But, it may be asked, if this Artemis always has the same characteristics as Apollo, and has none that are peculiar to herself, why should there be two deities to express one idea? Wherefore both a male and female, if neither have any relation to sex? It is difficult to give a satisfactory answer to these questions.
This consideration may, however, in some measure assist; namely, that as soon as Apollo was once supposed to be as an earthly god, as the ideal of all human strength, it was necessary to add also a female being. And the near approximation of the male to the female deity may be accounted for by the condition of the Doric women, who were much more considered as independent beings, and possessed a capability for all those other things which adorn the other sex.
3. But the most difficult part of our problem still remains unsolved; viz. to ascertain what was the worship of Artemis, which had not the same origin and nature with that of Apollo. First of all we should mention the Arcadian. That goddess has nowhere so many temples as in Arcadia; she was there the national deity, and had been long revered, under the title of “_Hymnia_”, by all the races of that people.(1548) She was also introduced under the name of Callisto into the national genealogies, and called the daughter of Lycaon(1549) (_i.e._ of the Lycæan Zeus), and mother of Arcas (_i.e._ of the Arcadian people). For that Callisto is only another form of the name of Artemis Calliste, which is a common epithet of Artemis, is plain from the fact that the tomb of that heroine was shown in the temple of the goddess,(1550) and that Callisto was said to be changed into a bear, which was the symbol of the Arcadian Artemis.(1551) Afterwards, indeed, the fable was much altered; and it was related that Artemis changed Callisto into a bear merely from anger.(1552) But that this ancient Arcadian deity was not the Doric Artemis is proved by the above-mentioned criterion; viz. that she has no connexion with Apollo.
Another circumstance, however, speaks even still plainer. Apollo and his sister seldom received any particular surnames from places where they were worshipped;(1553) whereas the other Artemis has almost innumerable names from the mountains, hills, fountains, and waters of Arcadia, and the other regions of Peloponnesus. Hence Alcman remarks that the goddess bears the names of thousands of hills, cities, and rivers.(1554) There must have been, therefore, something in the attributes of this Arcadian Artemis which produced such a number of local names; she must have been considered as united and connected with the country in which she was worshipped. This leads to the notion of an elementary goddess, of a similar, though more universal nature than nymphs of the mountains, rivers, and brooks. Accordingly we find that this ancient Peloponnesian Artemis was nearly connected with lakes, fountains, and rivers. She was worshipped in several places under the titles of Limnatis and Heleia.(1555) There were frequently also fountains in the temples of Artemis: viz., at Corinth, Marius, Mothone,(1556) and near the district of Derrhiatis in Laconia.(1557) She likewise received great honours at the Clitorian fountain of Lusi.(1558) Among rivers, those she was most connected with are the Cladeus and the Alpheus.(1559) The moist and watery district, through which this latter stream flows into the sea, was filled with temples of the nymphs of Aphrodite and Artemis, among which the sanctuary of the Alphean Artemis(1560) is most remarkable. There were in that temple paintings of Cleanthus and Aregon of Corinth, which were chiefly on subjects relating to religion; as, for instance, that of Poseidon presenting a thunny-fish to Zeus while in the act of producing Athene.(1561) All this naturally suggests the idea of a goddess who produced a flourishing and vigorous life from the element of water; and hence we would not entirely reject the popular faith of the Phigaleans, that Eurynome, the goddess of fish, and herself represented as half a fish, was an Artemis.(1562)