Rick Riordan - Demigods and Monsters

Okay, maybe it’s a little too early for you to be worrying about all of that anyway. Your skin is unlined, and as for gray hair, that’s something your mom is always moaning over, not you. But forever-firm skin and shining hair are not the only benefits of this offer. Consider that you’ll also gain freedom from all the responsibilities of daily life. You’ll acquire the ability to run tirelessly and the opportunity to romp with a goddess and your fellow huntresses all over the wild reaches of this world. You’ll become part of a steadfast sisterhood, the ultimate zenith of girl power. You’ll never have to worry about your best friend moving away and having no one to sit with at the lunch table in school, or wonder if your friends are true friends. And you’ll never have to go through that “crisis of self-confidence” that everyone is always warning teenage girls about. Plus, no man will ever, ever tell you what to do or say or think, or more precisely what you can’t do or say or think.

All you have to do is utter the words, “I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt.”

Yes, you heard that right. Eternal maidenhood and no men. No men at all.

So therein lies the catch (I did promise one of those). In exchange for always living in the endless summer of your life, with complete freedom from everything, you must foreswear all contact with men. And I really do mean all contact, not just contact of the romantic persuasion. But let’s talk about the romantic-persuasion kind first.

Forget about first dates. No more should I put my hair up or down , what shoes do I wear , is this outfit okay? No more tiny perfect butterflies in your stomach, and no more agonizing over will he kiss me now , should I kiss him first , oh I really hope he kisses me at all! No need for those long talks on the phone with your best friend about how he actually looked at you in the cafeteria today or touched your hand maybe by accident , but maybe not , and how you think for three seconds he was smiling in your general direction and you know he was smiling at you because you looked behind your shoulder (in a really subtle way of course) and made sure that there was no one behind you that he could possibly be smiling at . No need for any of that because when you’re one of Artemis’ maidens you really are just that: a maiden through and through. Forever. Artemis was the goddess of virginity, and while Athena was also a virgin goddess, she was known more for being the goddess of wisdom. Don’t forget, Athena sprang forth fully grown from her father Zeus’ head and is always depicted as a grave woman, while Artemis is always portrayed as an eternally young and carefree girl. Greek mythology tells us that Artemis made the choice to remain a virgin at a very early age (some versions pinpoint it as early as three years old). Artemis made this request, along with one for a silver bow and silver arrows, of her father, Zeus, and it was granted.

Okay, so say that you think so far so good . You’re tired of boys anyway. Who needs them? They never call when they say they will, and when they actually do call they only want to talk about really boring things, and you don’t like any of their meathead friends, and sometimes you’re not sure if you even like them . Especially when they don’t cut their hair for a while or wear that same T-shirt at least three times a week. Besides, your best friends (who needless to say are all girls) happen to understand you, really understand everything you’re going through, sometimes without you even having to explain it all. So no need to stress over that part of the deal.

But consider that this contract is pretty absolute. When Artemis says no males, she really means it. This includes your father, your brothers, your male cousins and friends. No more father-daughter dances or the two of you making pancakes while the rest of your family is sleeping. No more watching TV with your brothers and fighting, in a playful way, over the remote control. No more kicking around a soccer ball in the park with your male friends. (For the record, I have never kicked around a soccer ball in a park or anywhere else, but should I ever choose to do so, it might be fun to kick the ball to a male friend or two.) Instead, you have to leave your family and begin a shiny brand-new life with your adopted sisters, your fellow Hunters.

Not so easy now, right? Remember in Rick Riordan’s The Titan’s Curse , the character Bianca is offered this choice. True, Artemis does mention that Bianca may see her brother occasionally , but she also quite clearly states that if Bianca swears the oath, she will have a new family starting then and there. And Bianca does end up swearing the oath and becoming one of Artemis’ maidens. But her choice has some unexpected consequences that come back to haunt her.

Who cares, you say. You still want in. Your father’s too strict anyway and your brothers (if you have them) are so annoying and probably wouldn’t even notice if you were gone. Fine, but let’s examine Artemis a little more closely to see just what you’d be getting into if you signed up for eternal youth. Artemis as portrayed in The Titan’s Curse is a stern but fair task-mistress, willing to go to great lengths to protect her maidens. Moreover, she is a woman of extreme strength and conviction, as shown when she shoulders Atlas’ burden and bears it admirably. And Riordan’s rendering of her does align with the more traditional Artemis of Greek myths and legends.

Yet while Riordan’s Artemis seems like the very best possible older sister a girl could ask for—daring, brave, full of vitality—the Artemis of Greek myths had a harsher side. In fact, the Artemis of Greek myths often possessed a contradictory and cruelly unforgiving nature. Although she was generally known as the protector of innocents, there are several disturbing myths that showcase her terrifying capacity for swift and brutal revenge.

One such myth concerns Niobe, the Queen of Thebes. Niobe gave birth to seven sons and seven daughters, and in a moment of hubris she bragged about her fertility at a ceremony honoring the goddess Leto. Huge mistake. Leto just happened to be the mother of none other than Artemis and Apollo. Also, she was often considered the goddess of fertility, which apparently Niobe found too much of an irony to resist. Niobe decided that she was superior to Leto, having had fourteen children to Leto’s mere two.

It’s generally never a good idea to compare yourself favorably to a goddess, especially at a ceremony in her honor. Furthermore, Leto was the daughter of Titans, who aren’t exactly known for their easygoing nature. As to be expected, Leto didn’t take the insult well and sent in her royal children, Artemis and Apollo, to exact revenge. While Apollo killed Niobe’s seven sons, Artemis, an expert huntress, shot and killed the seven daughters with her deadly arrows.

In some versions, Niobe is said to have cradled her youngest daughter in her arms, begging the goddess to spare the child’s life; unfortunately, Artemis’ arrow had already left the bow. Niobe’s husband, Amphion, was said to have either committed suicide when learning of his children’s deaths or been murdered by Apollo. Niobe fled in despair to Mount Sipylus (located somewhere in Asia Minor), where she wept so much that she was eventually turned into stone (in some versions by Artemis herself).

You might ask, what was Niobe thinking to insult Leto, a goddess, a lover of Zeus, and the mother of such powerful children? It’s true that back then there were very specific rules concerning honor and the right to take revenge once said honor was insulted. So let’s put Niobe aside for the moment and look instead at Iphigenia, Agamemnon’s unfortunate daughter. After killing a deer in one of Artemis’ sacred groves (and in some versions also boasting that he was the better hunter), Agamemnon, King of Argos or Mycenae (depending on whom you’re talking to), draws the wrath of Artemis down upon his head. Things really heat up when Agamemnon wants to sail to Troy with his army. Artemis refuses to allow the wind to fill Agamemnon’s sails . . . until he sacrifices his youngest daughter, Iphigenia, as payback for killing one of her deer (and nominating himself as the better hunter). In some accounts Agamemnon completes the sacrifice and Iphigenia is killed, while in others Artemis relents at the last moment. In these latter versions, Artemis spirits the girl away to the island of Crimea, where she becomes a priestess of Artemis’ temple. This may seem like a kinder fate, but the temple routinely indulges in the human sacrifice of strangers to the island. Not exactly the kind of career you aspire to.