Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, Artemiche ( grc, Ἀρτεμίχη, Artemikhe) is a minor figure, the daughter of a rich Babylonian man named

Clinis In Greek mythology, Clinis or Cleinis was a native of Babylon and father, by Harpe, of three sons, Harpasus, Lycius, and Ortygius, and of a daughter Artemiche. Mythology Clinis venerated Apollo and Artemis diligently and was in return favored ...

by his wife

Harpe The ''harpē'' () was a type of sword or sickle; a sword with a sickle protrusion along one edge near the tip of the blade. The harpe is mentioned in Greek and Roman sources, and almost always in mythological contexts. Harpe in mythology Th ...

, and thus the only sister of Lycius,

Harpasus In Greek mythology, Harpasus ( grc, Ἄρπασος, Harpasos, snatcher) is the son of Clinis by his wife Harpe, the brother of Lycius, Ortygius and Artemiche. His family venerated Apollo greatly, until they angered him gravely. Mythology One ...

and

Ortygius In Greek mythology, Ortygius ( grc, Ὀρτύγιος, Ortugios, quail) is the son of Clinis by his wife Harpe, the brother of Lycius, Harpasus and Artemiche. He was transformed into a bird by Apollo, whom his family venerated greatly. Mythol ...

. She was transformed into a bird by

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

and

Leto In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Leto (; grc-gre, Λητώ , ''Lētṓ'', or , ''Lātṓ'' in Ancient Greek dialects#Provenance, Doric Greek) is a goddess and the mother of Apollo, the god of music, and Artemis ...

after her family angered

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

, whom they had venerated greatly in the past.

Mythology

One day her father Clinis, having witnessed the

Hyperborea In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...

ns sacrifice donkeys to Apollo, meant to do the same. But Apollo forbid so, under the pain of death. Artemiche and her brother Ortygius persuaded their father to obey the god, while Harparus and Lycius wanted to sacrifice the donkeys. Clinis ended up listening to Artemiche and Ortygius, but their two brothers decided to proceed with the sacrifice anyway. Apollo turned the donkeys mad as punishment, who began to devour the family. They all cried for help.

and

decided to save Clinis, Ortygius and Artemiche, as they had done nothing wrong in obeying Apollo. Apollo allowed them to save them by changing them into birds. Artemiche herself was turned into a

lark Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occu ...

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis ( el, Ἀντωνῖνος Λιβεράλις) was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD 100 and 300. His only surviving work is the ''Metamorphoses'' (Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή, ''Me ...

, ''Collection of Transformations'
20
/ref>

References

Bibliography

, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology Deeds of Apollo Asia in Greek mythology Leto Deeds of Artemis Women in Greek mythology {{Greek-myth-stub

Mythology

See also

References

Bibliography