Artemis: My favorite Greek deity

Artemis... virgin goddess of the wilderness, the hunt, protection of animals and fertility. Her twin brother was Apollo, though she was born one day before him. After she was born, it's said that she helped her mother across over the straits to Delos (where Apollo was born) and this is why she's also known for protecting women giving birth and young children.

She's quite a contradictory goddess: goddess of the hunt but also protector of animals. Protector of women in labor but also had arrows that would bring sudden death during birth. Had the divinity of healing but also spread around diseases. She had a bit of temper... killed a lot of men. She also valued her purity and asked Zeus to give her eternal virginity.

We learned in my Public & Private Greek and Roman Life class that women had to appease the virgin goddess when they got married with sacrifices (Usually items from their childhood: toys, locks of hair, dolls, etc).

I do believe she is my favorite Greek deity. In 5th-6th grade, I had a major Greek mythology phase... the stories interest me exceedingly. I really like Prometheus as well (wrote a spin off of that story but made Prometheus a woman), but he's only a Titan and not in the Greek Pantheon.