Artemis and OrionArtemis was also responsible for the death of the hunter Orion.
There are many conflicting stories about why she killed him, but each story ends with the same fate for Orion. One tale states that Orion tried to overpower Artemis and she shot him with her arrows to fight back. A second story tells that Orion boasted that he would kill all of the wild animals on earth, which provoked Artemis to send a scorpion to kill Orion. A third myth claims that Orion tried to abduct the virgin goddess and she sent a scorpion to bite him, getting her revenge. A fourth account says that Artemis had fallen in love Orion and that Apollo became jealous. One day while the twins were hunting on the island Crete, Apollo saw Orion swimming far out in the sea. Apollo, knew it was Orion, and challenged his sister to hit the object in the distance with her arrow. Artemis, being the great huntress with a very accurate shot, accepted her brother's challenge and shot Orion in his temple, causing the death of her beloved. When Artemis realized what she had done, she made amends by placing him in the sky as the constellation Orion. |