Artemis, known in Roman mythology as Diana, was a prominent deity in ancient Greek religion, revered as the goddess of the hunt, wilderness, childbirth, and virginity. Her worship was widespread across the Greco-Roman world, but she held particular significance in the city of Ephesus, where she was venerated as Artemis of the Ephesians. This form of Artemis was distinct from the traditional Greek depiction, often associated with fertility and depicted with multiple breasts, symbolizing her role as a mother goddess.

Biblical Reference:

Artemis is mentioned explicitly in the New Testament in the context of the Apostle Paul's missionary journeys. The Book of Acts provides a detailed account of the uproar in Ephesus caused by Paul's preaching, which threatened the local economy tied to the worship of Artemis. In Acts 19:23-41, the silversmith Demetrius, who crafted silver shrines of Artemis, incited a riot against Paul and his companions, fearing that their message would discredit the goddess and diminish the demand for their idols. The passage highlights the deep-seated devotion to Artemis in Ephesus and the economic implications of her cult:

"About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. It began with a silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis and brought much business to the craftsmen. Demetrius assembled the craftsmen, along with the workmen in related trades. 'Men,' he said, 'you know that this business is our source of prosperity. And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in nearly the whole province of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great number of people. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed, she who is worshiped by all the province of Asia and the world.'" (Acts 19:23-27)

The uproar culminated in a large assembly at the theater in Ephesus, where the crowd shouted, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" for about two hours (Acts 19:28-34). The city clerk eventually calmed the crowd, emphasizing the city's reputation as the guardian of the temple of Artemis and advising legal channels for grievances (Acts 19:35-41).

Cultural and Religious Significance:

The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was a monumental structure that underscored her importance in the region. The temple served not only as a religious center but also as a hub of commerce and culture. Pilgrims from across the ancient world visited Ephesus to pay homage to Artemis, contributing to the city's prosperity.

Artemis' worship in Ephesus was characterized by elaborate rituals and festivals, including the Artemisia, which celebrated her divine attributes and influence. The goddess was often depicted in Ephesian art and coinage, reinforcing her central role in the city's identity.

Theological Implications:

From a biblical perspective, the account of Artemis in Acts underscores the tension between early Christianity and pagan religions. The spread of the Gospel challenged the prevailing religious and economic systems, as the message of Christ called for the abandonment of idolatry and the recognition of the one true God. The incident in Ephesus illustrates the transformative impact of the Gospel and the resistance it faced from entrenched pagan practices.

The narrative also highlights the power of the Gospel to confront and overcome cultural and spiritual strongholds. Despite the opposition, the early Christians remained steadfast in their mission, trusting in God's sovereignty and the truth of His Word. The account of Artemis serves as a reminder of the spiritual battle between light and darkness and the ultimate victory of God's kingdom.DIANA; ARTEMIS

di-an'-a (Artemis "prompt," "safe"): A deity of Asiatic origin, the mother goddess of the earth, whose seat of worship was the temple in Ephesus, the capital of the Roman province of Asia. Diana is but the Latinized form of the Greek word Artemis, yet the Artemis of Ephesus should not be confused with the Greek goddess of that name.

She may, however, be identified with the Cybele of the Phrygians whose name she also bore, and with several other deities who were worshipped under different names in various parts of the Orient. In Cappadocia she was known as Ma; to the Syrians as Atargatis or Mylitta; among the Phoenicians as Astarte, a name which appears among the Assyrians as Ishtar; the modern name Esther is derived from it. The same goddess seems to have been worshipped by the Hittites, for a female deity is sculptured on the rocks at Yazili Kaya, near the Hittite city of Boghazkeui. It may be shown ultimately that the various goddesses of Syria and Asia Minor all owe their origin to the earlier Assyrian or Babylonian Ishtar, the goddess of love, whose chief attributes they possessed. The several forms and names under which she appears axe due to the varying developments in different regions.

Tradition says that Diana was born in the woods near Ephesus, where her temple was built, when her image of wood (possibly ebony; Pliny, NH, xvi. 40; Acts 19:35) fell from the sky (see also ASTRONOMY, sec. I, 8 (2)). Also according to tradition the city which was later called Ephesus was founded by the Amazons, and Diana or Cybele was the deity of those half-mythical people. Later when Ephesus fell into the possession of the Greeks, Greek civilization partly supplanted the Asiatic, and in that city the two civilizations were blended together. The Greek name of Artemis was given to the Asiatic goddess, and many of the Greek colonists represented her on their coins as Greek. Her images and forms of worship remained more Asiatic than Greek Her earliest statues were figures crudely carved in wood. Later when she was represented in stone and metals, she bore upon her head a mural headdress, representing a fortitled city wall; from it, drapery hung upon each side of her face to her shoulders. The upper part of her body was completely covered with rows of breasts to signify that she was the mother of all life. The lower arms were extended. The lower part of the body resembled a rough block, as if her legs had been wrapped up in cloth like those of an Egyptian mummy. In later times her Greek followers represented her with stags or lions standing at her sides. The most renowned of her statues stood on the platform before the entrance to her temple in Ephesus. As the statues indicate, she impersonated the reproductive powers of men and of animals and of all other life.

At the head of her cult was a chief priest, originally a eunuch who bore the name and later the title Megabyzos. Under him were priests known as Essenes, appointed. perhaps from the city officials, for but a single year; it was their duty to offer the sacrifices to the goddess in behalf of the city. Other subordinate classes of priests known as Kouretes, Krobatai and Hilroi performed duties which are now obscure. The priestesses were even more numerous, and, probably from their great numbers, they were called Melissai or bees; the Ephesian symbol therefore which appears commonly upon the coins struck in the city, is a bee. The Melissai, which in the early times were all virgins, were of three classes; it is no longer known just what the special duties of each class were. The ritual of the temple services consisted of sacrifices and of ceremonial prostitution, a practice which was common to many of the religions of the ancient Orient, and which still exists among some of the obscure tribes of Asia Minor.

The temple of Diana was not properly the home of the goddess; it was but a shrine, the chief one, devoted to her service. She lived in Nature; she was everywhere wherever there was life, the mother of all living things; all offerings of every possible nature were therefore acceptable to her; hence, the vast wealth which poured into her temple. Not only was she worshipped in her temple, but in the minute shrines or naoi which were sometimes modeled after the temple. More frequently the shrines were exceedingly crude objects, either of silver or stone or wood or clay. They were made at Ephesus by dependents of the temple, and carried by the pilgrims throughout the world. Before them Diana might also be worshipped anywhere, just as now from the soil of the sacred Mesopotamian city of Kerbela, where the sons of Ali were martyred, little blocks are formed and are carried away by the Shiah Moslems that they may pray upon sacred ground wherever they may be. The makers of the shrines of Diana formed an exceedingly large class among whom, in Paul's time, was Demetrius (Acts 19:24). None of the silver shrines have been discovered, but those of marble and of clay have appeared among the ruins of Ephesus. They are exceedingly crude; in a little shell-like bit of clay, a crude clay female figure sits, sometimes with a tambourine in one hand and a cup in the other, or with a lion at her side or beneath her foot. Though the shrines were sold as sacred dwelling-places of the goddess, that the pilgrims who carried them to their distant homes, or buried them in the graves with their dead, might be assured of her constant presence, their real purpose was to increase the temple revenues by their sale at a price which was many times their cost. With the shrines of Diana may be compared the household gods of clay found in abundance among the ruins of the earlier Babylonian cities, especially those cities in which temples to the goddess Ishtar stood.

E. J. Banks

ARTEMIS

ar'-te-mis. See DIANA.

735. Artemis -- Artemis, the name of the Gr. goddess of the hunt
... 734, 735. Artemis. 736 . Artemis, the name of the Gr. goddess of the hunt.
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: Artemis ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/735.htm - 6k

734. Artemas -- "gift of Artemis," Artemas, a friend of the ...
... "gift of Artemis," Artemas, a ... of Artemis and doron Definition "gift of Artemis,"
Artemas, a friend of the apostle Paul NASB Word Usage Artemas (1). Artemas. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/734.htm - 6k

Artemis.
... Homily VI. Chapter IX."Artemis. "And Hera we understand to be a happy tempering
of the atmosphere, and therefore she is very fruitful ...
//christianbookshelf.org/unknown/the clementine homilies/chapter ix artemis.htm

Paul's Trials and victories at Ephesus
... living. A silversmith, by the name of Demetrius, made silver models of the
temple of Artemis which brought much profit to his workmen. ...
/.../sherman/the childrens bible/pauls trials and victories at.htm

Pagan Shrines and Temples.
... The list includes: The Apollo and Artemis driving a quadriga, by Lysias; fifty statues
of the Danaids; fifty of the sons of Egypt; the Herakles of Lysippos ...
/.../lanciani/pagan and christian rome/chapter ii pagan shrines and.htm

The Cruelty of the Sacrifices to the Gods.
... The Taurians, the people who inhabit the Tauric Chersonese, sacrifice to the Tauric
Artemis forthwith whatever strangers they lay hands on on their coasts who ...
/.../clement/exhortation to the heathen/chapter iii the cruelty of the.htm

The Absurdity and Shamefulness of the Images by which the Gods are ...
... The image of Artemis in Icarus was doubtless unwrought wood, and that of the
Cith??ronian Here was a felled tree-trunk; and that of the Samian Here, as ...
/.../exhortation to the heathen/chapter iv the absurdity and shamefulness.htm

The Names of the Gods and their Images are but of Recent Date.
... The image of Artemis at Ephesus, for example, and that of Athen?� (or rather of Athel?�,
for so is she named by those who speak more in the style of the ...
/.../athenagoras/a plea for the christians/chapter xvii the names of the.htm

Similar Human Origin of the Greek Gods, by Decree of Theseus. The ...
... renowned from of old among the Greeks, Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Heph??stus, Hermes,
and, among females, Hera and Demeter and Athena and Artemis, were decreed ...
/.../select works and letters or athanasius/section 10 similar human origin.htm

And Perhaps There is a Danger as Great as that which Degrades the ...
... is heard at the same time that of the son of Kronos and Rhea, and the husband of
Hera, and brother of Poseidon, and father of Athene, and Artemis, who was ...
/.../origen/origen against celsus/chapter xxv and perhaps there.htm

The Fight with Wild Beasts at Ephesus
... of various materials, from humble pottery to silver, and were intended for 'votaries
to dedicate in the temple,' and represented the goddess Artemis sitting in ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture the acts/the fight with wild beasts.htm

The Apology of Aristides the Philosopher. Translated from the ...
... For by Antiope, they say, that he begat Zethus and Amphion, and by Luna Dionysos,
by Alcmena Hercules, and by Leto, Apollo and Artemis, and by Danae Perseus ...
/.../kay/the apology of aristides the philosopher/the apology of aristides the.htm

Artemis (5 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia DIANA; ARTEMIS. di-an'-a (Artemis "prompt,"
"safe"): A deity of Asiatic origin, the mother goddess ...
/a/artemis.htm - 14k

Diana (5 Occurrences)
... So called by the Romans; called Artemis by the Greeks, the "great" goddess worshipped
among heathen nations under various modifications. ... DIANA; ARTEMIS. ...
/d/diana.htm - 15k

Ar'temis (5 Occurrences)
Ar'temis. Artemis, Ar'temis. Article . Multi-Version Concordance Ar'temis
(5 Occurrences). Acts 19:24 For a certain man named Demetrius ...
/a/ar'temis.htm - 7k

Nanaea
... with Ishtar in Assyria and Ashtoreth in Phoenicia, by the Greeks as Aphrodite (Clement
of Alexandria Protr., 19), but sometimes as Artemis the huntress (Paus. ...
/n/nanaea.htm - 8k

Greece (15 Occurrences)
... This epithet might refer to the locality of the worship (Aphrodite of the Gardens),
to the center from which the worship was brought (Artemis Brauronia), to ...
/g/greece.htm - 59k

Ancient (64 Occurrences)
... This epithet might refer to the locality of the worship (Aphrodite of the Gardens),
to the center from which the worship was brought (Artemis Brauronia), to ...
/a/ancient.htm - 98k

Naomi (25 Occurrences)
... hath dealt very bitterly with me." She advised Ruth in her dealings with Boaz, and
afterward nursed their child.ith Anaitis (equalsAnahita), the Asian Artemis. ...
/n/naomi.htm - 17k

Goddess (6 Occurrences)
... Acts 19:27 Not only is there danger that this our trade come into disrepute, but
also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be counted as nothing ...
/g/goddess.htm - 9k

Ephesian (4 Occurrences)
... Acts 19:28 When they heard this they were filled with anger, and cried out, saying,
"Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" (Root in WEB KJV WEY DBY WBS YLT NAS ...
/e/ephesian.htm - 8k

Delos
... It was here that Apollo and Artemis were born; hence, the island was sacred, and
became one of the chief seats of worship of the two deities. ...
/d/delos.htm - 10k

Who is the Artemis mentioned in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

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Artemis: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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