ARTEMIS, one of the principal goddesses in Greek mythology, the counterpart of the Roman Diana. The suggested etymologies of the name (see O. Gruppe, _Griechische Mythologie_, ii. p. 1267, note 2), as in the case of most of the Olympian deities, are unsatisfactory, and throw no light upon her significance and characteristics. The Homeric and later conception of Artemis, though by no means the original one, may be noticed first. She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin->sister and counterpart of Apollo. She is said to have been born a day before him (on the 6th of the month) and tradition assigns them different birthplaces--Delos to Apollo, Ortygia to Artemis. But Ortygia ("home of quails") applies still to Delos, and may well have been a synonym for that island. In its original sense it does not apply either to the island of Ortygia at Syracuse, or to Ortygia near Ephesus, which also claimed the honour of having been the birthplace of the goddess. Artemis is the goddess of chastity, an aspect of her character which gradually assumed more and more importance--the protectress of young men and maidens, who defies and contemns the power of Aphrodite. Her resemblance to her brother is shown in many ways. Like him, armed with bow and arrows, she deals death to mortals, sometimes gently and suddenly, especially to women, but also as a punishment for offences against herself or morality. With him she takes part in the combat with Python and with Tityus, in the slaughter of the children of Niobe, while alone she executes vengeance on Orion. Although Apollo has nothing to do with the earlier cult of Artemis, nor Artemis with that of Delphi, their association was a comparatively early one, and probably originated in Delos. Here the connexion of Artemis with the Hyperborean legend (see APOLLO) is shown in the names of the maidens (Opis, Hecaerge) who were supposed to have brought offerings from the north to Delos, where they were buried. Both Opis (or Oupis) and Hecaerge are names of Artemis, the latter being the feminine of Hecaergos, an epithet of Apollo. Like her brother, she is not only a goddess who deals death, but she is also a healing and a purifying divinity, [Greek: oulia] ("the healer," cf. Apollo Oulios), [Greek: luae, luaia] ("purifier,") and [Greek: soteira], "she who saves from all evils" (cf. Apollo [Greek: apotropaios]). Her connexion with the prophetic art is doubtful, although mention is made of an Artemis Sibylla. To her association with Apollo are certainly to be referred the names Delphinia and Pythia, and the titles referring to state and family life--[Greek: prostataeria], [Greek: patriotis], [Greek: boulaia]. It probably accounts for her appearance as a goddess of seafarers, the bestower of fair weather and prosperous voyages. At Phigalia in Arcadia, Eurynome, represented as half woman and half fish, was probably another form of Artemis. To the same association may be traced her slight connexion with music, song and dance. Entry: ARTEMIS
CASTOR and POLLUX (Gr. [Greek: Poludeukês]), in Greek and Roman mythology, the twin sons of Leda, and brothers of Helen and Clytaemnestra. They were also known under the name of Dioscuri ([Greek: Dioskoroi], later [Greek: Dioskouroi], children of Zeus), for, according to later tradition, they were the children of Zeus and Leda, whose love the god had won under the form of a swan. In some versions Leda is represented as having brought forth two eggs, from one of which were born Castor and Pollux, from the other Helen. In another account, Zeus is the father of Pollux and Helen, Tyndareus (king of Sparta) of Castor and Clytaemnestra. In Homer, Castor, Pollux and Clytaemnestra are said to be the children of Tyndareus and Leda, Helen the daughter of Leda by Zeus. The Dioscuri were specially reverenced among people of Dorian race, and were said to have reigned at Sparta, where also they were buried. They were also worshipped, especially in Athens, as lords and protectors ([Greek: anakes, anaktes]). Sailors in a storm prayed to them (Horace, _Odes_, i. 3) and sacrificed a white lamb, whereupon they were wont to appear in the form of fire at the masthead (probably referring to the phenomenon of St Elmo's fire), and the storm ceased. Later, they were confounded with the Samothracian Cabeiri. In battle they appeared riding on white horses and gave victory to the side they favoured. They were the patrons of hospitality, and founded the sacred festival called Theoxenia. They presided over public games, Castor especially as the horse-tamer, Pollux as the boxer; but both are represented as riding on horseback or driving in a chariot. In Sparta their ancient symbol was two parallel beams [Greek: dokana] connected by cross-bars, which the Spartans took with them into the field (Plutarch, _De Fraterno Amore_, 1; Herodotus v. 75); later, they were represented by two amphorae with snakes twined round them. Their most important exploits were the invasion of Attica, to rescue their sister Helen from Theseus; their share in the hunting of the Calydonian boar (see MELEAGER) and the Argonautic expedition, and their battle with the sons of Aphareus, brought about by a quarrel in regard to some cattle, in which Castor, the mortal (as the son of Tyndareus), fell by the hand of Idas. Pollux, finding him dead after the battle, implored Zeus to be allowed to die with him; this being impossible by reason of his immortality, Pollux was permitted to spend alternately one day among the gods, the other in Hades with his brother. According to another fable, the god marked his approval of their love by placing them together in the sky, as the Twins or the morning and evening star (Hyginus, _Poet. Astronom._ ii. 22). Like the Asvins of the _Veda_, the bringers of light in the morning sky, with whom they have been identified, the Dioscuri are represented as youthful horsemen, naked or wearing only a light chlamys. Their characteristic attribute is a pointed egg-shaped cap, surmounted by a star. Entry: CASTOR
JACOB (Hebrew _ya'aqob_, derived, according to Gen. xxv. 26, xxvii. 36, from a root meaning "to seize the heel" or "supplant"), son of Isaac and Rebekah in the Biblical narrative, and the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob and his twin >brother Esau are the eponyms of the Israelites and Edomites. It was said of them that they would be two nations, and that the elder would serve the younger. Esau was born first, but lost his superiority by relinquishing his birthright, and Jacob by an act of deceit gained the paternal blessing intended for Esau (Gen. xxvii., J and E).[1] The popular view regarding Israel and Edom is expressed when the story makes Jacob a tent-dweller, and Esau a hunter, a man of the field. But whilst Esau married among the Canaanite "daughters of the land" (P in xxvi. 34; xxviii. 8 seq.), Jacob was sent, or (according to a variant tradition) fled from Beer-sheba, to take a wife from among his Syrian kinsfolk at Haran. On the way he received a revelation at Bethel ("house of God") promising to him and to his descendants the whole extent of the land. The beautiful story of Jacob's fortunes at Haran is among the best examples of Hebrew narrative: how he served seven years for Rachel, "and they seemed a few days for the love he had to her," and was tricked by receiving the elder sister Leah, and how he served yet another seven years, and at last won his love. The patriarch's increasing wealth caused him to incur the jealousy of his father-in-law, Laban, and he was forced to flee in secret with his family. They were overtaken at Gilead,[2] whose name (interpreted "heap of witness") is explained by the covenant into which Jacob and Laban entered (xxxi. 47 sqq.). Passing Mahanaim ("camps"), where he saw the camps of God, Jacob sent to Esau with friendly overtures. At the Jabbok he wrestled with a divine being and prevailed (cf. Hos. xii. 3 sqq.), hence he called the place Peniel or Penuel ("the face of God"), and received the new name Israel. He then effected an unexpected reconciliation with Esau, passed to Succoth, where he built "booths" for his cattle (hence its name), and reached Shechem. Here he purchased ground from the clan Hamor (cf. Judg. ix. 28), and erected an altar to "God (El) the God of Israel." This was the scene of the rape of Dinah and of the attack of Simeon and Levi which led to their ruin (xxxiv.; see DAN, LEVITES, SIMEON). Thence Jacob went down south to Bethel, where he received a divine revelation (P), similar to that recorded by the earlier narrator (J), and was called Israel (xxxv. 9-13, 15). Here Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, on the way to Ephrath. Rachel died in giving birth to Benjamin (q.v.), and further south Reuben was guilty of a grave offence (cf. xlix. 4). According to P, Jacob came to Hebron, and it was at this juncture that Jacob and Esau separated (a second time) and the latter removed to Mount Seir (xxxvi. 6 sqq.; cf. the parallel in xiii. 5 sqq.). Compelled by circumstances, described with much fullness and vividness, Jacob ultimately migrated to Egypt, receiving on the way the promise that God would make of him a great nation, which should come again out of Egypt (see JOSEPH). After an interview with the Pharaoh (recorded only by P, xlvii. 5-11), he dwelt with his sons in the land of Goshen, and as his death drew near pronounced a formal benediction upon the two sons of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim), intentionally exalting the younger. Then he summoned all the "sons" to gather round his bed, and told them "what shall befall in the latter days" (xlix.). He died at the age of 147 (so P), and permission was given to carry his body to Canaan to be buried. Entry: JACOB
HORATII and CURIATII, in Roman legend, two sets of three brothers born at one birth on the same day--the former Roman, the latter Alban--the mothers being twin >sisters. During the war between Rome and Alba Longa it was agreed that the issue should depend on a combat between the two families. Two of the Horatii were soon slain; the third brother feigned flight, and when the Curiatii, who were all wounded, pursued him without concert he slew them one by one. When he entered Rome in triumph, his sister recognized a cloak which he was wearing as a trophy as one she had herself made for her lover, one of the Curiatii. She thereupon invoked a curse upon her brother, who slew her on the spot. Horatius was condemned to be scourged to death, but on his appealing to the people his life was spared (Livy i. 25, 26; Dion. Halic. iii. 13-22). Monuments of the tragic story were shown by the Romans in the time of Livy (the altar of Janus Curiatius near the _sororium tigillum_, the "sister's beam," or yoke under which Horatius had to pass; and the altar of Juno Sororia). The legend was probably invented to account for the origin of the _provocatio_ (right of appeal to the people), while at the same time it points to the close connexion and final struggle for supremacy between the older city on the mountain and the younger city on the plain. Their relationship and origin from three tribes are symbolically represented by the twin >sisters and the two sets of three brothers. Entry: HORATII
HELENUS, in Greek legend, son of Priam and Hecuba, and twin->brother of Cassandra. He is said to have been originally called Scamandrius, and to have received the name of Helenus from a Thracian soothsayer who instructed him in the prophetic art. In the _Iliad_ he is described as the prince of augurs and a brave warrior; in the _Odyssey_ he is not mentioned at all. Various details concerning him are added by later writers. It is related that he and his sister fell asleep in the temple of Apollo Thymbraeus and that snakes came and cleansed their ears, whereby they obtained the gift of prophecy and were able to understand the language of birds. After the death of Paris, Helenus and his brother Deïphobus became rivals for the hand of Helen. Deïphobus was preferred, and Helenus withdrew in indignation to Mount Ida, where he was captured by the Greeks, whom he advised to build the wooden horse and carry off the Palladium. According to other accounts, having been made prisoner by a stratagem of Odysseus, he declared that Philoctetes must be fetched from Lemnos before Troy could be taken; or he surrendered to Diomedes and Odysseus in the temple of Apollo, whither he had fled in disgust at the sacrilegious murder of Achilles by Paris in the sanctuary. After the capture of Troy, he and his sister-in-law Andromache accompanied Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus) as captives to Epirus, where Helenus persuaded him to settle. After the death of Neoptolemus, Helenus married Andromache and became ruler of the country. He was the reputed founder of Buthrotum and Chaonia, named after a brother or companion whom he had accidentally slain while hunting. He was said to have been buried at Argos, where his tomb was shown. When Aeneas, in the course of his wanderings, reached Epirus, he was hospitably received by Helenus, who predicted his future destiny. Entry: HELENUS