13. WHO WAS ACTAEON
• Actaeon was a famous hero in Greek mythology. He was the son of Aristaeus, a herdsman, and
Autonoe, and resided in the region of Boeotia. He was the pupil of the centaur Chiron. He somehow
caused the wrath of goddess Artemis, eventually leading to his death. There are many and different
recounts of the myth; however, they all revolve around the notion that he was a hunter that was
transformed into a stag and was then killed by his hunting dogs. According to the most popular
version, provided by Callimachus, Actaeon accidentally saw Artemis naked, while she was bathing in
the woods; amazed at her beauty, he was spotted by the goddess, who told him not to speak again or
he would change into a deer. Upon hearing his hunting dogs, however, Actaeon called them and
immediately transformed into a deer. So, he started running into the woods, but his well-trained dogs
found him and tore him to pieces. The myth of Actaeon was considered to represent human sacrifice
in an effort to appease a deity.
• He fell to the fatal wrath of Artemis,[3] 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."
