I wonder...
What are the stories of Artemis and Apollo?
Artemis and Apollo are two of the most famous Greek gods and goddesses from Greek mythology. They are known as the twin archers as they both have a bow as their weapon of choice. Apollo is the god of music, archery, medicine and the sun (mainly), while Artemis rules over archery (as well), hunting, forests and hills, childbirth and the moon. The pair were children over the god Zeus and the Titan Leto and when Hera found out about Leto's children's father being Zeus, she flew into a rage and cursed Leto so that she may not give birth on any land, cursing her to forever be pregnant. Leto searched and searched, prayed to every god, but still, she could never give birth. Eventually, she found the island of Delos, a floating island in the sea, not rooted to the ground, therefore Hera had not cursed her to not give birth on this land. She gave birth to her twins Artemis and Apollo on Delos and it became the twin's sacred land. It is said that Artemis was born ten days before her brother, growing in age all most instantly after birth and serving as her mother's midwife, this is the story that entitled her to the title of goddess of childbirth. Soon enough, Apollo was born and also aged to the same physical form as his sister.
Artemis and Apollo have always been close, to each other and their mother, but they also are willing to defend their mother's honour, and here is how they did so. Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus, a king, and when she grew of age she married King Amphion, the king of Thebes. This led to many tragic events in her life, but soon she and her husband had fourteen children together, seven boys and seven girls. At a later point, she attended a festival that was in honour of Leto, the mother of the divine twins, Artemis and Apollo, in a fit of envy she began to brag about her children, soon addressing herself as better than the mother of the divine twins, as she had raised fourteen children while Leto had only two. When the divine twins heard of this insult they made their descent and confronted Niobe, the seven boys of Niobe were murdered by Apollo and the seven girls of Niobe murdered by Artemis. The dead bodies of Niobe's daughters laid unburied for nine days. There are two different spectacles of how Amphion's life was ended, some say he was so devastated and depressed he committed suicide, others say that he was also murdered by Apollo's arrows, with his seven sons. So saddened by her families death, Niobe ran to the top of Mount Sipylus, weeping and praying for the gods to end her anguish, Zeus felt pity, turning her body to rock and therefore, her feelings. But even in this form, she continued to cry and weep for her family. Her tears pouring from the rock like a stream, to forever remind people of her mistakes and regrets.
