ACTAEON

By: me
Actaeon is the hunter who was torn to pieces by his own dogs after having been turned into a
stag by Artemis, whom he had seen unrobed. Actaeons own death is what made him famous, for
there are almost no accounts of his life, except that he was trained by the Centaur Chiron to be a
hunter. And, they say, it was not any crime of his the cause of his death, but mere mischance. For
not knowing anything about the secret cave of Artemis in the vale of Gargaphia, Actaeon came
wandering with his dogs after a day of hunt, and entered the cave when the goddess of the wild
woods was preparing to bathe in the waters of the spring arthenius together with the nymphs
who attended her. !hen Actaeon came into the cave, the girls, with loud cries, thronged around
Artemis trying to hide her body with their own. "ut Artemis, standing head and shoulders over
the rest, took up the water and flung it into Actaeons face saying#
$%ow you are free to tell that you have seen me all unrobed&if you can tell.' (Artemis to
Actaeon. )vid, *etamorphoses +.,-./.
0o soon she had uttered these words, Actaeon began to turn into a stag, much as the Cretan
0iproites had his sex changed by Artemis when he saw the goddes bathing. And when the
transformation was completed, the goddess planted fear within his heart, and the stag Actaeon
fled away. And his dogs went after him, pursuing him in all grounds around *ount Cithaeron,
between "oeotia and Attica, and when they finally caught him, they buried their fangs in his
body until there was no place for further wounds, and Actaeon the stag was dead. 1hat was the
misfortune of Actaeon. For not knowing what he did, he came to be punished and suffered to be
hunted, 2ust as he had hunted. "ecause of this deed, some deemed Artemis to be more cruel, but
others 2udged her act worthy of her virginity.
3t has also been told that Actaeon presented himself as superior to Artemis as a hunter, being his
boast the reason behind his unfortunate fate. And again, others say that Actaeon came into the
cave, and tried to ravish the goddess who, in her anger, made horns grow on his head, turning
him into a stag. 0till others have said that Actaeon, upon dedicating the fruits of his hunting to
Artemis, purposed to marry her at the temple of the goddess. 4et others affirm that what
happened to Actaeon was conceived by 5eus because Actaeon loved 0emele, the mother of
6ionysus .. Artemis then cast a deer7skin round Actaeon to make sure that his dogs would kill
him, so as to prevent him to marry 0emele. 3n any case, when Actaeon was gone, the dogs are
said to have sought their master, howling in grief. 0earching for him, it is told, they came to the
cave of the Centaur Chiron, who made an image of the unfortunate Actaeon to soothe their grief.
1he death of Actaeon was much lamented by his parents. 8is father Aristaeus migrated to
0ardinia, and Actaeons mother Autonoe . is said to have left 1hebes to live near *egara,
because of her grief at the death of her son.