🌿 From Artemis's Diary
📜 People usually picture me with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. I don't blame them. But I'd like to tell you my story from a different perspective. About the forests I loved. About the animals that were my companions. About the children for whom I always found time. And about the place I return to most often in my memories—Aulis, where one day thousands of ships waited for the wind.
— Artemis
🌸 Chapter I. I Was Born First
My life began with a journey in search of refuge.
Even before I was born, my mother could not find a place where she could safely bring me into the world. Hera, enraged by yet another of Zeus's affairs, made sure that no piece of solid land would offer her shelter.
For a long time, she wandered across the world.
At last, she found refuge on the small, rocky island of Delos.
It was there that I first heard the sound of the sea.
I was born first.
I had no idea that, moments later, my brother Apollo would come into the world.
Nor could I have imagined that this day would change our mother's life forever.
People often ask me about Zeus.
But it is Leto I remember far more often.
She was the one who taught me courage.
She showed me that even when the whole world turns its back on you, it is always worth moving forward.
When I look at Delos today, I sometimes think that not every journey of exile ends in sorrow.
Some lead to a place that will be remembered throughout history.
📜 The first time I looked into my mother's eyes, I knew only one thing: she was no longer alone. In just a few moments, together we would welcome another very important person into the world...
👶 Chapter II. The First Child I Helped
I had barely opened my eyes when I heard my mother's pain.
It was not an ordinary cry.
It was the pain of a woman who already held one child in her arms while another was still struggling to enter the world.
I do not remember how I knew what to do.
Perhaps gods are born with knowledge that humans spend a lifetime trying to learn.
Or perhaps my love for my mother was simply stronger than my fear.
I went to her.
I held her hand.
I gave her strength.
And I waited beside her.
Not long afterward, Apollo was born.
My brother.
Over the years, people have told this story in many different ways.
Some say that, as a newborn goddess, I helped my own mother bring my brother into the world.
Others believe it is nothing more than a beautiful legend.
I will leave it to them to decide.
I know only one thing.
From that moment on, I could never turn away from a suffering child or a woman bringing new life into the world.
Perhaps that is why people called upon me so often.
Not because I was a goddess,
but because I remembered what it felt like to experience fear and hope at the very same moment.
📜 It was the first birth I ever witnessed. I had no idea that, for centuries to come, thousands of women would whisper my name in moments just like these...
🤱 Chapter III. Why Women Began Calling Upon Me
I cannot remember the first time I heard my name spoken by a woman in labor.
What I do remember is that with every prayer, I came to understand their fears a little better.
The birth of a child is one of the most beautiful moments there is.
But it can also be one of the most difficult.
I witnessed pain.
I witnessed fear.
I saw women who did not know whether they would soon hear their baby's first cry.
Not every birth had a happy ending.
That is why I tried to stay close.
I could not take away their suffering.
I could not always change the course of events.
But I could give them courage.
And sometimes, that was what they needed most.
As the years passed, women came to believe that my presence brought them peace.
They brought me offerings.
They built temples in my honor.
They whispered my name as new life entered the world.
It was the greatest honor I could have received.
I never had children of my own.
Fate led me along a different path.
Perhaps that is why every birth felt so precious to me.
Every child reminded me of my brother Apollo and the day I first witnessed how fragile—and yet how extraordinary—life can be.
Even today, some people find it surprising that the goddess with a bow became the protector of mothers and children.
I have never seen any contradiction in that.
For the same bow that could defend the forests and their creatures was meant, above all, to protect those who were most vulnerable.
📜 People remember me with a bow slung over my shoulder. I remember, far more often, the tiny hands of a newborn wrapping around its mother's finger for the very first time.
🦌 Chapter IV. Animals Never Let Me Down
People often ask me why I loved the forest so deeply.
The answer is simple.
Because there, no one pretended.
Animals did not envy one another.
They did not lie.
They did not wage wars for glory or kill out of pride.
They lived in harmony with the rhythm of nature.
Exactly as the world had intended.
From my earliest years, I felt most at home among the trees.
I knew the paths where the deer passed at dawn.
I knew where the does hid their fawns.
I could recognize a bird by its song alone and tell, from the marks left by hooves, which animal had crossed a forest trail only moments before.
The forest spoke its own language.
You only had to learn how to listen.
The deer was always closest to my heart.
Not because it was the largest.
Nor because it was the fastest.
Simply because it knew how to trust.
And trust is one of the greatest gifts anyone can receive.
That is why you so often portray me with a deer by my side.
It was never my trophy.
It was my companion.
Yes, I hunted.
But never for sport.
A forest survives because of balance.
Predator and prey have always been part of that balance.
Yet I could never understand those who killed simply to prove their own strength.
That was not courage.
It was sadness.
Perhaps that is why the death of one particular deer wounded me more deeply than most people could ever understand.
But that is a story for another moment...
📜 If you ever find yourself walking through a forest, try being silent for just a little while. You may hear what I listened to all my life.
🌲 Chapter V. I Was Happiest in the Forest
Of all the places I ever visited, one still holds a special place in my heart.
Aulis.
It lies beside the narrow strait that separates the island of Euboea from the mainland. To most people, it was simply a quiet stretch of coastline. To me... it was home.
Dense forests grew there.
At dawn, I awoke to the songs of birds, and in the evenings, the only light came from the stars reflected on the calm waters of the strait.
I did not need palaces.
I did not long for Olympus.
That was where I was happiest.
The nymphs kept me company.
They laughed, danced among the trees, and knew every corner of the sacred grove.
Together we wandered the forest paths, watching the animals and listening to the sounds of nature.
No one was ever in a hurry.
The forest follows its own rhythm.
It is people who are always trying to make it move faster.
Yet my most faithful companion was my deer.
I never had to call for him.
Every morning, he found his way back to me.
Sometimes we would spend hours by the shore of the strait, watching ships glide across the water as the light slowly changed.
We never exchanged a single word.
There was never any need.
In Aulis, the people built a temple in my honor.
They called me Artemis of Aulis.
I was grateful to be remembered, though in truth I loved the sacred grove surrounding the temple far more than its stone walls.
It was there that I truly felt like myself.
I never imagined that, before long, hundreds of ships would begin arriving in that peaceful bay.
With them would come noise, pride, and war.
And the silence I loved so dearly would never be quite the same again.
📜 Even today, when the wind whispers through the trees of Aulis, I feel as though I can still hear the laughter of the nymphs and the gentle footsteps of my deer. I wish that were how this place was remembered. Sadly, most people remember it for an entirely different reason...
⛵ Chapter VI. The Day a Thousand Ships Arrived
I remember that morning.
The sea was calm.
A gentle breeze stirred the branches of the trees, and as always, my deer appeared just after sunrise.
Everything looked exactly as it had for centuries.
I believed nothing could ever change it.
First, I heard the sound of oars.
Then I saw the first ship.
Then another.
And another.
Ships from every corner of Greece began arriving in Aulis.
Never before had I seen so many.
Before long, the peaceful bay had become a vast camp filled with warriors.
People were full of excitement.
They spoke only of Troy.
Of glory.
Of victory.
Of a fame that would outlive them all.
But I heard something entirely different.
I heard the cries of mothers who did not yet know that their sons would never return home.
I was never the goddess of war.
I did not long for victory.
Battles never brought me joy.
Every one of them left behind too many empty homes and too many children growing up without their fathers.
So I watched from a distance.
I hoped that people would come to their senses.
But then...
something far worse happened.
They did not destroy my forest.
They did not burn my temple.
They did something I could never understand.
Agamemnon entered my sacred grove—
a place where peace had reigned for centuries—
and killed the deer I loved as a faithful companion.
Not in self-defense.
Not out of hunger.
Simply because he believed he could.
People often ask me why I later stilled the wind.
I answer them with a question.
How would you react if someone entered your home and killed someone you loved?
So I held the entire fleet in the harbor.
Not out of revenge.
I wanted them to understand, if only for a moment, that the world does not belong to humans alone. That even kings have no right to do whatever they please.
Sadly...
Agamemnon drew a very different lesson from it.
And that was the moment when the story began—the one I have never been able to forgive humanity for.
📜 Even now, I do not know what hurt me more: the death of my beloved deer... or the fact that a man was willing to sacrifice his own daughter simply so that his ships could sail once again.
👧 Chapter VII. I Never Wanted Iphigenia to Die
Agamemnon realized that without my consent, his fleet would never leave Aulis.
He searched for a way to win back the gods' favor.
Sadly, instead of searching his own conscience, he listened to those who claimed they knew my will.
They told him he must sacrifice his own daughter.
Iphigenia.
A young girl who had done nothing wrong.
To this day, many believe that I demanded her death.
Whenever I hear that story, it fills me with sadness.
Could someone who spent her entire life protecting children truly have wished for the death of one of them?
I will not tell you what really happened.
Greek mythology preserves several versions of this story.
Some say that Iphigenia died upon the altar.
Others believe that, at the very last moment, I carried her away to safety, leaving a hind in her place.
Let everyone choose the version that speaks to them most.
What I remember is only the face of a young girl.
Frightened.
Yet remarkably brave.
I remember a father who desired victory more than he cherished his own daughter.
And I remember people who believed that the life of a child could be the price of a favorable wind.
It was never my decision.
It was a choice made by a man.
That is why history remembers not only the beginning of the Trojan War.
It also remembers the price people are willing to pay for their own ambitions.
If there was one thing I wished for in that moment...
it was simply for Agamemnon to understand that no war is worth the tears of your own child.
Sadly...
he learned that lesson far too late.
📜 From that day on, more and more people came to see me as a stern and unforgiving goddess. Yet all they had to do was look at the forests, the children, and the animals under my care to understand that I never wished suffering upon the innocent.
💍 Chapter VIII. I Never Wanted to Belong to Anyone
People often asked me why I never married.
As though a woman's happiness could be measured by a wedding ring.
I never believed that.
Even as a young goddess, I knew my path would be different.
I did not dream of palaces.
I did not long for life at court.
I was not looking for someone to decide how I should live.
I was happiest when I could set out into the forest at dawn and not return until sunset.
I was never alone.
The nymphs were my companions.
We laughed, wandered together, and discovered hidden corners of the mountains and forests.
Each of us had chosen a life in harmony with nature.
We needed nothing more.
Together with Athena and Hestia, I took a vow of eternal virginity.
Not because we despised love.
We had simply chosen a different path.
Each of us wished to serve the world in her own way.
Not everyone could understand that.
There were those who tried to impose their will upon me or saw me as just another prize to be won.
I never accepted that.
Not because I hated people.
But because I believed that love cannot exist without respect.
And respect always begins with accepting another person's choice.
One such story is that of Actaeon.
Whether by accident—or through arrogance—he saw me while I was bathing.
Greek mythology tells this story in many different ways. Some say he was driven by curiosity; others, by desire.
Whatever the reason, he crossed a boundary that should never have been crossed.
I transformed him into a stag.
Moments later, he was torn apart by his own hunting dogs, who no longer recognized their master.
It was not a punishment for being a man.
It was a punishment for showing no respect.
To this day, many see me as a cold and distant goddess.
I would put it differently.
I was free.
And I guarded that freedom just as fiercely as I guarded the forests, the animals, and the children.
📜 Freedom is not about doing whatever you please. It is about having the right to choose your own path. I chose mine a very long time ago.
🌊 Chapter IX. The Spring That Still Flows on Euboea
Throughout my life, I tried to protect those who could not protect themselves.
They were not always children.
Sometimes, it was one of my beloved nymphs.
Arethusa loved silence just as deeply as I did.
She cherished cool forest streams and hidden springs nestled among the trees.
She never sought anyone's attention.
She simply wanted to live life on her own terms.
Sadly, her peaceful existence caught the attention of Alpheus, the god of one of Greece's great rivers.
He fell in love with her.
But Arethusa did not return his feelings.
She fled.
She begged him to leave her alone.
Yet he refused to give up.
She came to me, terrified.
I still remember her tears.
I remember her trembling hands.
I asked no questions.
I knew only one thing.
I had to help her.
I led her to Euboea.
There, I transformed her into a spring of crystal-clear water.
I believed she would finally be safe.
But mythology has always favored stories that refuse to end so simply.
It is said that Alpheus transformed himself into a river and followed Arethusa through an underground channel.
Their waters became forever intertwined.
To this day, you can still visit that spring on the outskirts of Chalkida.
Few visitors realize that, according to one version of the myth, this is where the story of my beloved nymph comes to an end.
Sometimes I wonder whether I truly saved her.
Or whether I simply gave her another form.
One thing I know for certain.
Love should never mean pursuit.
And freedom is every bit as precious as life itself.
📜 If you ever visit Euboea, do not look for me only among the ruins of ancient temples. Listen to the whisper of the trees, sit beside the spring, and spend a few moments in silence. Perhaps then, we will truly meet.
— Artemis