confusions between the Great Mother
(Hathor) and the Sun-god (Horus), to which I have referred in my
discussion of the dragon-story.

But when Apollo's form emerges more clearly he is associated not with
Aphrodite but with Artemis, whom Dr. Rendel Harris has shown to be
identified with the mugwort, _Artemisia_. The association of the goddess
with this plant is probably related to the identification of Sekhet with
the marsh-plants of the Egyptian Delta and of Hathor and Isis with the
lotus and other water plants. Any doubt as to the reality of these
associations and Egyptian connexions is banished by the evidence of
Artemis's male counterpart Apollo Hyakinthos and his relations to the
sacred lily and other water plants.[339] Artemis was a gynaecological
specialist: for she assisted women not only in childbirth and the
expulsion of the placenta, but also in cases of amenorrhoea and
affections of the uterus. She was regarded as the goddess of the portal,
not merely of birth,[340] but also of gold and treasure, of which she
possessed the key, and of the year (January).

This brings us back to the guardianship of gold and treasures which
plays so vital a part in the evolution of the Mediterranean goddesses.
For, like the story of the dog and the mandrake, it emphasizes the
conchological ancestry of these deities and their connexion with the
guardians of the subterranean palaces where pearls are found. But
Artemis was not only the opener of the treasure-houses, but she also
possessed the secret of the philosopher's stone: she could transmute
base substances into gold,[341] for was she not the offspring of the
Golden Hathor? To open the portal either of birth or wealth she used her
magic wand or key. As _Nub_, the lady of gold, the Great Mother could
not only change other substances into gold, but she was also the
guardian of the treasure house of gold, pearls, and precious stones.
Hence she could grant riches. Elsewhere in this chapter (p. 221) I shall
explain how the goddess came to be identified with gold.

Just as Hathor, the Eye of Re, descended to provide the elixir of youth
for the king who was the sun-god, so Artemis is described as
travelling through the air in a car drawn by two serpents[342] seeking
the most pious of kings in order that she might establish her cult with
him and bless him with renewed youth.[343]

Artemis was a moon-goddess closely related to Britomartis and Diktynna,
the Cretan prototype of Aph