Hekate-Selene-Artemis and Related Deities in the Greek Magical Papyri and Curse Tablets

"possessing the paths of the mountains" ⁵⁸ original: ἔχουσα ὀρέων δρόμους / echousa oreōn dromous, yet occasionally ⁵⁹ Hekate is also called the mountain-roamer original: οὐρεσιφοῖτις / ouresiphoitis. Nevertheless, we would rather refer the epiklesis A ritual title or cult name used to invoke a deity's specific power. the mountain-wandering original: ὀρίπλανος / oriplanos, she who wanders upon the mountains (B 562, F 854), to Artemis and not to Selene or Hekate. As a mountain-roamer, the title the high-dwelling one original: ἀκρίη / akriē (A 227) might also belong to her, though the papyrus provides the reading arkiē. However, Artemis was not only a huntress but also a protector of wild game and of herds of cattle, so that we must in any case also assign to her the title the one who tends the herds original: νομαῖος / nomaios (A 271) ⁶⁰. Likewise, the epiklesis the opener of mountain springs original: ὀρεοπηγανύξ / oreopēganyx (?) (D 755) probably belongs to her; it is usually associated with the mountain-striker original: ὀρεοβαζάγρα / oreobazagra, the earth-breaker original: ῥηξίχθων / rhēxichthōn (she who [therefore] rips open the earth?), and the subterranean one original: ἱππό- (read ὑπό-)χθων / hypo-chthōn, although the last two epithets fit the nature of Hekate more closely. Artemis was indeed conceived of as a goddess of springs, rivers, and lakes, and even as a goddess of the sea; springs, rivers, and lakes often play a special role in her myths ⁶¹. Finally, springs, including healing springs, were often located in or near her sanctuaries, which resulted in her epithets the marsh-dweller original: λιμναία / limnaia or lady of the lake original: λιμνᾶτις / limnātis, especially in the Peloponnese, e.g., in Sikyon, Patrai, Tegea, Epidauros Limera, Sparta, Messene, and notably in the famous Limnaion on the Laconian-Messenian border ⁶². In Troizen, Artemis was therefore explicitly called mistress of the lake ⁶³ original: δέσποινα λίμνης / despoina limnēs or, with regard to the Kladeos ⁶⁴ and the Alpheios ⁶⁵, the river-goddess original: ποταμία / potamia. As a sea-goddess, she was finally called overseer of harbors original: λιμένεσσιν ἐπίσκοπος / limenessin episkopos, harbor-watcher original: λιμενοσκόπος / limenoskopos ⁶⁶, and in Laconia and Messenia, goddess of the harbor original: λιμενῖτις / limenitis ⁶⁷. She is also named thus in the Greek Anthology ⁶⁸, and therefore we will assign the epiklesis of the harbor original: λιμενῖτις / limenitis in B 561, E 853 to Artemis, even though Hekate was also called of the harbor, specifically in reference to the harbor-goddess of Munichia, Artemis Munichia ⁶⁹. Another function of Artemis was her care for the female sexual life, including menstruation, conception, pregnancy, and childbirth ⁷⁰. In this sense, the epikleseis the defending one original: ἀμυναμένη / amynamenē and—

⁵⁸ Orphic Hymn XXXI 10.       ⁵⁹ Orphic Hymn I 8.
⁶⁰ Hermes was also called this (Babrius, Fable XXIII 4); also Nomios Apollo (Theocritus XXV 1; Apollonius of Rhodes IV 1218; cf. II 506 f.; Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo 47, cf. Servius on Virgil's Georgics I 14) and very often Pan, the herd-god par excellence (Bruchmann, as cited above, 188).
⁶¹ For example, Pausanias VIII 22, 5.
⁶² Fränkel: Archäologische Zeitung 1876, 28 ff.; Roscher, Lexikon I 560.
⁶³ Euripides, Hippolytus 250.       ⁶⁴ Pausanias (V 14, 4).
⁶⁵ Strabo VIII 343; cf. Pausanias VI 22, 5; Pindar, Pythian Odes II 7; Horace, Odes I 21, 5; Catullus XXXIV 12: mistress of all original: omnium domina.
⁶⁶ Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 39, 259.
⁶⁷ J. Meursius, Miscellanea Laconica (1661) 1, 2 p. 6.
⁶⁸ Anthologia Palatina VI 105, 11; ibid. VI 280, 3: lady of the lake original: λιμνᾶτις / limnātis.
⁶⁹ Herodotus VIII 77: Oracle of Bakis; Xenophon, Hellenica II 4, 8; Pausanias I 1, 4. Occasionally, however, Priapus was also called of the harbor (Anthologia Palatina X 1, 7; 17, 1) or harbor-companion (ibid. X 5, 7/8).
⁷⁰ Cf. my Sexual Life of the Greeks and Romans, Vol. II 2.