View source for Actaeon

{{Short description|Greek mythical character}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Titian - Diana and Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Diana and Actaeon (Titian)|Diana and Actaeon]]'' by [[Titian]] (1556–59)]]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Actaeon''' ({{IPAc-en|æ|k|ˈ|t|iː|ə|n}}; {{langx|grc|[[wikt:Ἀκταίων|Ἀκταίων]]}} ''Aktaiōn'')<ref>He was sometimes called Actaeus ({{lang|grc|Ἀκταῖος}}), as in the poetic fragment quoted at Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' 3.4.4: "then [they] killed Actaeus at Zeus's instigation", {{lang|grc|τότ' Ἀκταῖον κτεῖναι Διὸς αἰνεσίῃσι}}</ref> was the son of the priestly herdsman [[Aristaeus]] in [[Boeotia]], and a famous [[Thebes, Greece|Theban]] [[Greek hero cult|hero]]. Through his mother [[Autonoe]] he was a member of the ruling House of [[Cadmus]]. Like [[Achilles]] in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur [[Chiron]].

He succumbed to the fatal wrath of [[Artemis]] (later his myth became attached to tales of Artemis' Roman counterpart [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]]), but the surviving details of his transgression vary: "the only certainty is in what Aktaion suffered, his [[pathos]], and what Artemis did: the hunter became the hunted; he was transformed into a [[stag]], and his raging hounds, struck with a 'wolf's frenzy' ([[Lyssa]]), tore him apart as they would a stag."<ref>[[Walter Burkert]], ''Homo Necans'' (1972), translated by Peter Bing (University of California Press) 1983, p 111.
</ref>

Many depictions{{--}}both in ancient art and in Renaissance and post-Renaissance art{{--}}show either the moment of transgression and transformation, or his killing by his own hounds.

==Story==
[[File:Actaeon Caserta (cropped).jpg|thumb|Actaeon, sculpture group in the cascade at [[Caserta Palace|Caserta]]|left]]

Among others, John Heath has observed, "The unalterable [[mytheme|kernel of the tale]] was a hunter's transformation into a deer and his death in the jaws of his hunting dogs. But authors were free to suggest different motives for his death."<ref>Heath, "The Failure of Orpheus", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' '''124''' (1994:163-196) p. 194.</ref>  In the version that was offered by the [[Hellenistic]] poet [[Callimachus]],<ref>Callimachus, ''Hymn v''.</ref> which has become the standard setting, Artemis was bathing in the woods<ref>Callimachus gives no site: a glen in the foothills of [[Cithaeron|Mount Cithaeron]] near Boeotian [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]], is the site according to [[Euripides]], ''[[Bacchae]]'' 1290-92, a spring sanctuary near [[Plataea]] is specified elsewhere.</ref> when the hunter Actaeon stumbled across her, thus seeing her naked. He stopped and stared, amazed at her ravishing beauty. Once seen, Artemis got revenge on Actaeon: she [[Taboo#In religion and mythology|forbade him speech]] – if he tried to speak, he would be changed into a [[Deer (mythology)|stag]] – for the unlucky profanation of her virginity's mystery.<ref>{{cite book |title=Chasing Immortality in World Religions |chapter=Ancient Greece: Defining Immortality in an Age of Gods and Mortals |first=Deborah M. |last=Coulter-Harris |date=2016-07-29 |isbn=978-0-7864-9792-8 |page=60 |publisher=McFarland Inc. |url={{GBurl|id=eNPIDAAAQBAJ}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Everything Classical Mythology Book: Greek and Roman Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters from Ares to Zeus |chapter=Artemis: The Thrill of the Hunt |first=Nancy |last=Conner |date=2010-02-10 |isbn=978-1-4405-0240-8 |page=140 |publisher=Adams Media |url={{GBurl|id=gsSnDgAAQBAJ}}}}</ref>

[[File:Jean Mignon - The Transformation of Actaeon - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''The Transformation of Actaeon'', [[etching]] by [[Jean Mignon]], 430 x 574&nbsp;mm, 1550s?, without its very elaborate frame. Actaeon is shown three times, finally being killed by his hounds.

[[:File:The Metamorphosis of Acteon MET DP366444.jpg|with frame]]]]

Upon hearing the call of his hunting party, he cried out to them and immediately transformed. At this, he fled deep into the woods, and doing so he came upon a pond and, seeing his reflection, groaned. His own hounds then turned upon him and pursued him, not recognizing him. In an endeavour to save himself, he raised his eyes (and would have raised his arms, had he had them) toward Mount Olympus. The gods did not heed his desperation, and he was torn to pieces. An element of the earlier myth made Actaeon the familiar hunting companion of Artemis, no stranger. In an embroidered extension of the myth, the hounds were so upset with their master's death, that [[Chiron]] made a statue so lifelike that the hounds thought it was Actaeon.<ref>Fragmentary sources for the narrative of Actaeon's hounds are noted in Lamar Ronald Lacy, "Aktaion and a Lost 'Bath of Artemis'" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''110''' (1990:26–42) p. 30 note 32, p. 31 note 37.</ref>

There are various other versions of his transgression: The Hesiodic ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' and pseudo-Apollodoran ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheke]]'' state that his offense was that he was a rival of [[Zeus]] for [[Semele]], his mother's sister,<ref>Thus potentially endangering the future birth of [[Dionysus]], had he been successful. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] referred (9.2.3) to a lost poem by [[Stesichoros]] also expressing this motif. The progressive destruction of the House of Cadmus to make way for the advent of Dionysus can be followed in the myths of its individual members: Actaeon, [[Semele]], [[Ino (Greek mythology)|Ino]] and [[Melicertes]], and [[Pentheus]].</ref> whereas in [[Euripides]]' ''Bacchae'' he has boasted that he is a better hunter than Artemis:<ref>This [[mytheme]] would link him with [[Agamemnon]] and [[Orion (mythology)|Orion]] (Lacy 1990).</ref>
{|
|-
|
:{{lang|grc|ὁρᾷς τὸν Ἀκταίωνος ἄθλιον μόρον,}}
:{{lang|grc|ὃν ὠμόσιτοι σκύλακες ἃς ἐθρέψατο}}
:{{lang|grc|διεσπάσαντο, κρείσσον' ἐν κυναγίαις}}
:{{lang|grc|Ἀρτέμιδος εἶναι κομπάσαντ' ἐν ὀργάσιν.}}
|
:Look at Actaeon's wretched fate
:who by the man-eating hounds he had raised,
:was torn apart, better at hunting
:than Artemis he had boasted to be, in the meadows.
|}
[[File:François Clouet - The Bath of Diana - WGA5069.jpg|thumb|right|In [[François Clouet]]'s ''Bath of Diana'' (1558–59) Actaeon's passing on horseback at left and mauling as a stag at right is incidental to the three female nudes.]]

Further materials, including fragments that belong with the Hesiodic ''Catalogue of Women'' and at least four Attic tragedies, including a ''Toxotides''  of [[Aeschylus]], have been lost.<ref>Lacy 1990, emphasizing that the central core is lost, covers the literary fragments, pp 26-27 and copious notes.</ref> [[Diodorus Siculus]] (4.81.4), in a variant of Actaeon's ''[[hubris]]'' that has been largely ignored, has it that Actaeon wanted to marry Artemis. Other authors say the hounds were Artemis' own; some lost elaborations of the myth seem to have given them all names and narrated their wanderings after his loss. A number of ancient Greek vases depicting the metamorphosis and death of Actaeon include the goddess [[Lyssa]] in the scene, infecting his dogs with [[rabies]] and setting them against him.<ref>{{cite book | first1 = Anna A. | last1 = Lamari | first2 = Franco | last2 = Montanari | first3 = Anna | last3 = Novokhatko | title = Fragmentation in Ancient Greek Drama | date = August 10, 2020 | publisher = de Gruyter | isbn = 978-3-11-062102-0 | pages = 213–215 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=B773DwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

According to the Latin version of the story told by the Roman [[Ovid]]<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' iii.131; see also pseudo-Apollodorus' ''Bibliotheke'' iii. 4</ref> having accidentally seen Diana (Artemis) on [[Mount Cithaeron]] while she was bathing, he was changed by her into a stag, and pursued and killed by his fifty hounds.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} This version also appears in Callimachus' Fifth Hymn, as a mythical parallel to the blinding of [[Tiresias]] after he sees Athena bathing.
<!--a confusion with Aristaeus, apparently:His statue was often set up on rocks and mountains as a protection against excessive heat. The myth itself probably represents the destruction of vegetation during the fifty [[Dog Days]].-->
The literary testimony of Actaeon's myth is largely lost, but Lamar Ronald Lacy,<ref>Lacy, "Aktaion and a Lost 'Bath of Artemis'" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''110''' (1990:26-42).</ref> deconstructing the [[Mytheme|myth elements]] in what survives and supplementing it by iconographic evidence in late vase-painting, made a plausible reconstruction of an ancient Actaeon myth that Greek poets may have inherited and subjected to expansion and dismemberment. His reconstruction opposes a too-pat consensus that has an archaic Actaeon aspiring to [[Semele]],<ref>Pausanias (ix.2.3) reports that "[[Stesichorus]] of [[Himera]] says that the goddess cast a deer-skin round Actaeon to make sure that his hounds would kill him, so as to prevent his taking Semele to wife"; the lines of Stesichorus have not survived.</ref> a classical Actaeon boasting of his hunting prowess and a Hellenistic Actaeon glimpsing Artemis' bath.<ref>Lacy 1990:27f.</ref> Lacy identifies the site of Actaeon's transgression as a spring sacred to Artemis at [[Plataea]] where Actaeon was a '' [[Greek hero cult|hero archegetes]]'' ("hero-founder")<ref>[[Plutarch]]. ''Aristeides, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0009%3Achapter%3D11%3Asection%3D3 11.3] & [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Arist.+11.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0009 4].''</ref> The righteous hunter, the companion of Artemis, seeing her bathing naked in the spring, was moved to try to make himself her consort, as [[Diodorus Siculus]] noted, and was punished, in part for transgressing the hunter's "ritually enforced deference to Artemis" (Lacy 1990:42).

==Names of dogs ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of Actaeon's dogs
! rowspan="3" |Dogs
! colspan="4" |Source
! rowspan="3" |Consorts
! colspan="4" |Source
|-
| rowspan="2" |''Apollodorus<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 3.4.4.</ref>''
| rowspan="2" |''Ovid<ref>Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' (Book III, 206–235)</ref>''
! colspan="2" |Hyginus<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] ''Fabulae'' 181</ref>
| rowspan="2" |''Apollodorus''
| rowspan="2" |''Ovid''
! colspan="2" |Hyginus
|-
|''Ovid''<ref>In this list, Hyginus fails to correctly differentiate between masculine and feminine names</ref><ref>See the ''Index nominum'' in R. J. Tarrant (2004) ''P. Ovidi Nasonis Metamorphoses'', Oxford, pp. 503-534</ref>
|''Other author''
|''Ovid''
|''Other author''
|-
|[[Acamas]]
|
|
|
|✓
|[[Aello]] (Storm)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|-
|[[Aethon]]
|
|
|
|✓
|Alce (Stout)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|-
|[[Agrius]]
|
|
|
|✓
|Agre (Chaser)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|-
|[[Amarynthus]]
|✓
|
|
|
|Arcena
|✓
|
|
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|-
|[[Arcas]]
|
|
|?
|
|[[Arethusa (Greek myth)|Arethusa]]
|
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|
|✓
|-
|Argiodus (Towser)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|[[Argo (disambiguation)|Argo]]
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|✓
|-
|[[Asbolus (disambiguation)|Asbolos]] (Sooty)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|Aura
|
|
|?
|
|-
|[[Balius and Xanthus|Balius]] (Dappled)
|✓
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|[[Canace]] (Barker)
|
|✓
|✓
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|-
|[[Borax (mythology)|Borax]]
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|✓
|Chediaetros*
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|✓
|-
|[[Bores (mythology)|Bores]]
|✓
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|Cyllo
|
|
|
|✓
|-
|[[Boreas (mythology)|Boreas]]
|
|
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|✓
|Dinomache
|
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|
|✓
|-
|[[Charops (mythology)|Charops]]
|
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|✓
|[[Dioxippe]]
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|✓
|-
|[[Corus (mythology)|Corus]]
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|✓
|Echione
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|✓
|-
|[[Cyllopodes]]
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|✓
|Gorgo
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|✓
|-
|[[Cyprius]]
|
|
|?
|
|Harpyia (Harpy)
|
|✓
|✓
|✓
|-
|[[Dorceus (mythology)|Dorceus]] (Quicksight)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|Lachne (Bristle)
|
|✓
|✓
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|-
|[[Draco (mythology)|Draco]]
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|✓
|Lacaena
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|✓
|-
|[[Dromas (mythology)|Dromas]] (Racer)
|
|✓
|✓
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|Leaena
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|✓
|-
|[[Dromius (mythology)|Dromius]]
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|✓
|Lycisca (Wolfet)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|-
|[[Echnobas]]
|
|
|?
|
|Lynceste
|
|
|
|✓
|-
|[[Elion (mythology)|Elion]]
|
|
|?
|
|[[Melanchaetes]] (Blackmane)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|-
|[[Gnosius]]
|
|
|?
|
|Nape (Wildwood)
|
|✓
|✓
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|-
|[[Eudromus (mythology)|Eudromus]]
|
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|✓
|Ocydrome
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|✓
|-
|[[Haemon (mythology)|Haemon]]
|
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|✓
|Ocypete
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|✓
|-
|[[Harpalykos|Harpalicus]]
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|✓
|Oresitrophos (Rover)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|-
|[[Harpalos]] (Snap)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|Orias
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|
|✓
|-
|[[Hylactor]] (Babbler)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|Oxyrhoe
|
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|
|✓
|-
|[[Hylaeus (mythology)|Hylaeus]] (Woodranger)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|Poemenis (Shepherdess)
|
|✓
|✓
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|-
|[[Ichneus]]
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|✓
|Sagnos*
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|
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|-
|[[Ichnobates]] (Tracer)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|Sticte (Spot)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|-
|[[Labros]] (Wildtooth)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|Theriope
|
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|✓
|-
|[[Lacon (mythology)|Lacon]]
|
|✓
|✓
|
|Theriphone
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|✓
|-
|[[Ladon (Greek myth)|Ladon]]
|
|✓
|✓
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|Therodamas (Savage)
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|✓
|✓
|
|-
|[[Laelaps (Greek myth)|Laelaps]] (Hunter)
|
|✓
|✓
|
|Therodanapis
|
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|?
|
|-
|[[Lampus]]
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|✓
|Urania
|
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|✓
|-
|[[Leon (mythology)|Leon]]
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|✓
|Volatos*
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|✓
|-
|[[Leucon]] (Blanche)
|
|✓
|✓
|
!Number
!1
!13
!15
!20
|-
|[[Lynceus (mythology)|Lynceus]]
|✓
|
|
|✓
| colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Machimus (mythology)|Machimus]]
|
|
|
|✓
! colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Melampus]] (Blackfoot)
|
|✓
|✓
|✓
| colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Melaneus (mythology)|Melaneus]] (Blackcoat)
|
|✓
|✓
|
! colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Bromius (son of Aegyptus)|Obrimus]]
|
|
|
|✓
| colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Ocydromus (mythology)|Ocydromus]]
|
|
|
|✓
! colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Ocythous]]
|
|
|
|✓
| colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Omargus]]
|✓
|
|
|
! colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Nebrophonus|Nebrophonos]] (Killbuck)
|
|✓
|✓
|
| colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Oribasos]] (Surefoot)
|
|✓
|✓
|
! colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Pachylus]]
|
|
|
|✓
| colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Pamphagos]] (Glutton)
|
|✓
|✓
|
! colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Pterelas]] (Wingfoot)
|
|✓
|✓
|
| colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Spartus (mythology)|Spartus]]
|✓
|
|
|
! colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Stilbon (mythology)|Stilbon]]
|
|
|
|✓
| colspan="5" |
|-
|[[Syrus]]
|
|
|
|✓
! colspan="5" |
|-
|Theron (Tempest)
|
|✓
|✓
|
| colspan="5" |
|-
|Thoos (Quickfoot)
|
|✓
|✓
|
! colspan="5" |
|-
|Tigris (Tiger)
|
|✓
|✓
|
| colspan="5" |
|-
|Zephyrus
|
|
|
|✓
! colspan="5" |
|-
!Number
!6
!22
!27
!26
| colspan="5" |
|}
[[File:S03 06 01 021 image 2606.jpg|thumbnail|Volterra, Italy. Etruscan cinerary urn; Actaeon torn by the dogs of Diana, Volterra. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection]]

Notes:

* Names of dogs were verified to correspond to the list given in Ovid's text where the names were already transliterated.<ref>[[Ovid]]. ''[[Metamorphoses]], [https://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/ovid/ovid3html.html 3]'' for the exact names of the dogs</ref>
* ? = Seven listed names of dogs in Hyginus' ''Fabulae'', was probably misread or misinterpreted by later authors because it does not correspond to the exact numbers and names given by Ovid:
** ''Arcas'' signifies Arcadia, place of origin of three dogs namely Pamphagos, Dorceus and Oribasus
** ''Cyprius'' means Cyprus, where the dogs Lysisca and Harpalos originated
** ''Gnosius'' can be read as Knossus in Crete, which signify that Ichnobates was a Knossian breed of dog
** ''Echnobas'', ''Elion'', ''Aura'' and ''Therodanapis'' were probably place names or adjectives defining the characteristics of dogs

==The "bed of Actaeon"==
In the second century AD, the traveller [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] was shown a spring on the road in [[Attica]] leading to [[Plataea]] from [[Eleutherae]], just beyond [[Megara]] "and a little farther on a rock. It is called the bed of Actaeon, for it is said that he slept thereon when weary with hunting and that into this spring he looked while Artemis was bathing in it."

"As to Actæon there is a tradition at [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]], that a spectre which sat on a stone injured their land. And when they consulted the oracle at [[Delphi]], the god bade them bury in the ground whatever remains they could find of Actæon: he also bade them to make a brazen copy of the spectre and fasten it with iron to the stone. This I have myself seen, and they annually offer funeral rites to Actæon."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pausanias' Description of Greece, Vol. II., by Pausanias—A Project Gutenberg eBook |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/68680/68680-h/68680-h.htm#CHAPTER_9_2 |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref>

==Parallels in Akkadian and Ugarit poems==
In the standard version of the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' (tablet vi) there is a parallel, in the series of examples [[Gilgamesh]] gives [[Ishtar]] of her mistreatment of her serial lovers:
<blockquote>You loved the herdsman, shepherd and chief shepherd<br />                                                                                                                                                Who was always heaping up the glowing ashes for you,<br />                                                                                                                                      And cooked ewe-lambs for you every day.<br />                                                                                                                                                              But you hit him and turned him into a wolf,<br />                                                                                                                                                                     His own herd-boys hunt him down<br />
And his dogs tear at his haunches.<ref>"Gilgamesh VI" in ''Myths from Mesopotamia... a new translation by [[Stephanie Dalley]]'', rev. ed.2000:79; note 60, p. 129: "This metamorphosis has been compared to the Greek myth of Actaeon."</ref></blockquote> Actaeon, torn apart by dogs incited by Artemis, finds another Near Eastern parallel in the [[Ugarit]]ic hero [[Aqht]], torn apart by eagles incited by [[Anath]] who wanted his hunting bow.<ref>The comparison is made in Michael C. Astour, ''Hellenosemitica: an ethnic and cultural study of West Semitic  impact on Mycenaean Greece'' (Leiden:Brill, 1965).</ref>

The virginal Artemis of classical times is not directly comparable to Ishtar of the many lovers, but the [[mytheme]] of Artemis shooting [[Orion (mythology)|Orion]], was linked to her punishment of Actaeon by T.C.W. Stinton;<ref>Stinton "Euripides and the Judgement of Paris" (London, 1965:45 note 14) reprinted in Stinton, ''Collected Papers on Greek Tragedy'' (London, 1990:51 note 14).</ref> the Greek context of the mortal's reproach to the amorous goddess is translated to the episode of [[Anchises]] and [[Aphrodite]].<ref>[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite]].</ref> [[Daphnis]] too was a herdsman loved by a goddess and punished by her: see [[Theocritus]]' First Idyll.<ref>Jasper Griffin, "Theocritus, the Iliad, and the East", ''The American Journal of Philology'' '''113'''.2 (Summer 1992:189-211) esp. pp 205f.</ref>

==Symbolism regarding Actaeon==

In Greek Mythology, Actaeon is widely thought to symbolize ritual [[human sacrifice]] in attempt to please a God or Goddess:<ref>{{cite book|last=Biedermann|first=Hans|title=The Dictionary of Symbolism|year=1989|publisher=Facts on File|isbn=0-8160-2593-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofsymb00bied_0}}</ref> the dogs symbolize the sacrificers and Actaeon symbolizes the sacrifice.

Actaeon may symbolize human curiosity or irreverence.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

The myth is seen by [[Jungian]] psychologist [[Wolfgang Giegerich]] as a symbol of spiritual transformation and/or enlightenment.<ref>Wolfgang Giegerich, The Soul’s Logical Life, (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2001)</ref>

Actaeon often symbolizes a cuckold, as when he is turned into a stag, he becomes "horned".<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', 3rd ed, 2010, [https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/273809 ''s.v.'']</ref> This is alluded to in Shakespeare's ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor|Merry Wives]]'', [[Robert Burton (scholar)|Robert Burton]]'s ''[[Anatomy of Melancholy]]'', and others.<ref>John Stephen Farmer, [{{GBurl|id=XrJZAAAAMAAJ|q=acteon|p=15}} ''Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present''], 1903, ''s.v.'', p. 15.</ref><ref>Gordon Williams, [{{GBurl|id=2XtWDhgljvkC|q=Actaeon|p=8}} ''A Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in Shakespearean and Stuart Literature''], 2001, {{isbn|0-485-11393-7}}, p. 8-9.</ref>

==Cultural depictions==
[[File:Actaeon.jpg|thumb|''[[Death of Actaeon]]'' by [[Titian]]]]
[[File:Diana and Actaeon Statutes (1925) by Paul Manship 03 (cropped).JPG|thumb|''Actaeon'' by [[Paul Manship]]]]
[[File:Vasiliy Ryabchenko. "The Death of Actaeon", 200 х 300 cm, oil on canvas, 1988.jpg|thumb|[[Vasiliy Ryabchenko]], ''The Death of Actaeon'', oil on canvas, 1988]]
The two main scenes are Actaeon surprising Artemis/Diana, and his death. In classical art Actaeon is normally shown as fully human, even as his hounds are killing him (sometimes he has small horns), but in Renaissance art he is often given a deer's head with antlers even in the scene with Diana, and by the time he is killed he has at the least this head, and has often completely transformed into the shape of a deer.

* [[Aeschylus]] and other tragic poets made use of the story, which was a favourite subject in ancient works of art.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
* There is a well-known small marble group in the [[British Museum]] illustrative of the story,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} in gallery 83/84.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore/galleries/ancient_greece_and_rome/rooms_83-84_roman_sculpture.aspx |title=Rooms 83-84: Roman sculpture |publisher=British Museum |access-date=2014-04-08}}</ref>
*Two paintings by the 16th century painter [[Titian]] (''[[Death of Actaeon]]'' and ''[[Diana and Actaeon (Titian)|Diana and Actaeon]]'').
*''[[Actéon (opera)|Actéon]]'', an operatic pastorale by [[Marc-Antoine Charpentier]].
* [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]] suggests a parallel between his alter-ego and Actaeon in his elegy for [[John Keats]], ''[[Adonais]]'', stanza 31 ('[he] had gazed on Nature's naked loveliness/ Actaeon-like, and now he fled astray/ .../ And his own thoughts, along that rugged way,/ Pursued, like raging hounds, their father and their prey.')
* The aria "Oft she visits this lone mountain" from [[Henry Purcell|Purcell's]] ''[[Dido and Aeneas]]'', first performed in 1689 or earlier.
* [[Giordano Bruno]], ''Gli Eroici Furori''.
* In canto V of [[Giambattista Marino]]'s poem {{ill|Adone|it|L'Adone|italic=y}} the protagonist goes to theater to see a tragedy representing the myth of Actaeon. This episode foreshadows the protagonist's violent death at the end of the book.
* In Act I Scene 2 of [[Jacques Offenbach]]'s ''[[Orpheus in the Underworld]]'', Actaeon is Diana (Artemis)'s lover, and it is Jupiter who turns him into a stag, which puts Diana off hunting. His story is relinquished at this point, in favour of the other plots.
* [[Ted Hughes]] wrote a version of the story in his ''[[Tales from Ovid]]''.
* [[Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux]] from [[Marius Petipa]]'s ballet, ''[[Le Roi Candaule]]'', to the music by [[Riccardo Drigo]] and [[Cesare Pugni]], later incorporated into the second act of ''[[La Esmeralda (ballet)]]''.
* In ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' by [[William Shakespeare]], Orsino compares his unrequited love for Olivia to the fate of Actaeon. "O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence, That instant was I turned into a hart, and my desires like fell and cruel hounds e'er since pursue me." Act 1 Scene 1.
* In [[Christopher Marlowe]]'s play ''[[Edward II (play)|Edward II]]'', courtier [[Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall|Piers Gaveston]] seeks to entertain his lover, King [[Edward II of England]], by presenting a play based on the Actaeon myth. In Gaveston's version, Diane is played by [[Edward II (play)#Synopsis|a naked boy holding an olive branch to hide his loins]], and it is  the boy-Diane who transforms Actaeon into a hart and lets him be devoured by the hounds. Thus, Gaveston's (and Marlowe's) interpretation adds a strong element of [[homoeroticism]], absent from the original myth.
*[[Paul Manship]] in 1925 created a set of copper statute of [[Artemis|Diane]] and Actaeon, which is in the Luce Lunder [[Smithsonian Institution]].
* French based collective LFKs and his film/theatre director, writer and visual artist Jean Michel Bruyere produced a series of 600 shorts and "medium" films, an interactive 360° installation, ''Si poteris narrare licet'' ("if you are able to speak of it, then you may do so")<ref>''What Is Contemporary Art?'' Terry Smith. 10 August 2012. University of Chicago Press. p. 173-81, 186</ref> in 2002, a 3D 360° installation ''La Dispersion du Fils''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newmediaart.eu/str10.html|title=''The Scattering of the Son''|work=The STRP Festival of eindhoven|date=January 2011}}</ref> (from 2008 to 2016) and an outdoor performance, ''Une Brutalité pastorale'' (2000) all about the myth of Diana and Actaeon.
*In [[Matthew Barney]]'s 2019 movie ''Redoubt'' set in the [[Sawtooth Range (Idaho)|Sawtooth Mountains]] of the U.S. state of [[Idaho]] and an accompanying traveling art exhibition originating at the [[Yale University Art Gallery]] the myth is retold by the visual artist and filmmaker via avenues of his own design.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/arts/design/matthew-barney-review-yale-university.amp.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/arts/design/matthew-barney-review-yale-university.amp.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited|title=A Lighter Matthew Barney Goes Back to School, and Back Home|newspaper=The New York Times|date=21 March 2019|last1=Farago|first1=Jason}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
*[[Seamus Heaney|Seamus Heaney's]] collection ''[[North (poetry collection)|North]]'' contains an [[aisling]] concerning the myth of Diana and Actaeon.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heaney |first=Seamus |title=North |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |year=1975 |isbn=0-571-17780-8 |location=London |pages=45}}</ref>

==Royal House of Thebes family tree==
{{Family tree of the Theban royal house}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Actaeon|volume=1|page=157}}
*''The [[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', ''s.v.'' "Actaeon".
*[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', 3.138ff.
*[[Euripides]], ''[[The Bacchae|Bacchae]]'', 337–340.
*[[Diodorus Siculus]], 4.81.4.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000554 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 260 images of Actaeon)]

{{Metamorphoses in Greek mythology}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Deaths due to dog attacks]]
[[Category:Mythological Greek archers]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into animals in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Deeds of Artemis]]
[[Category:Deeds of Zeus]]
[[Category:Dogs in art]]
[[Category:Inanna]]
[[Category:Anat]]
[[Category:Mythological deer]]
[[Category:Mythological hunters]]
[[Category:Hubris myths]]