Can be the bear-goddess of Europe a version
of the Southern Lioness-Goddess ?
Below is a picture of Artemis taken from my
book "Olympos - os deuses da Grecia [Olympos - The Gods of Greece", made by my
friend Fred Carvalho.
You can see Artemis among your sacred animals: the
bear, the boar, the deer, and the hunting dog
----- Original Message -----From: Rex H. McTyeireTo: Cybalist@...Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2000 3:06 AMSubject: [tied] Artemis and the Bear (long)John Croft includes (re Arthurian links to the east):
>...and "Arth" is seen as linked to the word for Bear in a number of IE> tongues.Rex (me) adds:> "Artemis" shares a bear link early (even in mainland Greece), before stags> and bulls occupy her symbology. She was also a "female slaughteress".> What better animal symbol for a slaughteress (in Europe) that is also> affiliated with childbirth..than a she bear protecting cubs.C. Gwinn:> I believe that the only other language which presents a root Art- perhaps
> meaning "bear" is the Greek (or Anatolian?) dialect which gave us Artemis.Joao SL:> There's also a Gaulish goddess ARTIO, a bear-goddess.> Was Artemis name surely linked to bear or just a folk etymology?cj:> Early Artemis myths link her to bears, and Ursa Major and Ursa Minor fit> into her mythology - that's why they are bears. I will look for the myth> this week.Trying to initiate discussion to Joao's question, the following thoughts are offered.There was an unusual and extended thread on ane list about two years ago, (Miguel tossed in a few comments I think) on the same point. It may have been a near record thread in length and participants. Most of the Input was classically based, even including the assumption that the Ephesean Artemis was an Import from mainland Greece into an Anatolia with no previous experience with her. (The inquiry that initiated that thread was based on yet another attempt to identify the bulbous items on the chest of the known Artemis statue from the Temple at Ephesus.)The Callisto/Kallisto story, as it survives, comes to us as follows: (To save cj the posting)(The first variant is used because of the obvious gender questions ignored. The stories of Kallisto were known in the Renaissance through Ovid's Metamorphoses and were popular subjects for artists.)(...)(me again)The EBA Bear Goddess that was Artemis, and replaced Neolithic Hannahanna, and Ma, had been resting at Ephesus long before the first Ionian landing, and she was there before she was in Brauron; and she came from the North. Do you really think Croesus was eager to finance a new structure to a foreign Goddess?La Revedere;