Myth Library · Journey Conflict And Death

Artemis and the Death of Orion

1 source witness · 1 source-scoped variant · reviewed 2026-08-30

After blindness, guidance toward the sunrise, restored sight, and Eos’ desire, Orion reaches Delos and dies by Artemis’ hand under two rival explanations.

Canonical narrative

Orion enters Pseudo-Apollodorus' account as a giant whose life crosses sea, blindness, healing, desire, and death. Poseidon gives his son the power to stride across the sea. On Chios, Oenopion blinds him and casts him onto the shore. Orion reaches Hephaestus' forge, lifts a young guide onto his shoulders, and follows the boy toward sunrise until the sun's light restores his sight.

Eos then desires Orion and carries him to Delos. The island is where Artemis kills him, but the mythographer will not fix one cause. One telling says Orion challenged Artemis to a contest at quoits. Another says she shot him because he offered violence to Opis, one of the Hyperborean maidens. Athletic rivalry and defense of a threatened woman are different stories, and neither can quietly replace the other.

The death comes after Orion has already crossed several boundaries. He moves over the sea, passes from sight into blindness and back, and is carried by a goddess to the island where another goddess kills him. The source gives Artemis the final act but refuses to make its reason certain.

Episodes in this myth

Episode 1

Orion crosses toward sunrise

Blinded and cast ashore, Orion follows a guide toward sunrise, recovers his sight, and is later carried to Delos by Eos.

Episode 2

Artemis kills Orion on Delos

Artemis kills Orion, but the witness gives either a quoits challenge or an attack on Opis as the cause.

Participants and roles

Artemis

goddess who kills Orion on Delos under two rival explanations

The cause is either a quoits challenge or Orion’s attack on Opis.

Orion

sea-striding hunter restored from blindness and killed on Delos

His long approach to Delos is part of the same mythographic sequence.

Eos

goddess who desires Orion and carries him to Delos

Her action brings Orion to the island where Artemis kills him.

Poseidon

father who grants Orion the power to stride across the sea

The gift belongs to Orion’s origin and movement, not to the two disputed causes of death.

Opis

Hyperborean maiden whom Orion attacks in one explanation for his death

One alternative turns on the threat to Opis; the quoits account gives another cause.

Source-scoped variants

Pseudo-Apollodorus’ two causes for Orion’s death

Artemis kills Orion on Delos, either because he challenges her at quoits or because he attacks Opis.

What differs: Athletic rivalry and defense of Opis are incompatible motives and remain source-scoped alternatives.

Greek Roman Imperial · Delos

Source witnesses

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Library

Pseudo-Apollodorus; edited and translated by James G. Frazer · 1921

Entry Library · Section 1.4.3-5

Pseudo-Apollodorus recounts Orion’s parentage, sea-striding, blindness and healing, Eos’ desire, Delian death, and two rival causes.

Open reviewed source