Apanchomene

(Ἀπαγχομένη), the strangled (goddess), a surname of Artemis, the origin of which is thus related by Pausanias. (8.23.5.) In the neighbourhood of the town of Caphyae in Areadia, in a place called Condylea, there was a sacred grove of Artemis Condyleatis. On one occasion when some boys were playing in this grove, they put a string round the goddess' statue, and said in their jokes they would strangle Artemis. Some of the inhabitants of Caphyae who found the boys thus engaged in their sport, stoned them to death. After this occurrence, all the women of Caphyae had premature births, and all the children were brought dead into the world. This calamity did not cease until the boys were honourably buried, and an annual sacrifice to their manes was instituted in accordance with the command of an oracle of Apollo. The surname of Condyleatis was then changed into Apanchomene. [L.S]