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 worshipped as a fertility/childbirth goddess in some places, assimilating Ilithyia, since, according to some myths, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. During the Classical period in Athens, she was identified with Hecate. Artemis also assimilated Caryatis (Carya). As Aeginaea, she was worshipped in Sparta; the name means either huntress of chamois, or the wielder of the javelin (). Also in Sparta, Artemis "Lygodesma" was worshipped. This epithet means "willow-bound" from the Gr. "lygos" (λυγός, willow) and "desmos" (δεσμός, bond). The willow tree appears in several ancient Greek myths and rituals. She was worshipped at Naupactus as