The Greek goddess of hunting, daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Leto, and twin sister of Apollo. Also called Lucinda and Cynthia, she was the protector of young virgin women, wild animals, and vegetation, and also helped women in childbirth and abortion, and granted women a swift and painless death when they suffered from painful and incurable diseases. The hind, the hare, and the date palm were sacred to her, as were all female wildlife. As her worship spread, she was merged with other goddesses and assumed their attributes. She was often merged with the moon goddess Selene, eventually replacing her as goddess of the moon. In this capacity she was further merged with the goddesses Hecate and Persephone to form the triple goddess Trivia, goddess of the crossroads, choices, and opportunities, as well as the dark moon, witchcraft, and the underworld. The Romans identified her with their own goddess Diana and the two names eventually became interchangeable. Artemis was especially worshipped by the Amazons, fierce warrior women, who were credited with the founding of Ephesus, a city which served as the major center of her cult for many centuries. She was never without her troop of nymphs, who accompanied her on her hunts in the woods or bathed with her in the mountain lakes and streams.

Though Homer and other poets emphasized Artemis' chastity, even to the point of her swearing a sacred oath before her father Zeus that she would remain forever a virgin, other, older myths do speak of her love affairs with some of the nymphs in her company. Chief among these was Calliope, who was also loved by Zeus. Hera, Zeus' wife, took vengeance on Calliope by turning her into a bear. Artemis killed Calliope with her arrows while hunting, then mourned upon realizing she had killed her lover.

When not out hunting or dancing in the wild, Artemis was often in the company of her brother Apollo, himself a bisexual deity. Together they took terrible revenge on the Queen Niobe for insulting their mother, and also sided together with the Trojans against the Greeks during their conflict. She is recorded as having refused to relent a gale and so allow the Greeks to set sail for Troy until they had sacrificed the maiden Iphigenia to her. Other versions say that Artemis carried the maiden away unharmed to join her band of attendants. Artemis was pursued by the giant hunter Orion, and lured him to his death by leading him into deep waters in which he drowned, though other myths say that he was Artemis' only male love (though non-sexual), and that Orion was lured to his death by an illusion of Artemis made by Apollo, either out of concern that Artemis was neglecting her divine duties or jealousy that the god could not have the handsome young hunter for himself.

At Ephesus, Artemis was merged with still more goddesses to become a virgin mother goddess of fertility, life, and healing. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, built by King Croesus of Lydia in 550 BCE, and then rebuilt in 356 BCE, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, massive in size and adorned with ornate works of art. It was here that Paul of Tarsus delivered his speech to the Ephesans and was jeered out by the crowds, who shouted, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesans!" In 262 CE the temple was destroyed by invading Goths and never rebuilt. Ephesus was a coastal city, and by this time sediments had filled its harbor and dried up its trade. The spread of Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean had also reduced the temple's patronage. Copies of the original statue from the temple survive. Far from the young maiden of myth, Artemis is shown as a mature woman in a tight gown, standing stiffly with hands outstretched in offering, with what appear to be a multitude of breasts, though some assert these are actually the testicles of bulls sacrificed to the goddess.

Artemis' association through Hecate with witchcraft appears to be very ancient. As Diana, she merged with the goddesses of Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic peoples to become an avatar of the Great Goddess worshipped by devotees of what was later called "the Witch Cult." She remains a common avatar of the Goddess among today's practitioners of modern Witchcraft, or Wicca, particularly among groups composed entirely of women, especially lesbians. She is also popular among those women who engage in Goddess Worship without identifying themselves as Wiccans or Witches, as well as among Radical Faeries and other Neo-Pagans. The Gospel of the Witches, a work published by folklorist Charles G. Leland, purports to be the words of Diana's (or Tana's) daughter, Aradia, to the witches of Italy, laying down the rituals which they are to observe in worship of the goddess.

The comic book character Wonder Woman takes her real name, Diana, from the Roman version of the Great Goddess of the Amazons. Her cousin, the second Wonder Woman, is named Artemis, and shares the Greek version's more intense dislike for the world of men and also her fiery temper.