The numerous epithets of Artemis (titles which are applied to her name) indicate the diversity of the goddess's functions and roles. A number of these epithets, called epicleses, were used in cult, while others appear only in literature.Martin Nilsson (1967), "Die Geschichte der Griechischen religion", C.H. Beck Verlag, Munchen, p.481-500
A-B Aeginaea, probably huntress of chamois or the wielder of the javelin, at Sparta However the word may mean "from the island Aegina", that relates Artemis with Aphaia (Britomartis).
Aetole, of Aetolia at Nafpaktos. A marble statue represented the goddess in the attitude of one hurling a javelin.
Agoraea, guardian of popular assemblies in Athens. She was considered to be the protector of the assemblies of the people in the agora. At Olympia the cult of "Artemis Agoraea" was related to the cult of Despoinai. (The double named goddesses Demeter and Persephone).Nilsson, "Geshichte", Vol I, p.494-500
Agrotera, the huntress of wild wood, in the Iliad and many cults. It was believed that she first hunted at Agrae of Athens after her arrival from Delos. There was a custom of making a "slaughter sacrifice", to the goddess before a battle. The deer always accompanies the goddess of hunting. Her epithet Agraea is similar with Agrotera.
Alphaea, in the district of Elis. The goddess had an annual festival at Olympia and a temple at Letrinoi near the river Alpheus.Nilsson, "Gescichte", Vol. I, p.488-493 At the festival of Letrinoi, the girls were dancing wearing masks. In the legend, Alphaea and her nymphs covered their faces with mud and the river god Alpheus, who was in love with her, could not distinguish her from the others. This explains, somehow, the clay masks at Sparta.Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.490-491
Amarynthia, or Amarysia, with a famous temple at Amarynthus near Eretria. The goddess was related to the animals, however she was also a healer goddess of women. She is identified with Kolainis.
Amphipyros, with fire at each end, a rare epithet of Artemis as bearing a torch in either hand. Sophocles calls her, "Elaphebolos, (deer slayer) Amphipyros", reminding the annual fire of the festival LaphriaNilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I p.495 A4 :Sophocles, Trach.205 Sophocles Trach.214 The adjective refers also to the twin fires of the two peaks of the Mount Parnassus above Delphi (Phaedriades).
Anaitis, in Lydia. The fame of Tauria (the Tauric goddess) was very high, and the Lydians claimed that the image of the goddess was among them. It was considered that the image had divine powers. The Athenians believed that the image became booty to the Persians and was carried from Brauron to Susa.
Angelos, messenger, envoy, title of Artemis at Syracuse in Sicily.Heschychius Schol.ad.Theocr. ii 12
Apanchomene, the strangled goddess, at Caphyae in Arcadia. She was a vegetation goddess related to the ecstatic tree cult. The Minoan tree goddesses Helene, Dentritis, and Ariadne were also hanged. This epithet is related to the old traditions where icons and puppets of a vegetation goddess would be hung on a tree. It was believed that the plane tree near the spring at Caphyae, was planted by Menelaus, the husband of Helen of Troy. The tree was called "Menelais". The previous name of the goddess was most likely Kondyleatis.Nillson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.315-317
Aphaea, or Apha, unseen or disappeared, a goddess at Aegina and a rare epithet of Artemis. Aphaea is identified with Britomartis. In the legend Britomartis (the sweet young woman) escaped from Minos, who fell in love with her. She travelled to Aegina on a wooden boat and then she disappeared. The myth indicates an identity in nature with Diktynna.
Aricina, derived from the town Aricia in Latium, or from Aricia, the wife of the Roman forest god Virbius (Hippolytus). The goddess was related with Artemis Tauria (the Tauric Artemis). Her statue was considered the same with the statue that Orestes brought from Tauris.Strabo Geographica vp 239 Near the sanctuary of the goddess there was a combat between slaves who had run away from their masters and the prize was the priesthood of Artemis.
Ariste, the best, a goddess of the women. Pausanias describes xoana of "Ariste" and "Kalliste" in the way to the academy of Athens and he believes that the names are surnames of the goddess Artemis, who is depicted carrying a torch.Heshych: Kalliste..... Hecate established in Kerameikos, who some call Artemis Kalliste is not related to Kalliste of Arcadia.
Aristobule, the best advisor, at Athens. The politician and general Themistocles built a temple of Artemis Aristobule near his house in the deme of Melite, in which he dedicated his own statue.Plutarch, Themistocles 22
Astrateia, she that stops an invasion, at Pyrrichos in Laconia. A wooden image (xoanon), was dedicated to the goddess, because she stopped the invasion of the Amazons in this area. Another xoanon represented "Apollo Amazonios".
Basileie, at Thrace and Paeonia. The women offered wheat stalks to the goddess. In this cult, which reached Athens, Artemis is relative to the Thracian goddess Bendis.Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I, p.823
Brauronia, worshipped at Brauron in Attica. Her cult is remarkable for the "arkteia", young girls who dressed with short saffron-yellow chitons and imitated bears (she-bears: arktoi).Blundell, Sue and Margaret Williamson, eds. The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge, 1998, 33 In the Acropolis of Athens, the Athenian girls before puberty should serve the goddess as "arktoi".Suidas s,v: " Arkteusai (being bears) ..... is established for the virgins before marriage at the temples of Artemis Mounychia and Brauronia Artemis was the goddess of marriage and childbirth. Genetyllis (Γενετυλλίς), was an epithet of her as a guardian of childbirth. The name of the small "bears" indicate the theriomorphic form of Artemis in an old pre-Greek cult. In the cult of Baubronia, the myth of the sacrifice of Iphigenia was represented in the ritual.Stinton, T. C. W. 1976 is. "Iphigeneia and the Bears of Brauron." The Classical Quarterly 26:11–13Euripides, "Iphigeneia among the Taurrians", 1446-1468
Bolosia and Mogostokos, of the birth pangs (bolae). Bolosia is mentioned in Procopius De Bellis. The other is a homeric epithet of Eileithyia, sometimes applied to Artemis.
Boulaia, of the council, in Athens.
Boulephoros, counselling, advising, at Miletus, probably a Greek form of the mother-goddess.Artemis the adviser, Skyris. (related to the family of Skyridai), a form of the mother-goddess: Nilsson, Geschichte, Vol I, p.498 A1
C-D Caryatis, the lady of the nut-tree, at Caryae on the borders between Laconia and Arcadia. Artemis was strongly related to the nymphs, and young girls were dancing the dance Caryatis. The dancers of Caryai were famous in antiquity. In a legend, Carya, the female lover of Dionysos was transformed into a nut tree and the dancers into nuts.Sarah Iles Johnston, Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece. (Berkeley: University of ~California Press), 1999:227 The city is considered to be the place of the origin of the bucolic (pastoral) songs.Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol. I, p. 482-487
Cedreatis, near Orchomenus in Arcadia. A xoanon was mounted on the holy cedar (kedros).
Chesias, from the name of a river at Samos.
Chitonia, wearing a loose tunic of the huntress, she was honored in festivals bearing the same name (Chitonia, Χιτώνια). These celebrations took place both in Syracuse in Sicily and in the Attic village of Chitone. The festival in Syracuse was notable for its distinctive dance and the use of flute music.
Chrisilakatos, of the golden arrow, in Homer's Iliad as a powerful goddess of hunting. In the Odyssey, she descends from a peak and travels along the ridges of Mount Erymanthos, that was sacred to the "Mistress of the animals". In a legend, when the old goddess became wrathful, she would send the terrible Erymanthian boar to lay waste to fields.Kerenyi, C. (1959), "The Heroes of the Greeks", pp. 148–151. Artemis can bring an immediate death with her arrows. In the Iliad, Hera stresses the wild and darker side of her character and she accuses her of being "a lioness between women".
Chrisinios, of the golden reins, as a goddess of hunting in her chariot. In the Iliad, in her wrath, she kills the daughter of Bellerophon.
Coryphaea, of the peak, at Epidaurus in Argolis. On the top of the mountain Coryphum there was a sanctuary of the goddess. The famous lyric poet Telesilla mentions "Artemis Coryphaea" in an ode.u Pausanias 2.28.2
Cnagia, near Sparta in Laconia. In a legend the native Cnageus was sold as a slave in Crete. He escaped to his country taking with him the virgin priestess of the goddess Artemis. The priestess carried with her from Crete the statue of the goddess, who was named Cnagia.
Cynthia, as goddess of the moon, from her birthplace on Mount Cynthos at Delos. Selene, the Greek personification of the moon, and the Roman Diana were also sometimes called Cynthia.
Daphnaea, as goddess of vegetation. Her name is most likely derived from the "laurel-branch" which was used as "May-branch",Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I, p.124 or an allusion to her statue being made of laurel-wood (daphne) Strabo refers to her annual festival at Olympia.
Delia, the feminine form of Apollo Delios
Delphinia, the feminine form of Apollo Delphinios (literally derived from Delphi).
Dereatis, at Sparta near Taygetos. Dancers were performing the obscene dance "kallabis".Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I, p.161
Diktynna, from Mount Dikti, who is identified with the Minoan goddess Britomartis. Her name is derived from the mountain Dikti in Crete. A folk etymology derives her name from the word "diktyon" (net).Nilsson, Geschichte Vol I, p.311-312 In the legend Britomartis (the sweet young woman) was hunting together with Artemis who loved her desperately. She escaped from Minos, who fell in love with her, by jumping into the sea and falling into a net of fishes.Calimachus: Hymn III V 189
E-H Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth in Boeotia and other local cults especially in Crete and Laconia. During the Bronze Age, in the cave of Amnisos, she was related to the annual birth of the divine child.Dietrich, "The origins of the Greek religion", p.109 In the Minoan myth the child was abandoned by his mother and then he was nurtured by the powers of nature.
Elaphia, goddess of hunting (deer). Strabo refers to her annual festival at Olympia.
Elaphebolos, shooter of deer, with the festival "Elaphebolia" at Phocis and Athens, and the name of a month in several local cults. Sophocles calls Artemis "Elaphebolos, Amphipyros", carrying a torch in each hand. This was used during the annual fire of the festival of Laphria at Delphi.Nilsson, "Geschichte", Vol I, p.495 -A4
Ephesia, at the city Ephesus of Minor Asia. The city was a great center of the cult of the goddess, with a magnificent temple, (Artemision). Ephesia belongs to the series of the Anatolian goddesses (Great mother, or mountain-mother). However she is not a mother-goddess, but the goddess of free nature. In the Homeric Ionic sphere she is the goddess of hunting.
Eucleia, as a goddess of marriage in Boeotia, Locris and other cities. Epheboi and girls who wanted to marry should make a preliminary sacrifice in honour of the goddess.proteleia gamon: sacrifices oferred before the marriage "Eukleios" was the name of a month in several cities and "Eucleia" was the name of a festival at Delphi.During the festival, the offerings darata correspond to the offerings gamela (offerings of marriage) during the Apaturia: Nilsson, Vol I, p 493. In Athens Peitho, Harmonia and Eucleia can create a good marriage. The bride would sacrifice to the virgin goddess Artemis. pp. 2–4,24
Eulochia see Lochia.