Hymnia

A surname of Artemis in Arcadia. She had a sanctuary standing on the borders of Orchomenus, near the territory of Mantineia. Her priestess was always a virgin. Aristocrates, the son of Aechmis, desired the priestess and ravished her in the sanctuary near the image of Artemis. When the crime came to be generally known, the Arcadians stoned the culprit, and also changed the rule for the future; as priestess of Artemis they now appoint, not a virgin, but a woman who has had enough of intercourse with men.

❧