Cat his "History of Animals" that "female cats are naturally lecherous." The Greeks later syncretized their own goddess Artemis with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, adopting Bastet's associations with cats and ascribing them to Artemis. In Ovid's "Metamorphoses", when the gods flee to Egypt and take animal forms, the goddess Diana (the Roman equivalent of Artemis) turns into a cat. Cats eventually displaced ferrets as the pest control of choice because they were more pleasant to have around the house and were more enthusiastic hunters of mice. During the Middle Ages, many of Artemis's associations with cats were grafted onto the Virgin
Artemis as they mourned for their lost brother, Meleagor, so she transformed them into Guinea Fowl to be her favorite animals. Hawks were the favored birds of many of the gods, Artemis included. The oldest representations of Artemis in Greek Archaic art portray her as "Potnia Theron" ("Queen of the Beasts"): a winged goddess holding a stag and leopard in her hands, or sometimes a leopard and a lion. This winged Artemis lingered in ex-votos as Artemis Orthia, with a sanctuary close by Sparta. In Greek classical art she is usually portrayed as a maiden huntress, young, tall and slim, clothed