#artemis apankhomene

[artemis-potnia-theron]

Artemis Apankhomene, 'the strangled goddess'

"Apankhomene, 'the strangled goddess', is another surname of Artemis. Tradition claims that in the neighborhood of the town of Caphyae in Arcadia, in a place called Condylea, there was a sacred grove of Artemis Condyleatis.

Some children had playfully tied a rope around the neck of her statue and claimed she was strangled. As a result, the children were stoned to death by the villagers. Sometime later, the women of Caphyae were struck with a disease and all their children were stillborn.

The villagers saw this as a sign of the wrath of Artemis for stoning the children, and the Oracle ordered that the children be buried properly and that annual sacrifices be made to them since they were wrongly killed. From then on, Artemis was called Apankhomene, or 'Strangled' (Pausanias 8.23.6–7). This legend embodies the role of the goddess in children’s lives.

In her position as Kourotrophos, meaning 'bringing up boys' or 'rearing boys,' she protects their upbringing and leads them to adulthood, receiving dedications of children’s toys and garments."

- She Who Hunts: Artemis: The Goddess Who Changed the World by Carla Ionescu (pg. 44)

[artemis-potnia-theron]

Artemis Apankhomene haunts me

[idyllic-idalium]

The Strangled Maiden

Artemis is the goddess of moonlight, hunting, wildlife, and childbirth. After helping her mother Leto birth her twin brother Apollon, her father Zeus granted her ten wishes, including a bow and arrow made by Kyklopes and handmaidens. But the very first wish is maidenhood so that she would never be married.

The Ancient Greeks also did not have a very good understanding of biology or respect for women. They believed that fear of the dark, hallucinations, and suicidal tendencies by hanging or drowning were symptoms of a reproductive disorder in virgins. The proposed solutions were to marry the maiden off quickly or, less popularly, to do a ritual in which the maiden hung statuettes of Artemis in trees.

Unsurprisingly, some women did not want to marry men. Perhaps they simply did not want to, or maybe they were lesbians, aromantic, and/or asexual. These women may have rather killed themselves than to marry, than to be raped. Hanging and drowning were popular. Thus, it can inferred that Artemis Apankhomene is the protectress of these "strangled maidens."

Because of this, I propose Artemis Apankhomene to be the patroness of at least women who are not attracted to men. I have no male equivalent of Artemis Apankhomene that I have found so perhaps one can be found, but I believe, as a Hellenic polytheist, that Artemis would be willing to be a protectress of all without heterosexual attraction and all in non-heterosexual relationships.

Symbols could include a crescent moon, bow, arrow, clouds, or three pillars.

What do you all think?

Sources: Landscapes, Gender, and Ritual Space: The Ancient Greek Experience by Susan Guettel Cole; Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece by Sarah Iles Johnston; The Sacred and the Feminine in Ancient Greece edited by Sue Blundell, Margaret Williamson