Britomartis (Dictynna)

Britomartis was a Cretan goddess of nature and hunting. Her name Britomartis means "Sweet Maiden". Britomartis was the daughter of Zeus and Carme, daughter of Eubulus. She was born at Caeno on the island of Crete. She was one of the Cretan nymphs. Britomartis was also a huntress and a companion of Artemis. Like the archer-goddess, Britomartis wanted to remain a virgin.

One day Minos, king of Crete, saw and fell in love with her, but Britomartis didn't want to have anything to do with the king, particularly considering that he was her half-brother (Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa). So Minos pursued her. Britomartis was a swift runner, but Minos always managed to stay behind her.

Minos thought that he had her trapped, because she was standing on a cliff overlooking the sea. But Britomartis would rather die than be in the embrace of a man she loathed, so she desperately leaped off the cliff. She was saved when fishermen caught her in their nets. Because of her dedication and desire to protect her chastity, Artemis awarded her with immortality.

With her becoming a goddess, she was known by the name Dictynna, which means the "Lady of the Nets", because she was saved by fishermen's nets. However, according to Diodorus Sicilus, she had already received this name because Britomartis had invented the nets for hunting, called dictya. It was because of this invention that she was named Dictynna.

Other people believed that she was named after Mount Dicte, a mountain where she frequently hunted game with Artemis. Dictynna was also possibly the Minoan Mountain Mother, where her sanctuaries were situated on a mountaintop. Pausanias says that the mythical inventor Daedalus created a wooden idol for her shrine at Olous in Crete.

Britomartis was probably identical to or derived from the Bronze Age goddess Potnia theron, or the Mistress of Animals. It seemed likely that Dictynna was called PI-PI-TU-NA, a name found in the Linear B tablets, found in Knossos. If this true then Dictynna was an ancient Minoan goddess. PI-PI-TU-NA, however, doesn't appear in the tablets located in Pylos.

Britomartis had many of the attributes of Artemis. Britomartis became the goddess of hunting and of the earth, nature and wild animals. Britomartis was a patron goddess of hunters, sailors and fishermen. She may have originally been a Cretan moon goddess, as well.

However, Artemis also used this name as well, as Artemis Diktynna in her sanctuaries at Chania bay and at Chersonesos; so some authors assumed that Dictynna was Artemis, not a separate goddess.

Britomartis was not only worshipped in Crete; she was celebrated as one of the local goddesses on the island of Aegina, as the goddess Aphaea. On the island of Cephallenia, she was known by yet another name, Laphria.