Religion is a socio-political institution that dates back to the earliest era of human life in the sense that human beings have always been able to define the world and attribute strange aspects of the world to the supernatural. In our society, especially in the western world, there is a strong dominance of monotheistic religions and cultures. The complexity the Greeks applied to their gods and goddesses, especially the third generation, is often missed or disregarded by the citizens of today. In her essay Interpreting Images, Sarah Woodford makes a comment that is important for us in the 21st century to consider when attempting to study antiquity. “They first became acquainted with myths in early childhood, listening at their mother’s knee. …show more content…
Woodford’s comment on the ancient Greeks having access to a more primary source of myth than we do is substantiated here by Petrovic’s argument. Homeric Hymn sentence. The longer Hymn to Artemis (27) gives a fervent description of the goddess and applauds her skills as a huntress and her unmatched aptitude for archery. From this hymn we understand that the Greeks of ancient times revered and celebrated one of Artemis’ main characteristics, the goddess of hunting and archery. It is interesting to see the Greeks celebrating a female deity for something that falls outside the typical role of a women in a patriarchal society such as that governed by the polis culture of the Greeks. This can be explained by a line in the same Homeric hymn: “But the goddess with a bold heart turns every way destroying the race of wild beasts.”3 This justification of her identity as huntress comes from the general belief Artemis would fiercely protect the Greeks and their culture. While protecting the city from “wild beasts” was usually the job of the major Greek gods and heroes, here Artemis is depicted as goddess who would use her arrow for the good of the people, or at least for the people who worshipped her. This hymn helps set up the defining factors of Artemis that can help identify her in iconographical images depicting