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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 Laphria 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.
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.
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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. 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. Kalliste is not related to Kalliste of Arcadia.
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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.
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.
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). In the Acropolis of Athens, the Athenian girls before puberty should serve the goddess as "arktoi". Artemis was the goddess of marriage and 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.
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Boulaia, of the council, in Athens.
Boulephoros, counselling, advising, at Miletus, probably a Greek form of the mother-goddess.
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. The city is considered to be the place of the origin of the bucolic (pastoral) songs.
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, at Syracuse in Sicily, as goddess of hunting. The festival was distinguished by a peculiar dance and by a music on the flute.
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. 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".
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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.
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", or an allusion to her statue being made of laurel-wood (daphne) Strabo refers to her annual festival at Olympia.
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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".
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). 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.
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. 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.
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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.
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. "Eukleios" was the name of a month in several cities and "Eucleia" was the name of a festival at Delphi. In Athens Peitho, Harmonia and Eucleia can create a good marriage. The bride would sacrifice to the virgin goddess Artemis.
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Eupraxis, fine acting. On a relief from Sicily the goddess is depicted holding a torch in one hand and an offering on the other. The torch was used for the ignition of the fire on the altar.
Eurynome, wide ruling, at Phigalia in Arcadia. Her wooden image (xoanon) was bound with a roller golden chain. The xoanon depicted a woman's upper body and the lower body of a fish. Pausanias identifies her as one of the Oceanids daughters of Oceanus and Tethys
Hagemo, or Hegemone, leader, as the leader of the nymphs. Artemis was playing and dancing with the nymphs who lived near springs, waters and forests and she was hunting surrounded by them. The nymphs joined the festival of the marriage and then they returned to their original form. The pregnant women appealed to the nymphs for help. In Greek popular culture the commandress of the Neraiden (fairies) is called "Great lady", "Lady Kalo" or "Queen of the mountains".
Heleia, related to the marsh or meadow in Arcadia, Messenia and Kos.
Hemeresia, the soothing goddess worshipped at well Lusoi
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Heurippa, horse finder, at Pheneus in Arcadia. Her sanctuary was near the bronze statue of Poseidon Hippios (horse). In a legend, Odysseus lost his mares and travelled throughout Greece to find them. He found his mares at Pheneus, where he founded the temple of "Artemis Heurippa".
Hymnia, at Orchomenos in Boeotia. She was a goddess of dance and songs, especially of female choruses. The priestesses of Artemis Hymnia could not have a normal life like the other women. They were at first virgins and were to remain celibate in the priesthood. They could not use the same baths and they were not allowed to enter the house of a private man.
Iakinthotrophos, nurse of Hyacinthos at Knidos. Hyacinthos was a god of vegetation with Minoan origin. After his birth he was abandoned by his mother and then he was nurtured by Artemis who represents the first power of nature.
Imbrasia, from the name of a river at Samos.
Iocheaira, shooter of arrows by Homer (archer queen), as goddess of hunting. She has a wild character and Hera advises her to kill animals in the forest, instead of fighting with her superiors. Apollo and Artemis kill with their arrows the children of Niobe because she offended her mother Leto. In the European and Greek popular religion the arrow-shots from invisible beings can bring diseases and death.
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Issora, or Isora, at Sparta, with the surname Limnaia or Pitanitis. Issorium was a part of a great summit which advances into the level of Eurotas a Pausanias identifies her with the Minoan Britomartis.
Kalliste, the most beautiful, another form of Artemis with the shape of a bear at Tricoloni near Megalopolis a mountainous area full of wild beasts. Kallisto the attendant of Artemis, bore Arcas the patriarch of the Arcaden. In a legend Kallisto was transformed into a bear and in another myth Artemis shot her. Kallisto is a hypostasis of Artemis with a theriomorphic form from a pre-Greek cult.
'Keladeini, echoing chasing (noisy) in Homer's Iliad because she hunts wild boars and deer surrounded by her nymphs.
'Kithone, as a goddess of childbirth at Millet. Her name is probably derived from the custom of clothes consecration to the goddess, for a happy childbirth.
Kolainis, related with the animals at Euboea and Attica. At Eretria she had a major temple and she was called Amarysia. The goddess became a healer goddess of women.
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Kolias, in a cult of women. Men were excluded because the fertility of the earth was related to motherhood. Aristophanes mentions Kolias and "Genetyllis" who are accused for lack of restraint. Their cult had a very emotional character.
Kondyleatis, named after the village Kondylea, where she had a grove and a temple. In a legend some boys tied a rope around the image of the goddess and said that Artemis was hanged. The boys were killed by the inhabitants and this caused a divine punishment. All the women brought dead children in the world, until the boys were honourably buried. An annual sacrifice was instituted to the divine spirits of the boys. Kondyleatis was most likely the original name of Artemis Apanchomeni.
Kordaka, in Elis. Τhe dancers performed the obscene dance "kordaka", which is considered the origin of the dance of the old comedy. The dance is famous for its nudge and hilarity and gave the name to the goddess.
Korythalia, derived from "Korythale", probably the "laurel May-branch", as a goddess of vegetation at Sparta. The epheboi and the girls who entered the marriage age placed the "Korythale" in front of the door of the house. In the cult the female dancers (famous in the antiquity) performed boisterous dances and were called "Korythalistriai". In Italy, the male dancers wore wooden masks and they were called "kyrritoi" (pushing with the horns).
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Kourotrophos, protector of children. During the Apaturia the front hair of young girls and young boys (koureion) were offered to the goddess.
Laphria, the mistress of the animals (Pre-Greek name) in many cults, especially in central Greece, Phocis and Patras. "Laphria" was the name of the festival. The characteristic rite was the annual fire and there was a custom to throw animals alive in the flames during the fest. The cult of "Laphria" at Patras was transferred from the city Calydon of Aetolia In a legend during the Calydonian boar hunt the fierce-huntress Atalanta was the first who wounded the boar. Atalanta was a Greek heroine, symbolizing the free nature and independence
Lecho, protector of a woman in childbed, or of one who has just given birth.
Leukophryene, derived from the city Leucophrys in Magnesia of Ionia. The original form of the cult of the goddess is unknown, however it seems that once the character of the goddess was similar with her character in Peloponnese.
Limnaia, of the marsh, at Sparta, with a swimming place "Limnaion". (λίμνη: lake).
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Limnatis, of the marsh and the lake, at Patras, Ancient Messene and many local cults. During the festival, the Messenian young ladies were violated. Cymbals have been found around the temple, indicating that the festival was celebrated with dances.
Lochia, as goddess of childbirth and midwifery. Women consecrated clothes to the goddess for a happy childbirth. Other less common epithets of Artemis as goddess of childbirth are Eulochia and Geneteira.
Lousia, bather or purifier, as a healer goddess at Lusoi in Arcadia, where Melampus healed the Proitiden.
Lyaia, at Syracuse in Sicily. (Spartan colony). There is a clear influence from the cult of Artemis Caryatis in Laconia. The Sicilian songs were transformed songs from the Laconic bucolic (pastoral) songs at Caryai.
Lyceia, of the wolf or with a helmet of a wolf skin, at Troezen in Argolis. It was believed that her temple was built by the hunter Hippolytus who abstained from sex and marriage. Lyceia was probably a surname of Artemis among the Amazons from whom Hippolytus descended from his mother. (Hippolyta).
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Lycoatis, with a bronze statue at the city Lycoa in Arcadia. The city was near the foot of the mountain Mainalo, which was sacred to, Pan. On the south slope the Mantineians fetched the bones of Arcas, the son of Kallisto.(Kalliste).
Lygodesma, willow bound, at Sparta (another name of Orthia). In a legend her image was discovered in a thicket of willows. standing upright (orthia).
Melissa, bee or beauty of nature, as a moon goddess. In Neoplatonic philosophy melissa is any pure being of souls coming to birth. The goddess took suffering away from mothers giving birth. It was Melissa who drew souls coming to birth.
Molpadia, singer of divine songs, a rare epithet of Artemis as a goddess of dances and songs and leader of the nymphs. In a legend Molpadia was an Amazon. During the Attic war she killed Antiope to save her by the Athenian king Theseus, but she was killed by Theseus.
Munichia, in a cult at Piraeus, related to the "arkteia" of Brauronian Artemis. According to legend, if someone killed a bear, he should be punished by sacrificing his daughter in the sanctuary. Embaros disguised his daughter by dressing her like a bear (arktos), and hid her in the adyton. He placed a goat on the altar and he sacrificed the goat instead of his daughter.
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Mysia, with a temple on the road from Sparta to Arcadia near the "Tomb of the Horse".
Oenoatis, derived from the city Oenoe in Argolis. Above the town there was the mountain Artemisium, with the temple of the goddess on the summit.
In a Greek legend the mountain was the place where Heracles chased and captured the terrible Ceryneian Hind, an enormous female deer with golden antlers and hooves of bronze. The deer was sacred to Artemis.
Orthia, upright, with a famous festival at Sparta. Her cult was introduced by the Dorians. She was worshipped as a goddess of vegetation in an orgiastic cult with boisterous cyclic dances.
Among the offerings, there were terracotta masks representing grotesque faces and it seems that animal-masks were also used. In literature there was a great fight for taking the pieces of cheese that were offered to the goddess. The whipping of the epheboi near the altar was a ritual of initiation, preparing them for their future life as soldiers. During this ritual the altar was full of blood.
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Paidotrophos, protector of children at Corone in Messenia. During a festival of Korythalia the wet-nurses brought the infants in the sanctuary of the goddess, to get her protection.
Peitho, Persuasion, at the city Argos in Argolis. Her sanctuary was in the market place. In Pelopponnese Peitho is related to Artemis. In Athens Peitho is the consensual force in civilized society and emphasizes civic armony.
Pergaia, who was worshipped at Pamphylia of Ionia. A famous annual festival was celebrated in honor of Artemis in the city Perga. Filial cults existed in Pisidia, north of Pamphylia.
Pheraia, from the city Pherai, at Argos, Athens and Sicyon. It was believed that the image of the goddess was brought from the city Pherai of Thessaly. This conception relates Artemis with the distinctly Thessalian goddess Enodia. Enodia had similar functions with Hecate and she carried the common epithet "Pheraia".
Phakelitis, of the bundle, at Tyndaris in Sicily. In the local legend the image of the goddess was found in a bundle of dry sticks.
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Phoebe, bright, as a moon goddess sister of Phoebus. The epithet Phoebe is also given to the moon goddess Selene.
Phosphoros, carrier of light. In Ancient Messene she is carrying a torch as a moon-goddess and she is identified with Hecate.
Polo, in Thasos, with inscriptions and statues from the Hellenistic and Roman period. The name is probably related to "parthenos" (virgin).
Potamia, of the river, at Ortygia in Sicily. In a legend Arethusa, was a chaste nymph and tried to escape from the river god Alpheus who fell in love with her. She was transformed by Artemis into a stream, traversed underground and appeared at Ortygia, thus providing water for the city. Ovid calls Arethusa, "Alfeias" (Alfaea) (of the river god).
Potnia Theron, mistress of the animals. The origin of her cult is Pre-Greek and the term is used by Homer for the goddess of hunting. Potnia was the name of the Mycenean goddess of nature. In the earliest Minoan conceptions the "Master of the animals" is depicted between lions and daimons (Minoan Genius). Sometimes "potnia theron" is depicted with the head of a Gorgon, who is her distant ancestor. She is the only Greek goddess who stands close to the daimons and she has a wild side which differentiates her from other Greek gods. In the Greek legends when the goddess was offended she would send terrible animals like the Erymanthian boar and Calydonian boar to laid waste the farmer's land, or voracious birds like the Stymphalian birds to attack farms and humans. In Arcadia and during the festival of Laphria, there is evidence of barbaric animal sacrifices.
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Pythia, as a goddess worshipped at Delphi.
Saronia, of Saron, at Troezen across the Saronic gulf. In a legend the king Saron was chasing a doe that dashed into the sea. He followed the doe in the waters and he was drowned in the waves of the sea. He gave his name to the Saronic gulf.
Selasphoros, carrier of light, flame, as a moon-goddess identified with Hecate, in the cult of Munichia at Piraeus.
Soteira (Kore Soteira), Kore saviour, at Phigalia. In Arcadia the mistress of the animals is the first nymph closely related to the springs and the animals, in a surrounding of animal-headed daimons. At Lycosura Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch and dressed with a deer skin, besides Demeter and Persephone. It was said that she was not the daughter of Leto, but the daughter of Demeter.
Stymphalia, of Stymphalus, a city in Arcadia. In a legend the water of the river descended in a chasm which was clogged up and the water overflowed creating a big marsh on the plain. A hunter was chasing a deer and both fell into the mud at the bottom of the chasm. The next day the whole water of the marsh dried up and the land was cultivated. The monstrous man eating Stymphalian birds that were killed by Heracles were considered birds of Artemis.
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Tauria, or Tauro (the Tauric goddess), from the Tauri or of the bull. Euripides mentions the image of "Artemis Tauria". It was believed that the image of the goddess had divine powers. Her image was considered to have been carried from Tauris by Orestes and Iphigenia and was brought to Brauron, Sparta or Aricia.
Tauropolos, usually interpreted as hunting bull goddess. Tauropolos was not original in Greece and she has similar functions with foreign goddesses, especially with the mythical bull-goddess. The cult can be identified at Halae Araphenides in Attica. At the end of the peculiar festival, a man was sacrificed. He was killed in the ritual with a sword cutting his throat. Strabo mentions that during the night-fest of Tauropolia a girl was raped.
Thermia, as a healer goddess at Lousoi in Arcadia, where Melampus healed the Proitiden.
Toxia, or Toxitis, bowstring in torsion, as goddess of hunting in the island of Kos and at Gortyn. She is the sister of "Apollo Toxias".
Triclaria, at Patras. Her cult was superimposed on the cult of Dionysos "Aisemnetis". During the festival of the god the children were wearing garlands of corn-ears. In a ritual they laid them aside to the goddess Artemis. Triclaria was a priestess of Artemis who made love with her lover in the sanctuary. They were punished to be sacrificed in the temple and each year the people should sacrifice a couple to the goddess. Europylus came carrying a chest with the image of Dionysos who put an end to the killings.
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Issoria (Ἰσσωρία), a name given to her from her shrine at Mount Issorion in Laconia.
Mythology.
Birth.
Various conflicting accounts are given in Greek mythology regarding the birth of Artemis and Apollo, her twin brother. In terms of parentage, though, all accounts agree that she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and that she was the twin sister of Apollo. In some sources, she is born at the same time as Apollo; but in others, earlier or later.
Although traditionally stated to be twins, the author of "The Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo" (the oldest extant account of Leto's wandering and birth of her children) is only concerned with the birth of Apollo, and sidelines Artemis; in fact in the Homeric Hymn they are not stated to be twins at all.
It is a slightly later poet, Pindar, who speaks of a single pregnancy. The two earliest poets, Homer and Hesiod, confirm Artemis and Apollo's status as full siblings born to the same mother and father, but neither explicitly makes them twins.
According to Callimachus, Hera, who was angry with her husband Zeus for impregnating Leto, forbade her from giving birth on either "terra firma" (the mainland) or on an island, but the island of Delos disobeyed and allowed Leto to give birth there. According to some, this rooted the once freely floating island to one place.
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According to the Homeric Hymn to Artemis, however, the island where she and her twin were born was Ortygia. In ancient Cretan history, Leto was worshipped at Phaistos, and in Cretan mythology, Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis on the islands known today as Paximadia .
A "scholium" of Servius on "Aeneid" iii. 72 accounts for the island's archaic name Ortygia by asserting that Zeus transformed Leto into a quail ("ortux") to prevent Hera from finding out about his infidelity, and Kenneth McLeish suggested further that in quail form, Leto would have given birth with as few birth-pains as a mother quail suffers when she lays an egg.
The myths also differ as to whether Artemis was born first, or Apollo. Most stories depict Artemis as firstborn, becoming her mother's midwife upon the birth of her brother Apollo. Servius, a late fourth/early fifth-century grammarian, wrote that Artemis was born first because at first it was night, whose instrument is the Moon, which Artemis represents, and then day, whose instrument is the Sun, which Apollo represents. Pindar however writes that both twins shone like the Sun when they came into the bright light.
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After their troubling childbirth, Leto took the twin infants and crossed over to Lycia, in the southwest corner of Asia Minor, where she tried to drink from and bathe the babies in a spring she found there. However, the local Lycian peasants tried to prevent the twins and their mother from making use of the water by stirring up the muddy bottom of the spring, so the three of them could not drink it. Leto, in her anger that the impious Lycians had refused to offer hospitality to a fatigued mother and her thirsty infants, transformed them all into frogs, forever doomed to swim and hop around the spring.
Relations with men.
The river god Alpheus was in love with Artemis, but as he realized he could do nothing to win her heart, he decided to capture her. When Artemis and her companions at Letrenoi go to Alpheus, she becomes suspicious of his motives and covers her face with mud so he does not recognize her. In another story, Alphaeus tries to rape Artemis' attendant Arethusa. Artemis pities the girl and saves her, transforming her into a spring in the temple Artemis Alphaea in Letrini, where the goddess and her attendant drink.
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Bouphagos, son of the Titan Iapetus, sees Artemis and thinks about raping her. Reading his sinful thoughts, Artemis strikes him down at Mount Pholoe.
Daphnis was a young boy, a son of Hermes, who was accepted by and became a follower of the goddess Artemis; Daphnis would often accompany her in hunting and entertain her with his singing of pastoral songs and playing of the panpipes.
Artemis taught a man, Scamandrius, how to be a great archer, and he excelled in the use of a bow and arrow with her guidance.
Broteas was a famous hunter who refused to honour Artemis, and boasted that nothing could harm him, not even fire. Artemis then drove him mad, causing him to walk into fire, ending his life.
According to Antoninus Liberalis, Siproites was a Cretan who was metamorphized into a woman by Artemis, for, while hunting, seeing the goddess bathing. Artemis also changed a Calydonian man named Calydon, the son of Ares and Astynome, into stone when he saw the goddess bathing naked.
Divine retribution.
Actaeon.
Multiple versions of the Actaeon myth survive, though many are fragmentary. The details vary but at the core, they involve the great hunter Actaeon whom Artemis turns into a stag for a transgression, and who is then killed by hunting dogs. Usually, the dogs are his own, but no longer recognize their master. Occasionally they are said to be the hounds of Artemis.
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Various tellings diverge in terms of the hunter's transgression: sometimes merely seeing the virgin goddess naked, sometimes boasting he is a better hunter than she, or even merely being a rival of Zeus for the affections of Semele. Apollodorus, who records the Semele version, notes that the ones with Artemis are more common.
According to Lamar Ronald Lacey's "The Myth of Aktaion: Literary and Iconographic Studies", the standard modern text on the work, the most likely original version of the myth portrays Actaeon as the hunting companion of the goddess who, seeing her naked in her sacred spring, attempts to force himself on her. For this hubris, he is turned into a stag and devoured by his own hounds. However, in some surviving versions, Actaeon is a stranger who happens upon Artemis.
A single line from Aeschylus's now lost play "Toxotides" ("female archers") is among the earlier attestations of Actaeon's myth, stating that "the dogs destroyed their master utterly", with no confirmation of Actaeon's metamorphosis or the god he offended (but it is heavily implied to be Artemis, due to the title). Ancient artwork depicting the myth of Actaeon predate Aeschylus. Euripides, coming in a bit later, wrote in the "Bacchae" that Actaeon was torn to shreds and perhaps devoured by his "flesh-eating" hunting dogs when he claimed to be a better hunter than Artemis. Like Aeschylus, he does not mention Actaeon being deer-shaped when that happens. Callimachus writes that Actaeon chanced upon Artemis bathing in the woods, and she caused him to be devoured by his own hounds for the sacrilege, and he makes no mention of transformation into a deer either.
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Diodorus Siculus wrote that Actaeon dedicated his prizes in hunting to Artemis, proposed marriage to her, and even tried to forcefully consummate said "marriage" inside the very sacred temple of the goddess; for this he was given the form "of one of the animals which he was wont to hunt", and then torn to shreds by his hunting dogs. Diodorus also mentioned the alternative of Actaeon claiming to be a better hunter than the goddess of the hunt. Hyginus also mentions Actaeon attempting to rape Artemis when he finds her bathing naked, and her transforming him into the doomed deer.
Apollodorus wrote that when Actaeon saw Artemis bathing, she turned him into a deer on the spot, and intentionally drove his dogs into a frenzy so that they would kill and devour him. Afterward, Chiron built a sculpture of Actaeon to comfort his dogs in their grief, as they could not find their master no matter how much they looked for him.
According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman Ovid, Actaeon was a hunter who after returning home from a long day's hunting in the woods, he stumbled upon Artemis and her retinue of nymphs bathing in her sacred grotto. The nymphs, panicking, rushed to cover Artemis' naked body with their own, as Artemis splashed some water on Actaeon, saying he was welcome to share with everyone the tale of seeing her without any clothes as long as he could share it at all. Immediately, he was transformed into a deer, and in panic ran away. But he did not go far, as he was hunted down and eventually caught and devoured by his own fifty hunting dogs, who could not recognize their own master.
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Pausanias says that Actaeon saw Artemis naked and that she threw a deerskin on him so that his hounds would kill him, in order to prevent him from marrying Semele.
Niobe.
The story of Niobe, queen of Thebes and wife of Amphion, who blasphemously boasted of being superior to Leto. This myth is very old; Homer knew of it and wrote that Niobe had given birth to twelve children, equally divided in six sons and six daughters (the Niobids).
Other sources speak of fourteen children, seven sons, and seven daughters. Niobe claimed of being a better mother than Leto, for having more children than Leto's own two, "but the two, though they were only two, destroyed all those others." Leto was not slow to catch up on that and grew angry at the queen's hubris. She summoned her children and commanded them to avenge the slight against her.
Swiftly Apollo and Artemis descended on Thebes. While the sons were hunting in the woods, Apollo crept up on them and slew all seven with his silver bow. The dead bodies were brought to the palace. Niobe wept for them, but did not relent, saying that even now she was better than Leto, for she still had seven children, her daughters.
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On cue, Artemis then started shooting the daughters one by one. Right as Niobe begged for her youngest one to be spared, Artemis killed that last one. Niobe cried bitter tears, and was turned into a rock. Amphion, at the sight of his dead sons, killed himself. The gods themselves entombed them. In some versions, Apollo and Artemis spared a single son and daughter each, for they prayed to Leto for help; thus Niobe had as many children as Leto did, but no more.
Orion.
Orion was Artemis' hunting companion; after giving up on trying to find Oenopion, Orion met Artemis and her mother Leto, and joined the goddess in hunting. A great hunter himself, he bragged that he would kill every beast on earth. Gaia, the earth, was not too pleased to hear that, and sent a giant scorpion to sting him. Artemis then transferred him into the stars as the constellation Orion. In one version Orion died after pushing Leto out of the scorpion's way.
In another version, Orion tries to violate Opis, one of Artemis' followers from Hyperborea, and Artemis kills him. In a version by Aratus, Orion grabs Artemis' robe and she kills him in self-defense. Other writers have Artemis kill him for trying to rape her or one of her attendants.
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Istrus wrote a version in which Artemis fell in love with Orion, apparently the only time Artemis ever fell in love. She meant to marry him, and no talk from her brother Apollo would change her mind. Apollo then decided to trick Artemis, and while Orion was off swimming in the sea, he pointed at him (barely a spot in the horizon) and wagered that Artemis could not hit that small "dot". Artemis, ever eager to prove she was the better archer, shot Orion, killing him. She then placed him among the stars.
In Homer's "Iliad", the goddess of the dawn Eos seduces Orion, angering the gods who did not approve of immortal goddesses taking mortal men for lovers, causing Artemis to shoot and kill him on the island of Ortygia.
Callisto.
Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon, King of Arcadia,
was one of Artemis' hunting attendants, and, as a companion of Artemis, took a vow of chastity.
According to Hesiod in his lost poem "Astronomia", Zeus appeared to Callisto, and seduced her, resulting in her becoming pregnant. Though she was able to hide her pregnancy for a time, she was soon found out while bathing. Enraged, Artemis transformed Callisto into a bear, and in this form she gave birth to her son Arcas. Both of them were then captured by shepherds and given to Lycaon, and Callisto thus lost her child. Sometime later, Callisto "thought fit to go into" a forbidden sanctuary of Zeus, and was hunted by the Arcadians, her son among them. When she was about to be killed, Zeus saved her by placing her in the heavens as a constellation of a bear.
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In his "De astronomia", Hyginus, after recounting the version from Hesiod, presents several other alternative versions. The first, which he attributes to Amphis, says that Zeus seduced Callisto by disguising himself as Artemis during a hunting session, and that when Artemis found out that Callisto was pregnant, she replied saying that it was the goddess's fault, causing Artemis to transform her into a bear. This version also has both Callisto and Arcas placed in the heavens, as the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Hyginus then presents another version in which, after Zeus lay with Callisto, it was Hera who transformed her into a bear. Artemis later, while hunting, kills the bear, and "later, on being recognized, Callisto was placed among the stars". Hyginus also gives another version, in which Hera tries to catch Zeus and Callisto in the act, causing Zeus to transform her into a bear. Hera, finding the bear, points it out to Artemis, who is hunting; Zeus, in panic, places Callisto in the heavens as a constellation.
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Ovid gives a somewhat different version: Zeus seduced Callisto once again disguised as Artemis, but she seems to realise that it is not the real Artemis, and she thus does not blame Artemis when, during bathing, she is found out. Callisto is, rather than being transformed, simply ousted from the company of the huntresses, and she thus gives birth to Arcas as a human. Only later is she transformed into a bear, this time by Hera. When Arcas, fully grown, is out hunting, he nearly kills his mother, who is saved only by Zeus placing her in the heavens.
In the "Bibliotheca", a version is presented in which Zeus raped Callisto, "having assumed the likeness, as some say, of Artemis, or, as others say, of Apollo". He then turned her into a bear himself so as to hide the event from Hera. Artemis then shot the bear, either upon the persuasion of Hera, or out of anger at Callisto for breaking her virginity. Once Callisto was dead, Zeus made her into a constellation, took the child, named him Arcas, and gave him to Maia, who raised him.
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Pausanias, in his "Description of Greece", presents another version, in which, after Zeus seduced Callisto, Hera turned her into a bear, which Artemis killed to please Hera. Hermes was then sent by Zeus to take Arcas, and Zeus himself placed Callisto in the heavens.
Minor myths.
When Zeus' gigantic son Tityos tried to rape Leto, she called out to her children for help, and both Artemis and Apollo were quick to respond by raining down their arrows on Tityos, killing him.
Chione was a princess of Phokis. She was beloved by two gods, Hermes and Apollo, and boasted that she was more beautiful than Artemis because she had made two gods fall in love with her at once. Artemis was furious and killed Chione with an arrow, or struck her mute by shooting off her tongue. However, some versions of this myth say Apollo and Hermes protected her from Artemis' wrath.
Artemis saved the infant Atalanta from dying of exposure after her father abandoned her. She sent a female bear to nurse the baby, who was then raised by hunters. In some stories, Artemis later sent a bear to injure Atalanta because others claimed Atalanta was a superior hunter. Among other adventures, Atalanta participated in the Calydonian boar hunt, which Artemis had sent to destroy Calydon because King Oeneus had forgotten her at the harvest sacrifices.
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In the hunt, Atalanta drew the first blood and was awarded the prize of the boar's hide. She hung it in a sacred grove at Tegea as a dedication to Artemis. Meleager was a hero of Aetolia. King Oeneus ordered him to gather heroes from all over Greece to hunt the Calydonian boar. After the death of Meleager, Artemis turns his grieving sisters, the Meleagrids, into guineafowl that Artemis favoured.
In Nonnus' "Dionysiaca", Aura, the daughter of Lelantos and Periboia, was a companion of Artemis. When out hunting one day with Artemis, she asserts that the goddess's voluptuous body and breasts are too womanly and sensual, and doubts her virginity, arguing that her own lithe body and man-like breasts are better than Artemis' and a true symbol of her own chastity. In anger, Artemis asks Nemesis for help to avenge her dignity. Nemesis agrees, telling Artemis that Aura's punishment will be to lose her virginity, since she dared question that of Artemis.
Nemesis then arranges for Eros to make Dionysus fall in love with Aura. Dionysus intoxicates Aura and rapes her as she lies unconscious, after which she becomes a deranged killer. While pregnant, she tries to kill herself or cut open her belly, as Artemis mocks her over it. When she bore twin sons, she ate one, while the other, Iacchus, was saved by Artemis.
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The twin sons of Poseidon and Iphimedeia, Otos and Ephialtes, grew enormously at a young age. They were aggressive and skilled hunters who could not be killed except by each other. The growth of the Aloadae never stopped, and they boasted that as soon as they could reach heaven, they would kidnap Artemis and Hera and take them as wives. The gods were afraid of them, except for Artemis who captured a fine deer that jumped out between them. In another version of the story, she changed herself into a doe and jumped between them.
The Aloadae threw their spears and so mistakenly killed one another. In another version, Apollo sent the deer into the Aloadae's midst, causing their accidental killing of each other. In another version, they start pilling up mountains to reach Mount Olympus in order to catch Hera and Artemis, but the gods spot them and attack. When the twins had retreated the gods learnt that Ares had been captured. The Aloadae, not sure about what to do with Ares, lock him up in a pot. Artemis then turns into a deer and causes them to kill each other.
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In some versions of the story of Adonis, Artemis sent a wild boar to kill him as punishment for boasting that he was a better hunter than her. In other versions, Artemis killed Adonis for revenge. In later myths, Adonis is a favorite of Aphrodite, who was responsible for the death of Hippolytus, who had been a hunter of Artemis. Therefore, Artemis killed Adonis to avenge Hippolytus's death. In yet another version, Adonis was not killed by Artemis, but by Ares as punishment for being with Aphrodite.
Polyphonte was a young woman who fled home in pursuit of a free, virginal life with Artemis, as opposed to the conventional life of marriage and children favoured by Aphrodite. As a punishment, Aphrodite cursed her, causing her to mate and have children with a bear. Artemis, seeing that, was disgusted and sent a horde of wild animals against her, causing Polyphonte to flee to her father's house. Her resulting offspring, Agrius and Oreius, were wild cannibals who incurred the hatred of Zeus. Ultimately the entire family was transformed into birds who became ill portents for mankind.
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Coronis was a princess from Thessaly who became the lover of Apollo and fell pregnant. While Apollo was away, Coronis began an affair with a mortal man named Ischys. When Apollo learnt of this, he sent Artemis to kill the pregnant Coronis, or Artemis had the initiative to kill Coronis on her own accord for the insult done against her brother. The unborn child, Asclepius, was later removed from his dead mother's womb.
When two of her hunting companions who had sworn to remain chaste and be devoted to her, Rhodopis and Euthynicus, fell in love with each other and broke their vows in a cavern, Artemis turned Rhodopis into a fountain inside that very cavern as punishment. The two had fallen in love not on their own but only after Eros had struck them with his love arrows, commanded by his mother Aphrodite, who had taken offence in that Rhodopis and Euthynicus rejected love and marriage in favour of a chaste life.
When the monstrous Typhon attacked Olympus, all the terrified gods transformed into various animals and fled to Egypt. Artemis became a cat, as she was identified by the Greeks with the Egyptian feline goddess Bastet.
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When the queen of Kos Echemeia ceased to worship Artemis, she shot her with an arrow; Persephone then snatched the still-living Euthemia and brought her to the Underworld.
Trojan War.
Artemis may have been represented as a supporter of Troy because her brother Apollo was the patron god of the city, and she herself was widely worshipped in western Anatolia in historical times. Artemis plays a significant role in the war; like Leto and Apollo, Artemis took the side of the Trojans. In the Iliad, Artemis on her chariot with the golden reins, kills the daughter of Bellerophon. Bellorophone was a divine Greek hero who killed the monster Chimera. At the beginning of the Greek's journey to Troy, Artemis punished Agamemnon after he killed a sacred stag in a sacred grove and boasted that he was a better hunter than the goddess.
When the Greek fleet was preparing at Aulis to depart for Troy to commence the Trojan War, Artemis becalmed the winds. The seer Calchas erroneously advised Agamemnon that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. In some version of the myth, Artemis then snatched Iphigenia from the altar and substituted a deer; in others, Artemis allowed Iphigenia to be sacrificed. In versions where Iphigenia survived, a number of different myths have been told about what happened after Artemis took her; either she was brought to Tauris and led the priests there, or she became Artemis' immortal companion.Aeneas was also helped by Artemis, Leto, and Apollo. Apollo found him wounded by Diomedes and lifted him to heaven. There, the three deities secretly healed him in a great chamber.
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During the "theomachy", Artemis found herself standing opposite of Hera, on which a scholium to the "Iliad" wrote that they represent the Moon versus the air around the Earth. Artemis chided her brother Apollo for not fighting Poseidon and told him never to brag again; Apollo did not answer her. An angry Hera berated Artemis for daring to fight her:
How now art thou fain, thou bold and shameless thing, to stand forth against me? No easy foe I tell thee, am I, that thou shouldst vie with me in might, albeit thou bearest the bow, since it was against women that Zeus made thee a lion, and granted thee to slay whomsoever of them thou wilt. In good sooth it is better on the mountains to be slaying beasts and wild deer than to fight amain with those mightier than thou. Howbeit if thou wilt, learn thou of war, that thou mayest know full well how much mightier am I, seeing thou matchest thy strength with mine.
Hera then grabbed Artemis' hands by the wrists, and holding her in place, beat her with her own bow. Crying, Artemis left her bow and arrows where they lay and ran to Olympus to cry at her father Zeus' knees, while her mother Leto picked up her bow and arrows and followed her weeping daughter.
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Worship.
Artemis, the goddess of forests and hills, was worshipped throughout ancient Greece. Her best known cults were on the island of Delos
(her birthplace), in Attica at Brauron and Mounikhia (near Piraeus), and in Sparta. She was often depicted in paintings and statues in a forest setting, carrying a bow and arrows and accompanied by a deer.
The ancient Spartans used to sacrifice to her as one of their patron goddesses before starting a new military campaign.
Athenian festivals in honor of Artemis included Elaphebolia, Mounikhia, Kharisteria, and Brauronia. The festival of Artemis Orthia was observed in Sparta.
Pre-pubescent and adolescent Athenian girls were sent to the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron to serve the Goddess for one year. During this time, the girls were known as "arktoi", or little she-bears.
A myth explaining this servitude states that a bear had formed the habit of regularly visiting the town of Brauron, and the people there fed it, so that, over time, the bear became tame. A girl teased the bear, and, in some versions of the myth, it killed her, while, in other versions, it clawed out her eyes. Either way, the girl's brothers killed the bear, and Artemis was enraged. She demanded that young girls "act the bear" at her sanctuary in atonement for the bear's death.
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Artemis was worshipped as one of the primary goddesses of childbirth and midwifery along with Eileithyia. Dedications of clothing to her sanctuaries after a successful birth was common in the Classical era. Artemis could be a deity to be feared by pregnant women, as deaths during this time were attributed to her. As childbirth and pregnancy was a very common and important event, there were numerous other deities associated with it, many localized to a particular geographic area, including but not limited to Aphrodite, Hera and Hekate.
It was considered a good sign when Artemis appeared in the dreams of hunters and pregnant women, but a naked Artemis was seen as an ill omen. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. Older sources, such as Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo (in Line 115), have the arrival of Eileithyia on Delos as the event that allows Leto to give birth to her children. Contradictory is Hesiod's presentation of the myth in Theogony, where he states that Leto bore her children before Zeus' marriage to Hera with no commentary on any drama related to their birth.
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Despite her being primarily known as a goddess of hunting and the wilderness, she was also connected to dancing, music, and song like her brother Apollo; she is often seen singing and dancing with her nymphs, or leading the chorus of the Muses and the Graces at Delphi. In Sparta, girls of marriageable age performed the "partheneia" (choral maiden songs) in her honor. An ancient Greek proverb, written down by Aesop, went "For where did Artemis "not" dance?", signifying the goddess' connection to dancing and festivity.
During the Classical period in Athens, she was identified with Hekate. Artemis also assimilated Caryatis (Carya).
There was a women's cult at Cyzicus worshiping Artemis, which was called Dolon (Δόλων).
Festivals.
Artemis was born on the sixth day of the month Thargelion (around May), which made it sacred for her, as her birthday. On the seventh day of the same month was Apollo's birthday. Artemis was worshipped in many festivals throughout Greece mainland and the islands, Asia Minor and south Italy. Most of these festivals were celebrated during spring.
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distinguished by a peculiar dance and by a music on the flute. Chitonia (wearing a loose tunic) was a goddess of hunting.
Attributes.
Virginity.
An important aspect of Artemis' persona and worship was her virginity, which may seem contradictory, given her role as a goddess associated with childbirth. The idea of Artemis as a virgin goddess likely is related to her primary role as a huntress. Hunters traditionally abstained from sex prior to the hunt as a form of ritual purity and out of a belief that the scent would scare off potential prey. The ancient cultural context in which Artemis' worship emerged also held that virginity was a prerequisite to marriage, and that a married woman became subservient to her husband.
In this light, Artemis' virginity is also related to her power and independence. Rather than a form of asexuality, it is an attribute that signals Artemis as her own master, with power equal to that of male gods. Her virginity also possibly represents a concentration of fertility that can be spread among her followers, in the manner of earlier mother-goddess figures. However, some later Greek writers did come to treat Artemis as inherently asexual and as an opposite to Aphrodite. Furthermore, some have described Artemis along with the goddesses Hestia and Athena as being asexual; this is mainly supported by the fact that in the Homeric Hymns, 5, "To Aphrodite," Aphrodite is described as having "no power" over the three goddesses.
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As a mother goddess.
Despite her virginity, both modern scholars and ancient commentaries have linked Artemis to the archetype of the mother goddess. Artemis was traditionally linked to fertility and was petitioned to assist women with childbirth. According to Herodotus, Greek playwright Aeschylus identified Artemis with Persephone as a daughter of Demeter. Her worshipers in Arcadia also traditionally associated her with Demeter and Persephone. In Asia Minor, she was often conflated with local mother-goddess figures, such as Cybele, and Anahita in Iran.
The archetype of the mother goddess, though, was not highly compatible with the Greek pantheon, and though the Greeks had adopted the worship of Cybele and other Anatolian mother goddesses as early as the seventh century BCE, she was not directly conflated with any Greek goddesses. Instead, bits and pieces of her worship and aspects were absorbed variously by Artemis, Aphrodite, and others as Eastern influence spread.
As the Lady of Ephesus.
At Ephesus in Ionia, Turkey, her temple became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was probably the best-known center of her worship except for Delos. There, the Lady whom the Ionians associated with Artemis through "interpretatio graeca" was worshipped primarily as a mother goddess, akin to the Phrygian goddess Cybele, in an ancient sanctuary where her cult image depicted the "Lady of Ephesus" adorned with multiple large beads. Excavation at the site of the "Artemision" in 1987–88 identified a multitude of tear-shaped amber beads that had been hung on the original wooden statue ("xoanon"), and these were probably carried over into later sculpted copies.
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In Acts of the Apostles, Ephesian metalsmiths who felt threatened by Saint Paul's preaching of Christianity, jealously rioted in her defense, shouting "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" Of the 121 columns of her temple, only one composite, made up of fragments, still stands as a marker of the temple's location.
As a lunar deity.
No records have been found of the Greeks referring to Artemis as a lunar deity, as their lunar deity was Selene, but the Romans identified Artemis with Selene leading them to perceive her as a lunar deity, though the Greeks did not refer to her or worship her as such. As the Romans began to associate Apollo more with Helios, the personification of the Sun, it was only natural that the Romans would then begin to identify Apollo's twin sister, Artemis, with Helios' own sister, Selene, the personification of the Moon.
Evidence of the syncretism of Artemis and Selene is found early on; a scholium on the "Iliad", claiming to be reporting sixth century BCE author Theagenes's interpretation of the "theomachy" in Book 21, says that in the fight between Artemis and Hera, Artemis represents the Moon, while Hera represents the earthly air.
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Active references to Artemis as an illuminating goddess start much later. Notably, Roman-era author Plutarch writes how during the Battle of Salamis, Artemis led the Athenians to victory by shining with the full moon, but all lunar-related narratives of this event come from Roman times, and none of the contemporary writers (such as Herodotus) makes any mention of the night or the Moon.
Artemis' connection to childbed and women's labour naturally led to her becoming associated with the menstrual cycle in course of time, thus the Moon. Selene, just like Artemis, was linked to childbirth, as it was believed that women had the easiest labours during the full moon, paving thus the way for the two goddesses to be seen as the same. On that, Cicero writes:
Apollo, a Greek name, is called Sol, the sun; and Diana, Luna, the moon. [...] Luna, the moon, is so called a lucendo (from shining); she bears the name also of Lucina: and as in Greece the women in labor invoke Diana Lucifera,
Association to health was another reason Artemis and Selene were syncretized; Strabo wrote that Apollo and Artemis were connected to the Sun and the Moon, respectively, which was due to the changes the two celestial bodies caused in the temperature of the air, as the twins were gods of pestilential diseases and sudden deaths.
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Roman authors applied Artemis/Diana's byname, "Phoebe", to Luna/Selene, the same way as "Phoebus" was given to Helios due to his identification with Apollo. Another epithet of Artemis that Selene appropriated is "Cynthia", meaning "born in Mount Cynthus." The goddesses Artemis, Selene, and Hecate formed a triad, identified as the same goddess with three avatars: Selene in the sky (moon), Artemis on earth (hunting), and Hecate beneath the earth (Underworld).
In Italy, those three goddesses became a ubiquitous feature in depictions of sacred groves, where Hecate/Trivia marked intersections and crossroads along with other liminal deities. The Romans enthusiastically celebrated the multiple identities of Diana as Hecate, Luna, and Trivia.
Roman poet Horace in his odes enjoins Apollo to listen to the prayers of the boys, as he asks Luna, the "two-horned queen of the stars", to listen to those of the girls in place of Diana, due to their role as protectors of the young. In Virgil's "Aeneid", when Nisus addresses Luna/the Moon, he calls her "daughter of Latona."
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In works of art, the two goddesses were mostly distinguished; Selene is usually depicted as being shorter than Artemis, with a rounder face, and wearing a long robe instead of a short hunting chiton, with a billowing cloak forming an arc above her head. Artemis was sometimes depicted with a lunate crown.
As Hecate.
Hecate was the goddess of crossroads, boundaries, ghosts and witchcraft. She is the queen of the witches. Artemis absorbed the Pre-Greek goddess Potnia Theron who was closely associated with the daimons. In the Mycenean age daimons were lesser deities of ghosts, divine spirits and tutelary deities.
Some scholars believe that Hecate was an aspect of Artemis prior to the latter's adoption into the Olympian pantheon.
Artemis would have, at that point, become more strongly associated with purity and maidenhood on the one hand, while her originally darker attributes like her association with magic, the souls of the dead, and the night would have continued to be worshipped separately under her title Hecate.
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Both goddesses carried torches, and were accompanied by a dog. It seems that the character of Artemis in Arcadia was original. At Acacesium Artemis "Hegemone" is depicted
holding two torches, and at Lycosura Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch. A bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her side.
Sophocles calles Artemis "Amphipyros", carrying a torch in each hand, however the adjective refers also to the twin fire on the two peaks of the mountain Parnassus behind Delphi. In the fest of Laphria at Delphi Artemis is related to the Pre-Greek mistress of the animals, with barbaric sacrifices and possible connections with magic and ghosts since Potnia Theron was close to the daimons. The annual fire was the characteristique custom of the fest.
At Kerameikos in Athens Artemis is clearly identified with Hecate. Pausanias believes that "Kalliste" (the most beautiful ) is a surname of Artemis carrying a torch. In Thessaly the distinctly local goddess Enodia with the surname Pheraia is identified with Hecate. Artemis Pheraia was worshipped in Argos, Athens and Sicyon.
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Symbols.
Chariots.
Homer uses the epithet "Chrisinios", of the golden reigns, to illustrate the chariot of the goddess of hunting. At the fest of Laphria at Delphi the priestess followed the parade on a chariot which was covered with the skin of a deer.
Spears, nets, and lyre.
Artemis is rarely portrayed with a hunting spear. In her cult in Aetolia, the Artemis "Aetole" was depicted with a hunting spear or javelin.
Artemis is also sometimes depicted with a fishing spear connected with her cult as a patron goddess of fishing. This conception relates her with "Diktynna" (Britomartis). As a goddess of maiden dances and songs, Artemis is often portrayed with a lyre in ancient art.
Deer.
Deer were the only animals held sacred to Artemis herself. On seeing a deer larger than a bull with horns shining, she fell in love with these creatures and held them sacred. Deer were also the first animals she captured. She caught five golden-horned deer and harnessed them to her chariot. At Lycosura in isolated Arcadia Artemis is depicted holding a snake and a torch and dressed with a deer skin, besides Demeter and Persephone. It seems that the depictions of Artemis and Demeter-Melaina (black) in Arcadia correspond to the earliest conceptions of the first Greeks in Greece. At the fest of Laphria at Delphi the priestess followed the parade on a chariot which was covered with the skin of a deer.
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The third labour of Heracles, commanded by Eurystheus, consisted of chasing and catching the terrible Ceryneian Hind. The hind was a female deer with golden andlers and hooves of bronze and was sacred to Artemis. Heracles begged Artemis for forgiveness and promised to return it alive. Artemis forgave him, but targeted Eurystheus for her wrath.
Hunting dog.
In a legend Artemis got her hunting dogs from Pan in the forest of Arcadia. Pan gave Artemis two black-and-white dogs, three reddish ones, and one spotted one – these dogs were able to hunt even lions. Pan also gave Artemis seven bitches of the finest Arcadian race, but Artemis only ever brought seven dogs hunting with her at any one time. In the earliest conceptions of Artemis at Lycosura, a bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her side.
Bear.
In a Pre-Greek cult Artemis was conceived as a bear. Kallisto was transformed into a bear, and she is a hypostasis of Artemis with a theriomorph form. In the cults of Artemis at Brauron and at Piraeus Munichia (arkteia) young virgin girls were disguished to she-bears (arktoi) in a ritual and they served the goddess before marriage.
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An etiological myth tries to explain the origin of the "Arkteia". Every year, a girl between five and ten years of age was sent to Artemis' temple at Brauron. A bear was tamed by Artemis and introduced to the people of Athens. They touched it and played with it until one day a group of girls poked the bear until it attacked them. A brother of one of the girls killed the bear, so Artemis sent a plague in revenge. The Athenians consulted an oracle to understand how to end the plague. The oracle suggested that, in payment for the bear's blood, no Athenian virgin should be allowed to marry until she had served Artemis in her temple (played the bear for the goddess).
In a legend of the cult of "Munichia" if someone killed a bear, then they were to be punished by sacrificing their daughter in the sanctuary. Embaros disguised his daughter dressing her like a bear (arktos), and hid her in the adyton. He placed a goat on the altar and he sacrificed the goat instead of his daughter.
Boar.
The boar is one of the favorite animals of the hunters, and also hard to tame. In honor of Artemis' skill, they sacrificed it to her. Oeneus and Adonis were both killed by Artemis' boar. In The Odyssey, she descends from a peak and she travels along the ridges of Mount Erymanthos, that was sacred to the "Mistress of the animals". When the goddess became wrathful she would send the terrible Erymanthian boar to laid waste the farmer's fields. Heracles managed to kill the terrible creature during his Twelve Labors.
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In one legend, the Calydonian boar had terrorized the territory of Calydon because Artemis (the mistress of the animals) was offended. The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. The most famous Greek heroes including Meleager and Atalanta took part in the expedition. The fierce-hunter virgin Atalanta allied to the goddess Artemis was the first who wounded the Calydonian boar.
Ovid describes the boar as follows:
Guinea fowl.
Artemis felt pity for the Calydonian princesses Meleagrids as they mourned for their lost brother, Meleager, so she transformed them into Guinea fowl to be her favorite animals.
Bee.
The bee as a symbol of abundance was associated with Artemis Ephesia. Bees appear on the statue of the goddess, while the priestesses of the goddess received the name of 'Melissa' ('Bee' 'Μέλισσα'), possibly as a late Hellenistic worship element addition. The bee was also related to the Cretan tradition of worship, whereby Artemis was designated as 'Britomartis' (Βριτομάρτις), a word possibly deriving from the root vrito- (βρίτο-) a variant of 'melissa' ('μέλισσα' or 'bee').
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Buzzard hawk.
Hawks were the favored birds of many of the gods, Artemis included.
Bull.
Artemis is sometimes identified with the mythical bull-goddess in a cult foreign in Greece. The cult can be identified in Halae Araphenides in Attica. At the end of the peculiar fest the sacrifice of a man was represented in a ritual.
Euripides relates her cult with Tauris (tauros:bull) and with the myth of Iphigenia at Brauron. Orestes brought the image of the goddess from Tauris, to Brauron Sparta or Aricia.
Torch.
Artemis is often depicted holding one or two torches. There is not any sufficient explanation for this depiction. The character of the goddess in Arcadia seems to be original. At Acacesium Artemis "Hegemone" (the leader) is depicted holding two torches. At Lycosura the goddess is depicted holding a snake and a torch, and a bitch suitable for hunting was lying down by her sideSophocles calls Artemis "Elaphebolos, (deer slayer) Amphipyros (with a fire in each end)" reminding the annual fire of the fest Laphria at Delphi. The adjective refers also to the twin fires of the two peaks of the Mount Parnassus above Delphi (Phaedriades). Heshychius believes that "Kalliste" is the name of Hecate established at Kerameikos of Athens, who some call Artemis (torch bearing). On a relief from Sicily the goddess is depicted holding a torch in one hand and an offering on the other. The torch was used for the ignition of the fire on the altar.
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Archaic and classical art.
During the Bronze Age, the "mistress of the animals" is usually depicted between two lions with a peculiar crown on her head.
The oldest representations of Artemis in Greek Archaic art, "circa" 550 BCE, portray her as Potnia Theron ("Queen of the Beasts"): a winged goddess holding a stag and lioness in her hands, or sometimes a lioness and a lion. Potnia theron is the only Greek goddess close to the daimons and sometimes is depicted with a Gorgon head, and the Gorgon is her distant ancestor. This winged Artemis lingered in ex-votos as Artemis Orthia, with a sanctuary close by Sparta.
In Greek classical art she is usually portrayed as a maiden huntress, young, tall, and slim, clothed in a girl's short skirt, with hunting boots, a quiver, a golden or silver bow and arrows.
Often, she is shown in the shooting pose, and is accompanied by a hunting dog or stag. When portrayed as a lunar deity, Artemis wore a long robe and sometimes a veil covered her head. Her darker side is revealed in some vase paintings, where she is shown as the death-bringing goddess whose arrows fell young maidens and women, such as the daughters of Niobe.
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Artemis was sometimes represented in Classical art with the crown of the crescent moon, such as also found on Luna and others.
On June 7, 2007, a Roman-era bronze sculpture of "Artemis and the Stag" was sold at Sotheby's auction house in New York state by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery for $25.5 million.
Legacy.
In taxonomy.
The taxonomic genus "Artemia", which entirely comprises the family Artemiidae, derives from Artemis. "Artemia" species are aquatic crustaceans known as brine shrimp, the best-known species of which, "Artemia salina", or sea monkeys, was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his "Systema Naturae" in 1758. "Artemia" species live in salt lakes, and although they are almost never found in an open sea, they do appear along the Aegean coast near Ephesus, where the Temple of Artemis once stood.
In modern spaceflight.
The Artemis program is an ongoing robotic and crewed spaceflight program which has the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the lunar south pole region no earlier than 2025. The program is being carried out by NASA, U.S. commercial spaceflight companies, and international partners such as the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.
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Arbeit macht frei
() is a German phrase translated as "Work makes one free" or, more idiomatically, "Work sets you free" or "Work liberates".
The phrase originates from the title of an 1873 novel by Lorenz Diefenbach and alludes to John 8:31–32. Following the Nazi Party's rise to power in 1933, the phrase became a slogan used in programs implemented to combat mass unemployment in Germany.
Today, it is primarily known for its use above the entrance of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. Because prisoners were generally not released from the camps and performed forced labor under horrific conditions, the phrase has come to be understood as meaning that the only way for prisoners to gain a sort of freedom was to work until they died.
Origin.
The expression comes from the title of an 1873 novel by the German philologist Lorenz Diefenbach, , in which gamblers and fraudsters find the path to virtue through labour. "The truth will set you free" () is a statement of Jesus found in John 8:32—"And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (KJV).
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The phrase was also used in French () by Auguste Forel, a Swiss entomologist, neuroanatomist and psychiatrist, in his () (1920). In 1922, the of Vienna, an ethnic nationalist "protective" organization of Germans within Austria, printed membership stamps with the phrase .
The phrase is also evocative of the medieval German principle of ("urban air makes you free"), according to which serfs were liberated after being a city resident for one year and one day.
Use by the Nazis.
In 1933, the first communist prisoners were being rounded up for an indefinite period without charges. They were held in a number of places in Germany. The slogan was first used over the gate of the Oranienburg concentration camp, which was set up in an abandoned brewery in March 1933 (it was later rebuilt in 1936 as Sachsenhausen).
The slogan's use was part of the 1937-1938 reconstruction by (SS) officer Theodor Eicke at Dachau concentration camp. From Dachau, it was copied by the Nazi officer Rudolf Höss, who had previously worked there. Höss was appointed to create the original camp at Auschwitz, which became known as Auschwitz (or Camp) 1 and whose intended purpose was to incarcerate Polish political detainees.
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The Auschwitz I sign was made by prisoner-laborers including master blacksmith Jan Liwacz, and features an upside-down 'B', which has been interpreted as an act of defiance by the prisoners who made it.
In "The Kingdom of Auschwitz", Otto Friedrich wrote about Rudolf Höss, regarding his decision to display the motto so prominently at Auschwitz:
In 1938, the Austrian political cabaret writer Jura Soyfer and the composer Herbert Zipper, while prisoners at Dachau, wrote the or "The Dachau Song". They had spent weeks marching in and out of the camp's gate to daily forced labour, and considered the motto over the gate an insult. The song repeats the phrase cynically as a "lesson" taught by Dachau.
An example of ridiculing the slogan was a popular saying used among Auschwitz prisoners:
It can also be seen at the Gross-Rosen and Theresienstadt camps, as well as at Fort Breendonk in Belgium. At the Monowitz camp (also known as Auschwitz III), the slogan was reportedly placed over the entrance gates. However, Primo Levi describes seeing the words illuminated over a doorway (as distinct from a gate). The slogan appeared at the Flossenbürg camp on the left gate post at the camp entry. The original gate posts survive in another part of the camp, but the sign no longer exists.
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The signs are prominently displayed, and were seen by all prisoners and staff— all of whom knew, suspected, or quickly learned that prisoners confined there would likely only be freed by death. The signs' psychological impact was tremendous.
Thefts of signs.
The sign over the Auschwitz I gate was stolen in December 2009 and later recovered by authorities in three pieces. Anders Högström, a Swedish neo-Nazi, and five Polish men were jailed as a result. The original sign is now in storage at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and a replica was put over the gate in its place.
On 2 November 2014, the sign over the Dachau gate was stolen. It was found on 28 November 2016 under a tarp at a parking lot in Ytre Arna, a settlement north of Bergen, Norway's second-largest city.
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Axayacatl
Axayacatl (; ; ; meaning "face of water"; –1481) was the sixth of the of Tenochtitlan and Emperor of the Aztec Triple Alliance.
Biography.
Early life and background.
Axayacatl was a son of the princess Atotoztli II and her cousin, prince Tezozomoc. He was a grandson of the Emperors Moctezuma I and Itzcoatl. He was a descendant of the king Cuauhtototzin.
He was a successor of Moctezuma and his brothers were Emperors Tizoc and Ahuitzotl and his sister was the Queen Chalchiuhnenetzin. He was an uncle of the Emperor Cuauhtémoc and father of Emperors Moctezuma II and Cuitláhuac.
Rise to power.
During his youth, his military prowess gained him the favor influential figures such as Nezahualcoyotl and Tlacaelel I, and thus, upon the death of Moctezuma I in 1469, he was chosen to ascend to the throne, much to the displeasure of his two older brothers, Tizoc and Ahuitzotl.
It is also important that the Great Sun Stone, also known as the Aztec Calendar, was carved under his leadership. An earthquake in Tenochtitlán occurred and destroyed many homes.
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Military actions and death.
Using as a pretext the insulting behavior of a few Tlatelolcan citizens, Axayacatl invaded his neighbor, killed its ruler, Moquihuix, and replaced him with a military governor. The Tlatelolcans lost any voice they had in forming Aztec policy.
Axayacatl largely dedicated his twelve-year reign to consolidating his militaristic repute: he led successful campaigns against the neighboring of Tlatelolco in 1473 (see Battle of Tlatelolco) and the Matlatzinca of the Toluca Valley in 1474, but was finally defeated by the Tarascans of Michoacán in 1476. Despite some subsequent minor triumphs, Axayacatl's defeat at the hands of the Tarascans irreversibly marred his image, as it constituted the only major defeat suffered by the Aztecs up to that moment. In spite of his young age, he fell gravely ill in 1480, passing away a mere year later, in 1481, whereupon he was succeeded by his brother Tizoc.
Axayacatl the poet.
Axayacatl wrote two poems. The first, "Ycuic Axayayatzin" (English: "Song of Axayacatl") is a defense against his brothers and critics; the second, "Huehue cuicatl" (English: "Song of the Ancients") is a lament written after his defeat in Michoacan.
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Ahuitzotl
Ahuitzotl (, ) was the eighth Aztec ruler, the "Huey Tlatoani" of the city of Tenochtitlan, son of princess Atotoztli II. His name literally means "Water Thorny" and was also applied to the otter. It is also theorized that more likely, the animal called ahuitzotl is actually the water opossum, the hand symbolizing its prehensile tail, which otters notably lack.
Either Ahuitzotl or his predecessor Tizoc was the first "tlatoani" of Tenochtitlan to assume the title "Huey Tlatoani" ("supreme "tlatoani"") to make their superiority over the other cities in the Triple Alliance (Aztec Empire) clear. Ahuitzotl was responsible for much of the expansion of the Mexica domain, and consolidated the empire's power after emulating his predecessor. He took power as Emperor in the year 7 Rabbit (1486), after the death of his predecessor and brother, Tizoc.
He had two sons, the kings Chimalpilli II and Cuauhtémoc, and one daughter.
Biography.
Perhaps the greatest known military leader of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Ahuizotl began his reign by suppressing a Huastec rebellion, and then swiftly more than doubled the size of lands under Aztec dominance. He conquered the Mixtec, Zapotec, and other peoples from Pacific Coast of Mexico down to the western part of Guatemala. Ahuizotl also supervised a major rebuilding of Tenochtitlan on a grander scale including the expansion of the Great Pyramid or Templo Mayor in the year 8 Reed (1487).
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He presided over the introduction of the great-tailed grackle into the Valley of Mexico, the earliest documented case of human-mediated bird introduction in the Western Hemisphere.
Ahuizotl died in the year 10 Rabbit (1502) and was succeeded by his nephew, Moctezuma II.
Ahuizotl took his name from the animal ahuizotl, which the Aztecs considered to be a legendary creature in its own right rather than a mere mythical representation of the king.
In January 2021 the INAH proposed moving the statues of Ahuizotl and Itzcóatl, known as the "Indios Verdes," from the "Parque del Mestizaje" in Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico City to the Paseo de la Reforma. “The transfer means a reading of the urban space, recovering the historical discourse that gave rise to the formation of a set of monuments and roundabouts on Paseo de la Reforma, conceived at the end of the 19th century, with the idea of honoring the Reformation, a great transformation that it meant for Mexico, but to recover a historical reading that began precisely by underlining the Mexican splendor and the importance of the pre-Hispanic or Mesoamerican antecedents of our country”, Diego Prieto, director of INAH said.
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In popular culture.
Under the name Teomitl, Ahuitzotl is a primary character in the "Obsidian and Blood" series by Aliette de Bodard, which are set in the last year of the reign of Axayacatl and the first years of the reign of Tizoc.
In the historical fiction novel "Aztec" by Gary Jennings, Ahuitzotl is a prominent character. Set in the time just before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors, it accounts his construction of the many expansions of Tenochtitlan, and wars of conquest, trade, and proclivities.
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Albinism in humans
Albinism is a congenital condition characterized in humans by the partial or complete absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes. Albinism is associated with a number of vision defects, such as photophobia, nystagmus, and amblyopia. Lack of skin pigmentation makes for more susceptibility to sunburn and skin cancers. In rare cases such as Chédiak–Higashi syndrome, albinism may be associated with deficiencies in the transportation of melanin granules. This also affects essential granules present in immune cells, leading to increased susceptibility to infection.
Albinism results from inheritance of recessive gene alleles and is known to affect all vertebrates, including humans. It is due to absence or defect of tyrosinase, a copper-containing enzyme involved in the production of melanin. Unlike humans, other animals have multiple pigments and for these, albinism is considered to be a hereditary condition characterised by the absence of melanin in particular, in the eyes, skin, hair, scales, feathers or cuticle. While an organism with complete absence of melanin is called an albino, an organism with only a diminished amount of melanin is described as leucistic or albinoid. The term is from the Latin "albus", "white".
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Signs and symptoms.
There are two principal types of albinism: oculocutaneous, affecting the eyes, skin and hair, and ocular affecting the eyes only.
There are different types of oculocutaneous albinism depending on which gene has undergone mutation. With some there is no pigment at all. The other end of the spectrum of albinism is "a form of albinism called rufous oculocutaneous albinism, which usually affects dark-skinned people".
According to the US National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, "With ocular albinism, the color of the iris of the eye may vary from blue to green or even brown, and sometimes darkens with age. However, when an optometrist or ophthalmologist examines the eye by shining a light from the side of the eye, the light shines back through the iris since very little pigment is present."
Because individuals with albinism have skin that entirely lacks the dark pigment melanin, which helps protect the skin from the sun's ultraviolet radiation, their skin can burn more easily from overexposure.
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The human eye normally produces enough pigment to color the iris blue, green or brown and lend opacity to the eye. In photographs, those with albinism are more likely to demonstrate "red eye", due to the red of the retina being visible through the iris. Lack of pigment in the eyes also results in problems with vision, both related and unrelated to photosensitivity.
Those with albinism are generally as healthy as the rest of the population (but see related disorders below), with growth and development occurring as normal, and albinism by itself does not cause mortality, although the lack of pigment blocking ultraviolet radiation increases the risk of melanomas (skin cancers) and other problems.
Visual problems.
Development of the optical system is highly dependent on the presence of melanin. For this reason, the reduction or absence of this pigment in people with albinism may lead to:
Eye conditions common in albinism include:
The improper development of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which in normal eyes absorbs most of the reflected sunlight, further increases glare due to light scattering within the eye. The resulting sensitivity (photophobia) generally leads to discomfort in bright light, but this can be reduced by the use of sunglasses or brimmed hats.
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Genetics.
Oculocutaneous albinism is generally the result of the biological inheritance of genetically recessive alleles (genes) passed from both parents of an individual such as OCA1 and OCA2. A mutation in the human TRP-1 gene may result in the deregulation of melanocyte tyrosinase enzymes, a change that is hypothesized to promote brown versus black melanin synthesis, resulting in a third oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) genotype, "OCA3". Some rare forms are inherited from only one parent. There are other genetic mutations which are proven to be associated with albinism. All alterations, however, lead to changes in melanin production in the body.
The chance of offspring with albinism resulting from the pairing of an organism with albinism and one without albinism is low. However, because organisms (including humans) can be carriers of genes for albinism without exhibiting any traits, albinistic offspring can be produced by two non-albinistic parents. Albinism usually occurs with equal frequency in both sexes. An exception to this is ocular albinism, which it is passed on to offspring through X-linked inheritance. Thus, ocular albinism occurs more frequently in males as they have a single X and Y chromosome, unlike females, whose genetics are characterized by two X chromosomes.
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There are two different forms of albinism: a partial lack of the melanin is known as hypomelanism, or hypomelanosis, and the total absence of melanin is known as amelanism or amelanosis.
Enzyme.
The enzyme defect responsible for OCA1-type albinism is tyrosine 3-monooxygenase (tyrosinase), which synthesizes melanin from the amino acid tyrosine.
Evolutionary theories.
It is suggested that the early genus "Homo" (humans in the broader sense) started to evolve in East Africa around 3 million years ago. The dramatic phenotypic change from the ape-like "Australopithecus" to early "Homo" is hypothesized to have involved the extreme loss of body hair – except for areas most exposed to UV radiation, such as the head – to allow for more efficient thermoregulation in the early hunter-gatherers. The skin that would have been exposed upon general body hair loss in these early proto-humans would have most likely been non-pigmented, reflecting the pale skin underlying the hair of our chimpanzee relatives. A positive advantage would have been conferred to early hominids inhabiting the African continent that were capable of producing darker skin – those who first expressed the eumelanin-producing MC1R allele – which protected them from harmful epithelium-damaging ultraviolet rays. Over time, the advantage conferred to those with darker skin may have led to the prevalence of darker skin on the continent. The positive advantage, however, would have had to be strong enough so as to produce a significantly higher reproductive fitness in those who produced more melanin. The cause of a selective pressure strong enough to cause this shift is an area of much debate. Some hypotheses include the existence of significantly lower reproductive fitness in people with less melanin due to lethal skin cancer, lethal kidney disease due to excess vitamin D formation in the skin of people with less melanin, or simply natural selection due to mate preference and sexual selection.
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When comparing the prevalence of albinism in Africa to its prevalence in other parts of the world, such as Europe and the United States, the potential evolutionary effects of skin cancer as a selective force due to its effect on these populations may not be insignificant. It would follow, then, that there would be stronger selective forces acting on albino individuals in Africa than on albinos in Europe and the US. In two separate studies in Nigeria, very few people with albinism appear to survive to old age. One study found that 89% of people diagnosed with albinism are between 0 and 30 years of age, while the other found that 77% of albinos were under the age of 20.
However, it has also been theorized that albinism may have been able to spread in some Native American communities, because albino males were culturally revered and assumed as having divine origins. The very high incidence of albinism among the Hopi tribe has been frequently attributed to the privileged status of albino males in Hopi society, who were not required to perform physical work outdoors, shielding them from the harmful effects of UV radiation. This privileged status of albino males in Hopi society allowed them to reproduce with large numbers of non-albino women, spreading the genes that are associated with albinism.
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Diagnosis.
Genetic testing can confirm albinism and what variety it is, but offers no medical benefits, except in the case of non-OCA disorders. Such disorders cause other medical problems in conjunction with albinism, and may be treatable. Genetic tests are currently available for parents who want to find out if they are carriers of ty-neg albinism. Diagnosis of albinism involves carefully examining a person's eyes, skin and hairs. Genealogical analysis can also help.
Albinism can also be a feature of several syndromes:
Management.
Since there is no cure for albinism, it is managed through lifestyle adjustments. People with albinism need to take care not to get sunburnt and should have regular healthy skin checks by a dermatologist.
For the most part, treatment of the eye conditions consists of visual rehabilitation. Surgery is possible on the extra-ocular muscles to decrease strabismus. Nystagmus-damping surgery can also be performed, to reduce the "shaking" of the eyes back and forth. The effectiveness of all these procedures varies greatly and depends on individual circumstances.
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Glasses (often with tinted lenses), low vision aids, large-print materials, and bright angled reading lights can help individuals with albinism. Some people with albinism do well using bifocals (with a strong reading lens), prescription reading glasses, hand-held devices such as magnifiers or monoculars or wearable devices like eSight
and Brainport.
The condition may lead to abnormal development of the optic nerve and sunlight may damage the retina of the eye as the iris cannot filter out excess light due to a lack of pigmentation. Photophobia may be ameliorated by the use of sunglasses which filter out ultraviolet light. Some use bioptics, glasses which have small telescopes mounted on, in, or behind their regular lenses, so that they can look through either the regular lens or the telescope. Newer designs of bioptics use smaller light-weight lenses. Some US states allow the use of bioptic telescopes for driving motor vehicles. (See also NOAH bulletin "Low Vision Aids".)
There are a number of national support groups across the globe which come under the umbrella of the World Albinism Alliance.
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Epidemiology.
Albinism affects people of all ethnic backgrounds; its frequency worldwide is estimated to be approximately one in 17,000. Prevalence of the different forms of albinism varies considerably by population, and is highest overall in people of sub-Saharan African descent. Today, the prevalence of albinism in sub-Saharan Africa is around 1 in 5,000, while in Europe and the US it is around 1 in 20,000 of the European derived population. Rates as high as 1 in 1,000 have been reported for some populations in Zimbabwe and other parts of Southern Africa.
Certain ethnic groups and populations in isolated areas exhibit heightened susceptibility to albinism, presumably due to genetic factors. These include notably the Native American Kuna, Zuni and Hopi nations (respectively of Panama, New Mexico and Arizona); Japan, in which one particular form of albinism is unusually common (OCA 4); and Ukerewe Island, the population of which shows a very high incidence of albinism.
Society and culture.
Special status of albinos in Native American culture.
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In some Native American and South Pacific cultures, people with albinism have been traditionally revered, because they were considered heavenly beings associated with the sky. Among various indigenous tribes in South America, albinos were able to live luxurious lives due to their divine status. This special status was applied mainly to male albinos. It has been theorized that the very high level of albinism among some Native American tribes can be attributed to sexual privileges given to male albinos, which allowed them to reproduce with large numbers of non-albino women in their tribes, leading to the spread of genes that are associated with albinism.
Persecution of people with albinism.
Humans with albinism often face social and cultural challenges (even threats), as the condition is often a source of ridicule, discrimination, or even fear and violence. It is especially socially stigmatised in many African societies. A study conducted in Nigeria on albino children stated that "they experienced alienation, avoided social interactions and were less emotionally stable. Furthermore, affected individuals were less likely to complete schooling, find employment, and find partners". Many cultures around the world have developed beliefs regarding people with albinism.
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In African countries such as Tanzania and Burundi, there has been an unprecedented rise in witchcraft-related killings of people with albinism in recent years, because their body parts are used in potions sold by witch doctors. Numerous authenticated incidents have occurred in Africa during the 21st century. For example, in Tanzania, in September 2009, three men were convicted of killing a 14-year-old albino boy and severing his legs in order to sell them for witchcraft purposes. Again in Tanzania and Burundi in 2010, the murder and dismemberment of a kidnapped albino child was reported from the courts, as part of a continuing problem. The US-based National Geographic Society estimated that in Tanzania a complete set of albino body parts is worth US$75,000.
Another harmful and false belief is that sex with an albinistic woman will cure a man of HIV. This has led, for example in Zimbabwe, to rapes (and subsequent HIV infection).
Albinism in popular culture.
Famous people with albinism include historical figures such as Oxford don William Archibald Spooner; actor-comedian Victor Varnado; musicians such as Johnny and Edgar Winter, Salif Keita, Winston "Yellowman" Foster, Brother Ali, Sivuca, Hermeto Pascoal, Willie "Piano Red" Perryman, Kalash Criminel; actor-rapper Krondon, and fashion models Connie Chiu, Ryan "La Burnt" Byrne and Shaun Ross. Emperor Seinei of Japan is thought to have albinism because he was said to have been born with white hair.
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International Albinism Awareness Day.
International Albinism Awareness Day was established after a motion was accepted on 18 December 2014 by the United Nations General Assembly, proclaiming that 13 June would be known as International Albinism Awareness Day as of 2015. This was followed by a mandate created by the United Nations Human Rights Council that appointed Ms. Ikponwosa Ero, who is from Nigeria, as the first Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism.
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Amr Diab
Amr Abdel Basset Abdel Azeez Diab (, ; born 11 October 1961) is an Egyptian singer, composer and actor. He has established himself as a globally acclaimed recording artist and author. He is a Guinness World Record holder, the best selling Middle Eastern artist, a seven-times winner of World Music Awards and five-times winner of Platinum Records.
Early life.
Diab was born as Amr Abdel Basset Abdel Azeez Diab on 11 October 1961 in Port Saidto a middle-class Egyptian Muslim family from the countryside of Menia Elamh in Sharqia Governorate. Diab graduated with a bachelor's degree in music from the Cairo Academy of Arts in 1986.
Music career.
Diab released his first album entitled ' in 1983. Diab's second album, ' (1984), was the first of a series of records he released with Delta Sound; including ' (1986), ' (1987), and ' (1988). His later releases include ' (1989), ' (1990), ' (1991), ' (1992), ' (1993), ' (1994), and ' (1995).
By 1992, he became the first Egyptian and Middle Eastern artist to start making high-tech music videos.
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In 1996, Diab released his first album with Alam El Phan entitled ', and he won the World Music Award for the first time, which proved an international success and gained Diab recognition beyond the Arabic-speaking world. Diab recorded four more albums with Alam El Phan, including ' (1999). Diab also collaborated with Khaled (on the song "") and with Angela Dimitriou (on the song "Bahebak Aktar").
According to research by Michael Frishkopf, he has created a style in the song "", termed as "Mediterranean music", a blend of Western and Middle Eastern/Egyptian rhythms.
In the summer of 2004, Diab, having left Alam El Phan, released his first album with Rotana Records, "," which he followed up with the hugely successful ' (2005), and ' (2007).
was released for sale on the internet on 27 June 2009; however, the album was leaked online and was downloaded illegally amid complaints of slow download speed on the official site. Diab's fans initiated a massive boycott of the sites with the illegal copies.
On 18 October 2009, Diab won four 2009 African Music Awards in the categories of best artist, album, vocalist and song for ""; Diab had been nominated by the Big Apple Music Awards.
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In February 2011, Diab released his hit single ' ("Egypt spoke"), followed by the release of his album ' in September, produced by Rotana. In 2012, Diab hosted the first Google Hangout in the Middle East during his performance in Dubai. In October 2014, Diab released his album ', which topped his last album ' (2013) and again became the best-selling album in Egypt on iTunes andp eaked at No. 1 on the "Billboard" World Albums Charts, making him the first Egyptian and Middle Eastern performer to accomplish such a feat. In July 2015, Diab released a music video for his song " from his album '. In March 2016, he released ', his first album since he left Rotana Music. The album was produced by the record label Nay For Media. His new album " was released in July 2017 with Nay Records.
In October 2018, he released a new album called '. In 2019, he released a mini-album, ', and in February 2020, he released his 30th album, "", which included 16 songs. In the same year, Amr Diab released another album, "Ya Ana Ya La," at the end of the year, December 31, 2020.
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From April 2021 to July 2023, Amr Diab released a huge amount of singles, many of which topped the charts on digital listening platforms until his album release in 2023.
In February 2022, Anghami announced an exclusive partnership that will see the Diab's entire Nay Label audio and video catalogue and future releases available only on Anghami.
In December 2023, Amr Diab released an album called “"Makanak"” which contains 12 songs exclusively on Anghami.
Then released two singles called "El Kelma El Helwa" it was an Ad for Vodafone MUSIC (Egypt) and "Hekyatna Helwa" for Hyde Park both of them on the same March 11, 2024.
In April 2024, Rolling Stone picked Tamally Maak to top the Best Arabic Pop Songs of the 21st Century. In July of that year, his exclusive contract with Anghami expired.
Musical style.
Diab is known as the "father of Mediterranean music". David Cooper and Kevin Dawe refer to his music as "the new breed of Mediterranean music". According to author Michael Frishkopf, Diab has produced a new concept of Mediterranean music, especially with his international hit, "". Moreover, Diab is known as a composer, having composed more than 97 of his own songs.
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Music videos.
Diab is one of the first singers to popularize music videos in the whole MENA region and is the first Egyptian singer to appear in music videos.
Film career.
Diab's fame in the music industry has led him to experiment with other forms of media, such as film. Diab played himself in his first film, ', which was released in 1989. It also starred Madiha Kamel. His second film was Hussein El-Imam's production "Ice Cream in Gleam" ('), in which Diab starred in 1992, was chosen as one of the best five Egyptian musical films by the University of California, Los Angeles (ULCA) School of Theater, Film and Television. The film was featured in the UCLA Film and Television Archive's new program "Music on the Nile: Fifty Years of Egyptian Musical Films" at James Bridges Theater at UCLA on 6, 8 and 10 April 1999. David Chute of the "LA Weekly" termed it "observant" and "a big leap". His third movie was released in 1993, and was named "" ("Laughter and Fun"). The film premiered in the Egyptian Film Festival in 1993. Diab played alongside international Egyptian movie star Omar Sharif ("Lawrence of Arabia", "Doctor Zhivago") and Yousra. Overall, Diab did not experience the same level of success in film that he had with his music career. Since 1993, Diab has focused on his singing career.
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Amr Diab in movies.
Diab's songs have been used in several films, including:
Egyptian Revolution.
During the 2011 uprising, some protesters criticized Diab for staying silent, and for fleeing Egypt for London. A few days after former President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, Diab composed and sang a memorial song, " (Egypt Said), and released it in conjunction with a music video showing pictures of the martyrs who died in the uprising. He initiated a charity campaign " ("Truly Egyptian"). His online radio station Diab FM often presents talks and discussions about what the Diab FM team can offer to the community as well as applying it practically by being present in different sites across Egypt with a new humanitarian project each week.
Personal life.
Diab has an elder daughter from his first marriage to Egyptian actress Shereen Reda. In 1994, he was married to Saudi businesswoman Zeina Ashour. They have three children. In 2018, he went on to marry Egyptian actress, Dina El Sherbiny, after his relationship with Ashour ended. It is unknown whether they were separated or divorced. However, Diab and El Sherbiny separated in late 2020.
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Awards.
He has been awarded the World Music Award for Best Selling Middle Eastern Artist four times: 1996 for album ', 2001 for album "Akter Wahed", 2007 for album "El Lillady" and 2013 for ' album. He has also won (Best Egyptian Artist, Best Male Arab Artist and World's Best Arab Male Artist Voted Online) at the World Music Awards 2014. Amr Diab is the only Middle Eastern artist to have received 7 World Music Awards. Five of his albums reached the top 10 of "Billboard"'s World Albums chart, with reaching No. 1 in 2014, the first for an Arabic performer. Alongside that accomplishment, two of his albums (2014's and 2016's ) both peaked at 29 and 14 respectively on Billboard's Heatseekers charts.
On 28 September 2016, Diab announced that he achieved a Guinness World Records title for "Most World Music Awards for Best Selling Middle Eastern Artist".
Program "Al-helm".
A program produced by Amr Afifi, consisting of 12 parts aired on Rotana Music, Rotana Cinema and Egyptian Channel 1 station. The program detailed the biography of Diab and was scheduled to be launched simultaneously with the release of Amr Diab's new album, but the album's release was postponed to a later date.
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Belgian hip-hop
Belgian hip hop music has a few rappers stemming from Africa and Italy. Belgium, like France, controlled African countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), Rwanda, and Burundi until the early 1960s. Like in France, immigrants from these countries started to study and live in Belgium.
The Belgian hip hop scene started in the late 1980s with a U.S.-based techno/hip hop group called Technotronic. In the group was an emcee named Ya Kid K from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who later led the group into international fame with hits like "Pump up the Jam" and "Shake That Body". In 1990, she also joined the group Hi-Tek 3 who were heard on "".
However, the first major pop rapper from Belgium was Benny B, who had a very mainstream and commercial sound. According to the European Music Office's report on "Music in Europe", this was the first of many pop acts that helped inspire a backlash and the creation of an underground hip hop scene.
Also in the late 1980s in the Walloon south of the country, French speaking/rapping Starflam was the biggest name in hip hop. In the Flemish north Dutch speaking/rapping groups like 't Hof van Commerce, Krapoel In Axe, St Andries MC's, and ABN were popular, rapping in their regional dialects.
Today, the Belgian hip hop scene is growing. Rappers like Coely, Roméo Elvis and Damso are achieving commercial success in their country and abroad. Other contemporary rappers/formations are Stikstof, Woodie Smalls, L'Or Du Commun and .
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Dutch hip-hop
Dutch hip hop or Nederhop ("Netherhop") is hip hop / rap music created by Dutch speaking musicians in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium). Although the first Dutch rappers in Europe typically wrote in the English language, this began to change when Osdorp Posse gained a big following of fans. They were the first to record and release hip hop in the Dutch language, perform for big crowds and to achieve chart success with their albums.
In 1995, the same year Osdorp Posse had a top 20 chart hit with their album "Afslag Osdorp", rapper Extince was the first Dutch rap artist to achieve a top 10 hit in the singles charts with "Spraakwater".
After rapper Def Rhymz was the first to reach the Dutch main chart with number 1 hits such as "Doekoe" (Sranan Tongo for 'money'; 1999), and "Schudden" ("Shake (it)"/"Shaking"; 2001) with a more pop, R&B and dance influenced sound, Dutchlanguage hip hop has grown into a staple of mainstream pop music in the Netherlands and Flanders in the 21st century.
In 2021, Netherlands music streaming charts were dominated by Dutch rap music artists like Boef, Josylvio, Broederliefde, Lil' Kleine, Snelle, and Sevn Alias.
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History.
1980s.
Between 1980 and 1985 a few Dutch Hip Hop records had already been released, but in 1986 Dutch rap duo MC Miker G & DJ Sven had a top 10 hit in at least ten countries across Europe with their "Holiday Rap", which sampled Madonna's "Holiday". It caused notable financial disputes, four years ahead of Vanilla Ice's similar sampling troubles with Ice Ice Baby. That same year Dutch rapper Extince released his first record "Rap Around The Clock," and in 1987 he scored a modest hit with "The Milkshake Rap".
However, in the late 1980s Nederhop ("Netherhop") emerged, as artists began to rap in Dutch, such as Def Rhymz, Blonnie B, Alex and the CityCrew, Dynamic Rockers, and the Osdorp Posse. Though there is disagreement about who were the first, the pioneers' work was at first only experimental, except for the Osdorp Posse, a group from Osdorp, a "hood" in Amsterdam, who were first to "release" tracks in Dutch, for instance the single "Moordenaar" ("Murderer") in 1989, marking a beginning milestone of Nederhop. After their frontman, rapper Def P, began by literally translating English raps into Dutch, he started writing original work that still contained peculiar idioms that resulted from his earlier literal rewordings. The result was described by rapper Ali B as highly visual and captivating. Once Extince switched to Dutch in 1994, having rapped in English since 1984, both he and Osdorp Posse became highly influential in Nederhop in the 1990s and beyond.
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Notable in the late 1980s were All Star Fresh of King Bee topping charts with: "Back by Dope Demand" in early 1990 and Rudeboy of Urban Dance Squad who, at the time, were arguably more widely known in New York City than in the Netherlands. DJ and Producer All Star Fresh turned professional as early as 1979. After winning the Dutch Mixing Championships (DMC) in 1988, he was invited for the World Mix Championships in the London Royal Hall and won third place among strong competition. He was invited by Dave Funkenklein to enter the lion's den in New York. He made history in the Big Apple of hiphop by being the first non-American to fly into the finals of the World Supremacy Battle of DJs. He gained the highly respected second place of this prestigious DJ contest. The impression that he made that year, resulted in many invitations to perform with artists like Public Enemy, Stetsasonic, Ice T and Ultra Magnetic MCs.
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Urban Dance Squad was a Dutch rap rock band formed after a jam session at a festival in Utrecht in 1986, including rapper/vocalist Rudeboy Remington and DJ DNA (DoNotAsk). The band's music is described as a blend of genres, including hard rock, funk, soul, hip hop, reggae, jazz and ska and is compared with Living Colour, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone. They are still known for their hit single "Deeper Shade of Soul", which charted at number 21 in the United States on Billboard Hot 100.
In 1989 Osdorp Posse formed, the first rap act solely in the Dutch language. They started out translating N.W.A songs to Dutch, but soon began writing their own rhymes. Dutch rap was still frowned up in general. Many hip hop listeners found it silly to hear raps in a different language than English and the radio and television didn't want to have anything to do with it at all.
Osdorp Posse overcame this, and gained a small crowd of followers. Indie label Djax Records from Eindhoven picked up on this and signed Osdorp Posse to their label. In 1992 they released their debut album "Osdorp Stijl", making it the first ever Dutch language hip hop album. Their beats, created by producer Seda on Amiga 500 with Protracker, had a heavy sound and was similar to U.S. old-school hip hop, while also embracing an own style by making use of samples from metal music. The lyrics were often focussed on social criticism, with frontman Def P describing it as hardcore rap. In Deventer they found their first following, and the first Dutch language hip hop scene was born. The first hip hop groups after Osdorp Posse were Zuid-Oost Posse and Maasstraat Mannen.
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Dutch rap kept on reaching a bigger crowd, though it still could be considered as an underground genre. A year after the debut album of Osdorp Posse, they released 2 more albums, "Roffer Dan Ooit" and "Vlijmscherp". Paving the way like this, many Dutch rap acts popped up. In 1994 a breakthrough took place with the release of compilation record "De Posse: Nederhop Groeit ("meaning "Nederhop is growing"), presenting no less than 7 different new Dutch rap acts on one record. These groups performed all across the Netherlands, gaining even a bigger audience. By 1996, Djax Records released material by Ouderkerk Kaffers, White Wolf, West Klan, Dr. Doom, Spookrijders, Zuid Oost Posse, Klaas Vaak, Cut, Mach, Vuurwerk, Loco-Motief, Lijkenpikkers, Bitchez & Cream, Space Marines, Jesse, Neuk! and De Uitverkorenen.
The media still largely boycotted Dutch rap, while often expressing criticism on the harsh lyrics and lo-fi beats. Despite this, Osdorp Posse managed to build a large following of fans by 1995, resulting in nation-wide sold-out tours and big spots at Dutch festivals. They performed at the Lowlands Festival in 1995, with their popularity getting completely underestimated by the bookers, causing fans to even climb up lightning rigs and poles of the festival tent to be able to experience the set. In 1997 Osdorp Posse did two shows at the biggest festival of The Netherlands, the Pinkpop Festival. On the main day of the festival they performed at the main stage for a packed field of fans, resulting in the biggest Dutch rap show of the decade.
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By that year the band had 2 albums which charted in the Dutch album charts, while still on an indie label and with virtually no airplay on radio and TV. In 1995 Afslag Osdorp, their fourth album, was the first Dutch language rap album to enter the Album Top 100, for a total of 14 weeks and even a ranking in the top 20. A unique achievement, with a peak position in the charts that would only be matched 7 years later by Brainpower.
By then, the band and Dutch rap in general got taken more seriously as well. After the undeniable success live on stage and in the album charts by Osdorp Posse, the lyrical content was getting cautious praise. By the mid-90's Def P collaborated with renowned and highly esteemed writers like Remco Campert and was often invited to recite his lyrics at poetry rap festivals like the Double Talk Festival at Paradiso.
At the same time a shift took place, when rapper Extince took rap in the Dutch language to a new commercial level and a different audience in 1995. While Osdorp Posse already had big chart successes with their albums, Extince's "Spraakwater" became the first single to make the mainstream pop single charts in the country. The song even made the top 10 of the singles charts and got airplay at the radio.
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From then on there were two styles dominating the Dutch hip hop landscape. On one side the hardcore rap performers like Osdorp Posse, De Uitverkorenen, Casto and West Klan, who focussed on the content of their lyrics with social criticism, political subjects and knowledge, on often energetic and rough beats. With on the other side Extince, who was more of a storyteller with a slick flow and a knack for wordplay and metaphoric imagery, on funky and laidback beats.
A mix of these two styles gave birth to the Spookrijders, a three-man hip-hop group founded in 1996. With MCs Stefan and Clyde rapping about their personal lives and life in Amsterdam as a black man, the Spookrijders even gained respect from non-hip-hop musicians and fans. Most people admired the work of producer/DJ Cliff 'the Jazz' Nille after releasing Spookrijders debut album "De Echte Shit" ("The Real Shit"). In 1999, Spookrijders hit the charts twice with the hits "Klokkenluiders" and "Ik ben de man." Both these songs appeared on the second album, "Klokkenluiders van Amsterdam". After some personal arguments among the three crewmembers, Spookrijders split up in 2003, after releasing a third and final album "Hey... Spookies!!"
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In 1999 The Postmen released their rap/reggae mix "De Bom" ("The Bom"), a top three hit-single. They were active across Europe from 1998 to 2003.
2000s.
From 2000 onward, Dutch language hiphop grew considerably, both in number of artists, as well as in popularity, both underground and mainstream.
In the early 2000s the MC fronted band Relax got much airplay, mainly impressing with their albums. Since 2002, they released four albums, the first three of which made the Dutch album top 40.
Def Rhymz, Spookrijders & Brainpower helped develop the art. Def Rhymz & Brainpower dropped multiple hit records. Described by Ali B. as "..a white library boy with glasses..", Brainpower made Dutch rapping accessible to a much greater demographic. With six Top 100 albums, Brainpower is one of the most commercially successful Dutch MC's to date.
By 2000, about 15 years after their founding, Osdorp Posse still did sold-out tours and still had big album chart success. They even scored a surprise hit song, when "Origineel Amsterdams" hit the top 10 of the single charts. By then, Dutch rap fully took over from Dutch artists rapping in English, and Osdorp Posse set up their own label to release Dutch rap artists. The same year they released their seventh album "Kernramp" as the first double album in Dutch rap, with the second disc containing up and coming Dutch rap artists. In the months following its release alone, 17,000 physical copies were sold, unique for Dutch language rap at the time. Having let a permanent mark on their fanbase, when the album was re-released on vinyl in 2019, it became the best-selling album on vinyl the week of release.
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From the late 1990s, a flourishing underground scene in provincial town Zwolle included rappers Blaxtar, Jawat!, and Kubus, and centered around the group Opgezwolle. Formed in 1998 by rappers Sticky Steez and Phreaco Rico, together with DJ Delic, the band Opgezwolle (punning their town's name into "Swollen"), was a group making raw hiphop. They released three successful albums, in 2001, 2003, and 2006. "Eigen Wereld" ("Own World"), from 2006, achieved the highest notation of any Dutch-language rap album until then in the Dutch Album Top 100, reaching top 4.
In the same year, rapper Typhoon, also from Zwolle, and inspired by aforementioned peer Blaxtar, released his philosophical debut album "Tussen Licht en Lucht" ("Between Light and Air"). The successes of the Zwolle rappers crop boosted other Dutch artists' confidence and inspired them to be proud of their origins – whether local, foreign, or mixed. Rapper Typhoon pointed out, that band names of trailblazers like 'Osdorp Posse' and 'Opgezwolle' refer to their origins (Amsterdam Osdorp and Zwolle) for an important reason, and tied this to the shift from rapping in English to Dutch, making it more relatable and resonant with the audience. Instead of hard and angry, some 2000s releases stood out fragile and sensitive, for instance the single "Je moest waarschijnlijk gaan" ("I Guess You Had to Go"; 2001) by Brainpower, mourned the loss of his best friend; and the raps of Typhoon are called some of the most poetic.
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Opgezwolle split up in 2007, but members Rico & Sticks formed a new group: Fakkelbrigade, with Typhoon, Mick 2dope Murray, MC James and beatmaker A.R.T. In 2009, they released the critically acclaimed album "Colucci Era".
From 2003 through 2006, Lange Frans & Baas B had four top-three hits in the Dutch Top 40, beside three more listings. "Zinloos", a sad commentary on senseless violence ("Zinloos Geweld"), and their patriotic yet introspective "Het Land van .." ("The Land of..") gave the duo two number-1 hits, in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
In the mid-2000s Cilvaringz, Ali B. and Raymzter were also commercially successful. Ali B featured on other artists' tracks, most significantly with Marco Borsato on the song "Wat zou je doen?" for the charity War Child. He first achieved solo success with "Ik ben je zat", featuring Brace, in 2003. Together with music artist Akon, and Ali's cousin Yes-R, Ali B made an internationally successful remix of Akon's track "Ghetto", including additional Dutch lyrics. Yes-R had six Dutch Top 40 hits from 2006 to 2012, including his debut single. Ali B. has sofar had fourteen Top 40 hit singles since 2003, including several top three listings.
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In 2005, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig ("Kids These Days") were successful with "Watskeburt?!" ("Wuzhappenin?!"). Rapper Jawat won the "Grote Prijs van Nederland" 2006.
Another Dutch hip-hop duo are Pete Philly and Perquisite who are already well known in the Netherlands, Germany, and in Japan.
A famous Dutch rapper outside the Netherlands is Salah Edin. His album Nederlands Grootste Nachtmerrie (Biggest Nightmare of the Netherlands) won Best Album Award in 2007 and was fully produced by Dr. Dre's right-hand man Focus... He also shot three of the most expensive music videos in the history of Dutch Hip Hop, and through a management deal with Cilvaringz, performed in 34 countries worldwide.
2010s.
Social acceptance of rap / hip hop in the Netherlands was perhaps epitomized, when artist Typhoon performed for the Dutch royal family twice – both in 2013 and in 2016.
In 2015, a self-titled "New Wave" generation of 'social media' (em)powered artists broke through with their eponymous "New Wave" album, as a temporary collaboration, including , , , Lil' Kleine, Ronnie Flex, and .
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Since 2014, rapper group Broederliefde released no less than seven albums, with the "worst one" topping at 13 in the charts — their debut album reached number 3, and their last five albums were consecutive top-2s, with three of them topping the chart. Their third album, "Hard Work Pays Off (II)" (2016), broke an all-time record by staying at number 1 for 14 weeks, beating a 2003 12-week record, held by Dutch A-list singer Frans Bauer. Nine of their singles also charted in the singles Top 40.
In 2016, album "WOP!" by Lil' Kleine was the first hip-hop album to reach number 1 on the Album Top 100. In the same year, Ali B's third album, "Een klein beetje geluk" ("ALittle Bit of Happiness"), proved his best yet, reaching number 7.
Starting 2016, rapper Sevn Alias released five consecutive top-10 albums, with his second reaching nr. 1, and the last three consistently reaching top-2 positions. He is highly productive, and is also enjoying extensive success with singles, collaborations, and other track releases.
Conflicts.
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The Dutch hip-hop scene also saw many conflicts between rappers, followed by diss tracks. The following were among the biggest Dutch feuds in hip-hop:
Osdorp Posse vs. Extince, BrainPower vs. Extince, T.H.C vs. Negativ, Kempi vs. Nino, Yukkie B vs. Negativ, T.H.C. vs. Lexxxus, Baas B vs. Kimo, Kempi vs. Mini, Kempi vs. Bloedserieus, Heist Rockah vs. Negativ, and Regga vs. Lexxxus.
The feud between T.H.C. and Lexxxus resulted in a fistfight on a hip-hop event, when T.H.C. frontman Rocks got into an argument with Lexxxus and then started the fistfight.
Genres in Dutch hip hop.
Gangsta.
Dutch gangsta hip hop is currently a large scene together with underground hip-hop. Among the most notable acts and performers are THC, Heinek'n, Keizer, Kempi, Steen, Hef, Crooks, Adonis and Negativ. The rhythms are influenced by the American rap scene, and the lyrics are often about crime, drugs, money, women and other criminal things.
Often coming from Dutch ghettos, lyrics often include themes occurring in these areas.
Dutch gangsta hip hop mostly comes from the five largest cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Eindhoven.
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Commercial success.
The commercial success of Dutch hip hop is largely made by Brainpower, Yes-R, Ali B, Lange Frans & Baas B and Extince. For a large part of the Dutch hip hop community Yes-R, Ali B and Lange Frans & Baas B are sometimes considered fake because they do a lot of work for children TV stations. Brainpower and Extince however both enjoy a great respect for bringing up hip hop in their native Dutch. Other commercial rappers are De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig, and one of the more popular artists in the Netherlands, Partysquad or The Partysquad. They are a 2-man group, having had success with hits such as "Stuk" (Broken), and "Dat is Die Shit" (That's the shit), with other popular songs in the background such as "Non Stop" ft. Brainpower, "We Gaan Los" (we're going crazy {because of highness or drunkenness}) with Kempi, and "Wat Wil Je Doen" (What do you want to do?).
Dutch oldskool.
The Dutch oldskool exists out of three primary artists, LTH, Osdorp Posse, Extince, Sugacane and Duvelduvel. Osdorp Posse make to what they themselves call hardcore rap and use beats that have much in common with N.W.A. Their lyrics are about racism, prostitution, police and other social subjects. Extince uses very different, more funky kind of beats than Osdorp Posse and uses a completely different rapstyle. Duvelduvel is known as a conceptual hip hop group.
Notable artists.
Notable Dutch hip hop artists, listed by locality include:
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Anaïs Nin
Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( ; ; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the daughter of the composer Joaquín Nin and the classically trained singer Rosa Culmell. Nin spent her early years in Spain and Cuba, about sixteen years in Paris (1924–1940), and the remaining half of her life in the United States, where she became an established author.
Nin wrote journals prolifically from age eleven until her death. Her journals, many of which were published during her lifetime, detail her private thoughts and personal relationships. Her journals also describe her marriages to Hugh Parker Guiler and Rupert Pole, in addition to her numerous affairs with men and women, including those with psychoanalyst Otto Rank and writer Henry Miller, both of whom profoundly influenced Nin and her writing.
In addition to her journals, Nin wrote several novels, critical studies, essays, short stories, and volumes of erotic literature. Much of her work, including the collections of erotica, was published posthumously amid renewed critical interest in her life and work. Nin spent her later life in Los Angeles, California, where she died of cervical cancer in 1977. She was a finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1976.
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Early life.
Anaïs Nin was born in Neuilly, France, to Joaquín Nin, a Cuban pianist and composer, and Rosa Culmell, a classically trained Cuban singer. Her father's grandfather had fled France during the French Revolution, going first to Saint-Domingue, then New Orleans, and finally to Cuba, where he helped build the country's first railway.
Nin was raised a Roman Catholic but left the church when she was 16 years old. She spent her childhood and early life in Europe. Her parents separated when she was two; her mother then moved Nin and her two brothers, Thorvald Nin and Joaquín Nin-Culmell, to Barcelona, and then to New York City, where she attended high school. Nin dropped out of high school in 1919 at age sixteen, and according to her diaries, "Volume One, 1931–1934", later began working as an artist's model. After being in the United States for several years, Nin had forgotten how to speak Spanish, but retained her French and became fluent in English.On March 3, 1923, in Havana, Cuba, Nin married her first husband, American Hugh Parker Guiler (1898–1985), a banker and artist from Boston, later known as "Ian Hugo", when he became an experimental filmmaker in the late 1940s. The couple moved to Paris the following year, where Guiler pursued his banking career and Nin began to pursue her interest in writing; in her diaries she also mentions having trained as a flamenco dancer in Paris in the mid-to-late 1920s with Francisco Miralles Arnau. Her first published work was a critical 1932 evaluation of D. H. Lawrence called "", which she wrote in sixteen days.
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Nin became interested in psychoanalysis and studied extensively, first with René Allendy in 1932 and then with Otto Rank. Both men eventually became her lovers, as she recounts in her "Journal". On her second visit to Rank, Nin reflects on her desire to be reborn as a woman and artist. Rank, she observes, helped her move between what she could verbalize in her journals and what remained unarticulated. She discovered the quality and depth of her feelings in the wordless transitions between what she could and could not say. "As he talked, I thought of my difficulties with writing, my struggles to articulate feelings not easily expressed. Of my struggles to find a language for intuition, feeling, instincts which are, in themselves, elusive, subtle, and wordless."
In late summer 1939, when residents from overseas were urged to leave France due to the approaching war, Nin left Paris and returned to New York City with her husband (Guiler was, according to his own wishes, edited out of the diaries published during Nin's lifetime; his role in her life is therefore difficult to evaluate). During the war, Nin sent her books to Frances Steloff of the Gotham Book Mart in New York for safekeeping.
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