Actaeon (episode)

***Miscellaneous Myths: Actaeon*** is the seventy-fourth episode of the *Miscellaneous Myths* series by Red. The myth of Actaeon is an old one from Ancient Greece and serves as as cautionary tale against offending the gods. Versions of the story vary greatly, and neither his crime nor the god he offends are consistent among authors. The only certain thing about Actaeon, and the main point of his story, is in fact his punishment and death by his hounds.

## Summary

In myth, many heroes are known for the great feats they accomplished or the heinous acts they committed. Few however, have the notorious fame of being remember for how they perished, case in point, Actaeon.

Actaeon's story is mentioned and referenced to in various surviving texts of Greek mythology, but they are not very consistent with each other. The moral of Actaeon's story is usually a cautionary against hubris, excessive pride against the gods and subsequent punishment by them.

Versions don't agree on what Actaeon did wrong; Euripides in his *Bacchae* says that Actaeon, a hunter, bragged about being a greater hunter than Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, and was then devoured by his own hounds as punishment. About one hundred years later than that, the poet Callimachus wrote that Actaeon's crime was seeing Artemis bathing naked, and was thereupon devoured by his own hounds. Another mythographer says that Actaeon, who was trained by Chiron, made the mistake of wooing Semele, the girlfriend of Zeus who will go on to be the mother of Dionysus. For this slight, Actaeon is devoured by his own hound. The author however notes that Actaeon seeing Artemis naked is a more common version. So she turned him into a deer, and *then* he was devoured by his own hounds. The hounds then flock to Chiron, depressed about not being able to find their master. Chiron, understanding what had happened, sculptures a statue of Actaeon to comfort the hounds.

The only version more than a few lines long is that of Ovid in his *Metamorphoses*. In that story, Actaeon is a hunter like in all other versions who goes home after a long day hunting in the woods. Unfortunately for him, he stumbles upon Artemis and her nymphs bathing naked in Artemis' secret grotto. Artemis is one of the virgin goddesses, and her virginity is not simply a choice of hers, but actively part of her godhood. So a man seeing her naked is no simply rude, it is sacrilegious.

The nymphs freak out and try to cover Artemis' nakedness with their own bodies but Artemis handles the situation by turning Actaeon into a stag when she splashes some water on him, effectively cursing him into silence. Actaeon runs away, but is pursued by his own hunting gods, not recognizing him, and devoured alive.

Red points out that this story has a lot of recurring elements, but no version has all of them, indicating that it might have always been a cluster of stories and morals with no "original version" that can be reconstructed, as probably there was never one to begin with. Early artistic evidence from the ancient world show a human Actaeon being devoured by his hounds, with elements of metamorphosis (such as deer antler) coming later. In ancient works, Artemis is always fully clothed instead of naked, and it's only during the Renaissance that a naked Artemis appears.

## Credits

Red sings *God's Gonna Cut You Down* by Johnny Cash (originally a traditional folk song).

## Characters appearing

* Actaeon
* Artemis
* Chiron
* Semele