ABSTRACT
In a hymn that could be regarded as a prime source because of its description of the goddess, the Alexandrian poet Callimachus starts off by asserting her polyonomy yet pays no heed to the assimilation of Artemis to Hecate or Selene. This was an ambiguous association; taken with Artemis's links to Hecate it could be used to emphasize the terrifying side of her nature. Nausicaa: Goddess, among the gods who rule die skies you must be Artemis, the daughter of great Zeus: people has her stature, beauty and grace. Latin writers simplified matters somewhat; their Diana was a goddess of the moon, and they had no difficulty in merging her at a single stroke with Artemis and with Hecate. Though Diana's identity as a terrestrial goddess had been fixed, whilst, at the same time, she had been discreedy associated with Phoebe by the inclusion of a crescent moon in her diadem.
