Blood on Her Altar

The idea that Artemis was only worshipped by women in the ancient world, which is a common one amongst modern pagans, is simply not true.  Men often played a role in ceremonies honouring her, though in a very different way and for different reasons from women.

In Sparta during the Roman period, young men had to undergo severe flogging on the altar of Artemis Orthia, the scourging would continue until the entire altar was covered in their blood.  This ritual flogging was known as diamnastigosis   (from diamastigô - ”to whip harshly”), and was a test endurance through which the men had to demonstrate their willingness and worthiness to be devotees and warriors fighting in the name this goddess.  

This particular ceremony is believed to have its origins in the discovery of the image of Artemis Orthia which was lost from a temple and then subsequently rediscovered.  The statue was found by two Spartan warriors, Astrabakos and Alopekos, who went insane when they found the statue.  The statue was then replaced in the temple, an altar set up and Artemis temporarily propitiated.  Then at a sacrifice honouring Artemis at this icon, groups of Limnatians, Kynosourians and Mesoans got into a quarrel, which developed into a fight during which several of the men were killed at the altar.  The Goddess was furious and killed the remaining men through a disease! 

The disease started spreading and the Spartans were understandably concerned and therefore consulted with an Oracle.  They were told that the only way in which they could appease Artemis and thereby prevent further spread of the disease would be to stain her altar with human blood.  Initially this took the form of human sacrifice on the altar, with the blood of the sacrifice being smeared on the altar.  But it was eventually substituted with the ceremonial scourging of young men as part of their coming of age, journey into manhood.   During the scourging a Priestess would hold the wooden image of Atemis, and if the image became heavy to her, it meant that the men scourging the boys were giving favour to a boy, maybe because of the rank of the child or because of his beauty.  If this happened then the Priestess would chastise the scourgers and make sure that the boy in question is scourged properly.

This combined with the use of ritual flogging as described by Xenophon as I discussed in my blog of yesterday and the mock sacrifice at the temple of Artemis Tauropolos in Attica demonstrate examples of where men were very much the centre of ceremonies honouring Artemis. 

As always I would love to hear your thoughts on this practice, you can respond here or at the original blog www.sorita.co.uk

For more info see: ARTEMIS Virgin Goddess of the Sun & Moon

Lets steal the cheese of Artemis!

When you think of cheese, its unlikely that the Goddess Artemis will be the first thing to cross your mind!  However, ever since chancing on a snippet about a ritual recorded by Xenophon when I was doing the research for my book ARTEMIS Virgin Goddess of the Sun and Moon some years back, I often find myself thinking of Artemis when I see one of those cheeses wrapped in red, as the red makes me think of the bloodshed which might have accompanied the “cheese stealing ritual” of Artemis!

In Lakedaimonion Politeia (2.9) we find a reference to this cheese stealing ritual in which two opposing groups of young men would contest some cheese, which would be stored on the altar of Artemis.  The first group would defend the cheese with whips and the second group would try to steal it.  This ritual seems to have been a variation of many others which would involve some form of fighting, violence and bloodshed on Artemis’ altars. 

In another example Euripides recorded a mock sacrifice which was performed at the temple of Artemis Tauropolos in Attica.  In this rite a man would have his neck scratched with a knife, so that blood was drawn.  We can speculate that this might have formed part of an initiatory rite, with the first of the blood being shed as an offering to Artemis.

“And institute this custom: when the people celebrate, as atonement for your sacrfice let them hold a sword to a man’s neck and cause blood to flow, for holidness sake and that the goddess have due honour.” (Euripedes)

For those of you who have undergone esoteric Wiccan Initiations will recognise the theme which runs through the above reference, something which again illustrates how the same practices which were found in the ancient world continues to be echoed in modern ritual practices, often with no recognition of the original and with the vague idea that our modern rites have all just been invented the other day.  But that is part of the illusion of the Moon!

For those familiar with the image of the goddess Artemis in modern paganism, the above might have raised an eyebrow as the examples noted involve MALE devotees, contrary to the modern idea that Artemis’ worshippers were all female!  Though it is true that the majority of her devotees were young female virgins, there are many examples of men who did devote themselves to Artemis too. 

Tomorrow I will draw again from the work I published in ARTEMIS to explore the idea of men as worshippers of Artemis a little more, and will also consider the role of male gods in her mysteries.  I would love to hear your thoughts about Artemis & Men, and of course Cheese – either directly here on my blog (www.sorita.co.uk ) or where-ever you are reading this!