead on the annual event.50During Arkteia, little wearingbear masks.56In the earliest other.No one had to tell Phintiaswhich girls, and sometimeslittle boys as well, days of the Brauronianfestival, the girls goddess sent the dream,or that she were symbolicallyadopted by Artemis were no doubt clothed in bearskin needed to be propitiated.Also signifi- as arktoi (bear cubs) and coveredwith robes, but by the fifth centurybears cant are Xenophon'scareful prescrip- symbolic bearskinrobes. The initiation were rarein ,57and the krokoton tions for the hunter,including building ceremonyat Brauronfostered a respect (a short, -yellowchiton), re- a to Artemisin the game park for animalsamong the young initiates. placed the furs, but continuedto sym- on his estate, offeringa portion of the There is archaeologicalevidence of bolize the bearskin.There was a sacred hunter'sbag or fisherman'screel to the the bear cult at Brauronfrom the eighth race of the little girls. They carriedbas- goddess, and refrainingfrom taking centuryB.C., althoughit could be older. kets, danced in honor of the GreatBear young animals." A similarsurvival of The site was a flourishingcenter far to the music of the diaulos (double ancestralattitudes was found amongthe back in the Neolithic and Mycenaean flute), and held torchesand wreaths rhizotomists,collectors of roots and periods.51Myth says the ceremony arounda fire altar that stood near the herbsfor medicinaland other purposes, originatedwhen two Athenianmen sacredpalm tree associatedwith Arte- who followedthe custom of leaving killed a bear sacredto the goddess, who mis'sbirth. The dance, also called "ark- offeringsof fruit or mealcakesto "pay" respondedby sendinga plague that teia' is representedin classicalvase for certainplants that they had uprooted would cease only if the Athenianswould paintings,and its slow, solemn steps, or cut.47 consecratetheir daughtersto her, "the with movementsimitating those of bear Artemis,"every five years.52 As bears, can be imagined. By dressing Artemisas Instrudorof Vidal-Naquetobserves, "The myth is and movinglike bears, the arktoi not difficultto explain:in exchangefor heightenedtheir sense of identification Children the very advanceof cultureimplied by with the animal. Artemiswas also known for her con- the killing of wild animals, an advance It is clear from the predominantplace cern for young childrenand particularly for which men are responsible,the girls given to little girls as arktoi in literature for inculcatingin them respectfor ani- are obliged beforemarriage -indeed and art that the ceremonywas intended mals. Artemis'sconcern with children is to be expected:she was a goddess of childbirth,and particularlytreasured female animals,pregnant women, and the young of all species, including human beings. As Aeschylusaddressed her, "Lovelyyou are and kind to the tenderyoung of raveninglions; for suck- I~~~~~ lings of all the savagebeasts that lurk in the lonely places you have sympathy." She "is angeredat [the hunter's]... hounds eating the unbornyoung in the hare.'48The omen that told Agamem- non and Menelausof Artemis'sdisfavor was two eagles rippingup a pregnant hare, a sight that would have been odi- ous to Artemis.In regardto humanchil- dren, one of her titles was paidotrophos (rearerof children).Sometimes she sent animals as foster mothersto suckle in- fants that had been exposed, as in the cases of the she-bearthat savedAta- Templeof Artemisat Brauron,Attica, .The site of the Arkteiaceremonies in which Athenianchildren honored Artemis by becoming "bears."Photograph by J. Donald Hughes.

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This content downloaded from 128.95.104.66 on Wed, 7 May 2014 23:17:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brauronwas a symbolicone of blood tuted an importantand heretofore from a small cut. The experienceof insufficientlynoticed example of envi- Brauronwas so importantthat it was ronmentaleducation in the classical impressedon the young Athenian Greekperiod. psycheby repetitionin the heart of the Other elementsof ancient Greekre- city at importantstages of adolescent ligion, such as the worshipof Pan and development.For older girls closer to Mother Earth, had some of the same the age of marriage,there was a renewal effectson conservationas worshipof z~~~~ of the Brauroninitiation. The cere- Artemis,but the study of the cult of mony in all its forms taught children Artemisis an essentialcomponent of the love of the wild, and as the goddess an analysisof the ancientGreeks' honored by the festival,Artemis can be stancetoward wildlife, forests,and seen as an early patronessof environ- the wilderness. A mentaleducation. Notes

Artemisas Goddessof 1. The figure,also called "TheHuntress Arte- Conservation mis;'was found at Gabies. See Maximilien Gauthier,The Louvre:Sculpture, Ceramics, Artemiswas a powerfulfigure in ObjetsdArt (New York:Appleton-Century, classicalmythology, and her influence 1964), p. 86. Statueof a "bear,"ayoung girl with a rabbit, on ancientattitudes and practiceswas 2. XenophonAnabasis 5.3.9-10; PausaniasDe- honoringArtemis, found at the Templeof But several of her scriptionof Greece7.27.1; Arrian of complex. aspects Alexander7.20. The Oxford ClassicalDic- Artemis,Brauron. Photograph taken by charactermoved those who worshipped tionary,2d edition, editedby N. G. L. Ham- J. DonaldHughes in theArchaeological her towardthe same goal: conservation. mond and H. H. Scullard(Oxford, England: Museumof Brauron,by permission. First,Artemis was a formidablede- ClarendonPress, 1970), gives standardedi- fenderof wild animalsand was believed tions and translationsfor each ancientauthor primarilyfor girls. But a few of the stat- at the end of the entryfor the author'sname, to punish those who killed them boast- and spells out abbreviationson pp. ix-xxii. ues and figureson pottery found at fully or imprudently.Thus her effect 3. E.g., 21.470. Brauronare of little boys holding ani- on those who reveredher was to in- 4. FranzHancar, "Zum Problem der Venusstat- mals and wearingmasks like their sis- hibit the thoughtlessdestruction of uen im eurasiatischenJungpalaeolithikum' ters, so it must also havebeen possible wildlife. Second, Artemispersonified PraehistorischeZeitschrift 30/31, 1/2 (1939-40): 106; noted in JosephCampbell, for boys to be initiatedif their parents the wilderness.She loved forestsand The Masks of God: PrimitiveMythology wished."8Although the major cere- mountainsand gave protectionto (Harmondsworth,United Kingdom: Penguin mony took place at Brauron,a very definedareas of sacredspace that func- Books, 1969), pp. 327-28. similarone was held in a sanctuaryat tioned as wild areasand wildlife sanc- S. JamesMellaart, Catal Huyuk: A Neolithic the harborof Mounichia,and another tuaries.Third, Artemisstood for ethical Townin (London, England: Thames and Hudson, 1967), plate 9. at the temple of ArtemisBrauronia on principlesin hunting and land manage- 6. ReynoldHiggins, Minoanand Mycenaean the AthenianAcropolis, where two ment. Derivedfrom the ideas of primal Art, 2d edition(New York:Oxford University small girls dressedas she-bearstook huntersand gathererswho saw animals Press,1981), p. 32, and plates3, 22, and 23. part in an annual festival.59In the ex- and other naturalthings as living, sen- 7. This Boeotianvase was found in the late cavationof the ,a small mar- tient, ensouled beings, these principles nineteenthcentury, and dates from sometime aroundthe ninth centuryB.C. See Lewis ble votiveoffering was found, a figure were sometimesechoed by the writers RichardFarnell, The Cultsof the Greek of a bear "seatedon its hind legs, one of classicaltreatises on hunting and States(Oxford, England:Clarendon Press, furrypaw stickingout.'60 agriculture.According to these treatises, 1896), 2:522-23 and plate 29a. Farnell The Brauroninitiation acted to in- a huntersetting forth had to be absti- identifiesthe carnivoresas lions, but their culcaterespect and even love for wild pointedears and tuftlesstails make them nent and pure, mindfulof the precepts look morelike wolvesto this author,who has creaturesin young children.The chil- of Artemis.61By stayingthe hunter's ponderedthe originalin the National Archae- drenwere given a sense of identification hand and saving some sections of the ological Museum in Athens.In vase painting with the bear in the enactmentsthat landscapefrom habitatdestruction, the of this period, lions are generallyshown with were part of the initiation, but there worshipof Artemissaved a significant prominentlytufted tails. 8. Anton Bammer,Das Heiligtumder Artemis was more. Reliefsdepict other animals, portion of the Greeklandscape from de- von Ephesos(Graz, Austria: Akademische especiallydeer and goats, presentwith spoliation for severalcenturies. Finally, Druckund Verlagsanstalt,1984), plate 138. the goddess and her worshippers,being Artemiswas a goddess of childbirth, 9. OtherGreek examples include but are not petted or fed. Statuesfound at Brauron child raising,and the inductionof chil- limitedto , , , ,and show childrenholding small animals dren into adolescenceand adulthood. even some aspectsof .See Christine Downing, The Goddess:Mythological such as haresand dovesin unmistakable The initiationceremonies of Artemis Imagesof the Feminine(New York:Cross- poses of affection, and even kissing Brauroniaheld by the Atheniansen- road, 1981). them. These were not animalsto be couragedyoung people to love and 10. Homer Odyssey6.101-9. The translation sacrificed-indeed, the only sacrificeat respectwild animals, and thus consti- hereis that of AlbertCook, Homer: The

196 Forest& Conservation History October 1990

This content downloaded from 128.95.104.66 on Wed, 7 May 2014 23:17:35 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions :A New VerseTranslation (New (Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 51. JohnJ. Coulton, The PrincetonEncyclopedia York:W. W. Norton, 1974), p. 81. For an 1985), pp. 120-21; and PhilipA. Stadter, of ClassicalSites, edited by RichardStilwell interestingif controversialrecent interpre- Arrianof Nicomedia(Chapel Hill: University (Princeton,New Jersey:Princeton University tation, see "Artemisand Ecology"in Pagan of North CarolinaPress, 1980), p. 56. Press,1976), sv. "Brauron"See also Kahil, ,by GinetteParis (Dallas, Texas: 30. CallimachusHymn to Artemis. "MythologicalRepertoire of Brauron, SpringPublications, 1986), pp. 109-10. 31. ,fragment 342; cf. , p. 232. No archaeologicaltrace of a cult ear- 11. Farnell,Cults of the GreekStates, 2:435. Thesmophoriazusae114-15. lier than the eighth centuryB.C. has as yet 12. PlutarchOn Rivers21. 32. Meadowsare mentionedin ,Hip- been discovered,but the site has not been 13. Scholiaston Nicander Theriaca15. polytus 75ff. Kahil's"Mythological Reper- completelyexcavated. See also Euripides (Astronomy4) says that made the toireof Brauron"discusses the sand dunes at Iphigeniain Tauris1446-67. boast in the presenceof Artemis,but that Halae (p. 238) and marshesat Brauronand 52. Farnell,Cults of the GreekStates, 2:435-37. Earth(Ge) sent the scorpion.See also Joseph Sparta(also p. 238). Marshesat are also Wewould say "everyfour years' since the Fontenrose,Orion: The Myth of the Hunter mentionedin Farnell,Cults of the Greek Greeksincluded the firstand last yearsof a and the Huntress, States,2:427. periodwhen counting.According to Athe- ClassicalStudies 23 (Berkeleyand Los Ange- 33. The springat is in Kahil,"Mythologi- nian mythography,the firstpriestess at les: Universityof CaliforniaPress, 1981), pp. cal Repertoireof Brauron'p. 238. Forthe Brauronwas Iphigenia,whose life was spared 13-15. RiverAlpheus as sacredto Artemis,see by Artemiswhen her father,Agamemnon, 14. HyginusPoetic Astronomy 2.34.; Theon On PausaniasDescription of Greece6.22.8-10. offeredher in sacrificeat Aulis. Accordingto Aratus638. 34. Paris,Pagan Meditations, p. 112. Euripides,Iphigenia brought the goddess's 15. SophoclesElectra 563-72. 35. PausaniasDescription of Greece2.7.6., wooden image from Tauristo Brauron.The 16. Ibid. 3.14.2., 3.23.10. Spartans,however, claimed it had become 17. ApollodorusBibliotheca 3.30. See Apollo- 36. Formaritime titles and sharedtemples, see theirimage of ArtemisOrthia, found by , The Libraryof GreekMythology, Farnell,Cults of the GreekStates, 2:429-30. Alopecus,"the Fox," in a sacredwillow tree translatedby KeithAldrich (Lawrence, Kan- On Artemisas a mermaidsee (PausaniasDescription of Greece3.16.9.). See sas: CoronadoPress, 1975), p. 61. Descriptionof Greece8.41.4. also RussellMeiggs, Treesand Timberin the 18. This is observedby Hugh Lloyd-Jones,"Arte- 37. PaulShepard and BarrySanders, The Sacred AncientMediterranean World (Oxford, mis and Iphigeneia,'Journal of Hellenic Paw: The Bearin Nature,Myth, and Litera- England:Clarendon Press, 1982), p. 304. Studies103 (1983):99. ture(New York:Viking, 1985), pp. 112-18. 53. Vidal-Naquet,The BlackHunter, p. 146. 19. EuripidesBacchae 337-40. Also see PierreVidal-Naquet, The Black 54. PaulaPerlman, in "PlatoLaws 833C-834D 20. ApollodorusBibliotheca 2.81-82. Hunter:Forms of Thoughtand Formsof and the Bearsof Brauron'Greek, Roman, 21. XenophonCynegeticus 5.14. Xenophon,a Societyin the GreekWorld (Baltimore, and ByzantineStudies 24 (March1983): typicalaristocratic Greek of the late classical Maryland:Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 115-30, rejectsthe usual interpretationgiven period, had a most conventionalattitude on 1983), pp. 145-46: "Thevery name of the hereand maintainsthat the arktoiwere "be- religiousmatters. animalthat the girls [the "Bears"at Brauron] tween the ages of ten and fourteenor fifteen" 22. As in the case of the Calydonianboar, sent representis that of the divinity,Artemis, (p. 116).But the statuesat Brauronclearly againstOeneus becausehe neglectedto sacri- goddessof wild nature."This is only one of show youngerchildren. See also Christiane fice to Artemis.This is a Homericstory, well severaletymologies, none of which has gained Sourvinou-Inwood,Studies in Girls'Transi- known to all classicalGreeks, many of universalacceptance. tions:Aspects of the Arkteiaand Age Repre- whom would havetaken it literally.Homer 38. See DariceElizabeth Birge, "Sacred Groves in sentationin Attic Iconography(Athens, Iliad 9.532. the AncientGreek World" (Ph.D. diss., Uni- Greece:Kardamitsa, 1988). 23. Lilly Kahil,"The Mythological Repertoire of versityof California,Berkeley, 1982); and 55. AristophanesLysistrata 641-48; see also Brauron,"chap. 15 of AncientGreek Art and J. Donald Hughes, "SacredGroves: The Downing, The Goddess,pp. 164-65. Kahil, Iconography,edited by WarrenG. Moon Gods, ForestProtection, and SustainedYield "MythologicalRepertoire of Brauron,pp. (Madison:University of WisconsinPress, in the AncientWorld," in Historyof Sustained- 235-37, calls it a mysterion,or mysterycult. 1983), p. 239. See also WalterE Otto, The YieldForestry: A ,edited by This was no doubt true in the sensethat it Homeric Gods: The SpiritualSignificance of HaroldK. Steen(Santa Cruz, California: was an initiationinto a stateof onenesswith GreekReligion (London, England: Thames ForestHistory Society,1984), pp. 331-43. the goddess, but possiblynot in the further and Hudson, 1954), p. 82: "Artemis'realm is 39. One Greekword for "huntress"is elaphebole, sensethat the child would haveto keepthe the ever-distantwilderness. With her remote- which literallymeans "deer-shooter."Many eventsof the ceremonyabsolutely secret. ness is connectedher virginity." classicists,too numerousto mention, also 56. Kahil,"Mythological Repertoire of Brauron,' 24. Paris,Pagan Meditations, pp. 113-15. give "huntress"as an alternatemeaning of p. 237. The masksare shown in vasepaintings. 25. AndreBonnard, quoted by Paris,Pagan agrotera,which literallymeans "sheof S7. They werenot extinctin Greece,as Lloyd- Meditations,p. 109. the wild." Jones assumes("Artemis and Iphigeneia,' 26. Farnell,Cults of the GreekStates, 2:520-21. 40. Farnell,Cults of the GreekStates, 2:432. p. 98); they still exist therein mountainous In the works of the philosophers,possibly the 41. PausaniasDescription of Greece7.18.12. A areastoday. Pythagoreansand certainlyAristotle and similarrite was held at Messenein honor of 58. Kahil,"Mythological Repertoire of Brauron, laterwriters, hyle is the basic substancethat ,goddess of childbirth,who is so p. 237. underliesall nature.See Timaeusof closely identifiedwith Artemisas to be a S9. ArtemisBrauronia was honoredon the Athe- PeriPsychas Kosmo kai Physios93b, which form of her (PausaniasDescription of Greece nianAcropolis in a stoa, or colonnadedporch, is a pseudonymouswork of the firstcentury 4.31.9.). which had two pedimentalends turnedfor- A.D., but may preservea genuineearlier 42. ArrianCynegetica 33. wardand decoratedas if they weretemple Pythagoreanuse of this word. 43. Carl Kerenyi,The Gods of the Greeks(Lon- entrances,as is the case with the Stoa of 27. Downing, The Goddess,p. 87. don, England:Thames and Hudson, 1951), Zeus in the . PausaniasDescription of 28. In Jung'spsychology the archetypeof the p. 43. Greece(1.23.7.) calls the one dedicatedto "Self'represents the sacredcharacter of the 44. Farnell,Cults of the GreekStates, 2:427. Artemisa hieron,or "temple." unconscious,which is also the part of the 45. TheophrastusHistoria Plantarum 9.8.7. 60. JaneEllen Harrison, :A Studyof the psychethat can be symbolizedby the forest 46. DiodorusSiculus WorldHistory 22.5. Social Originsof GreekReligion (Cleveland, or wilderness.See Carl G. Jung, Collected 47. XenophonCynegeticus 6.13. Ohio: WorldPublishing, 1962), pp. 84-85. Works,20 volumes(Princeton, New Jersey: 48. AeschylusAgamemnon 132-43. Harrisonherself found the votivebear. PrincetonUniversity Press, 1957-1979), 49. ApollodorusBihliotheca 3.104-5. 61. WalterBurkert, Structure and Historyin 5:391-93, 13:194-95. SO. So Lloyd-Jonesmaintains in "Artemisand GreekMythology and Ritual (Berkeleyand 29. Arrian, 35. See JohnKinloch Iphigeneia,"p. 92. Los Angeles:University of CaliforniaPress, Anderson,Hunting in the Ancient World 1979), p. 118.

Artemisand Conservation 197

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