Britomartis

Britomartis (Greek: Βριτόμαρτις) was the Minoan goddess of mountains and hunting. She is among the Minoan goddess figures that passed through the Mycenaeans' culture into classical Greek mythology, with transformations that are unclear in both transferrals. For the Greeks, Britomartis was a mountain nymph (an oread) whom Greeks recognized also in Artemis and in Aphaea, the "invisible" patroness of Aegina.

The goddess addressed as "Britomartis" was worshipped in Crete as an aspect of Potnia, the "Mistress". The oldest aspect of the Cretan goddess was as Mother of Mountains, who appears on Minoan seals with the demonic features of a Gorgon, accompanied by the double-axes of power and gripping divine snakes. Her terror-inspiring aspect was softened by calling her Britomartis, the "good virgin", a euphemism to allay her dangerous aspect.

She is also known as Diktynna (Δίκτυννα; derived by Hellenistic writers as from δίκτυα [diktya], "hunting nets").

According to Solinus, the name 'Britomartis' is not Greek but from a Cretan dialect; he also says that her name means virgo dulcis, or "sweet virgin". Solinus also identifies her explicitly as the Cretan Artemis.

Hesychius of Alexandria also equates the Cretan word βριτύ (brite) with Greek γλυκύ (glyke) 'sweet'.

According to some other scholars, Britomartis ("sweet maid") is an epithet that does not reveal the goddess's name, nor her character, for it has the ring of an apotropaic euphemism.

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