Artemis and Actaeon: The Horrifying Tale of a Hunter
Artemis and Actaeon are the characters of another tragic story in Greek mythology. The encounter between the goddess of hunting, Artemis, and Actaeon, a huntsman who was wandering deep in the forest to hunt, caused the latter’s terrifying end.
Continue to read and find out more details about their story.
Who Are Artemis and Actaeon?
Artemis and Actaeon were different creatures, he was a mortal whereas she was a goddess. They both shared the love to hunt, as they were taught from a young age. However, the love of hunting is what caused a tragedy in the life of Actaeon.
Difference Between Artemis and Actaeon
Actaeon was a fine young man who was raised by Chiron. Chiron was a centaur, a mythical beast with an upper body of a man and a lower body of a horse. Although centaurs are known for being wild and barbaric, Chiron was wise and a good mentor to Actaeon. He taught the young man how to hunt.
Meanwhile, Artemis was the goddess of hunting and a lunar deity who lived peacefully in the forest and mountains of Arcadia to explore and hunt together with her nymphs. She was devoted to hunting and has exceptional archery skills. She was also associated with childbirth, midwifery, vegetation, wilderness, and chastity in Greek religion. Romans identified her with the goddess Diana.
She was the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods, and Leto, the goddess of music. She was the fraternal twin sister of Apollo, the god of music, bow, and divination. They were both identified as kourotrophic deities or protectors of young children, especially young females.
Artemis and Actaeon
Actaeon myth has different versions, but the most prominent was the one in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Unlike Artemis and Orion’s myth, which was about forbidden love that ends with the death of a mortal, this story ends with the death of a mortal as well but because of a punishment.
Version one
According to Ovid, Actaeon was out with his group of friends and a large pack of hounds to hunt deer on Mount Cithaeron. As they were all hot and exhausted, the group decided to take a rest and call it a day.
Actaeon wandered deep into the woods while looking for some shade. He unintentionally arrived in the sacred pool where Artemis was bathing, undressed together with all her nymphs. Actaeon, being astonished and fascinated by the scene, cannot utter a word or move his body. The goddess spotted him and became infuriated by his action. She hurled a splash of water into Actaeon, and it transformed the young man into a stag.
Version Two
In another version, upon seeing the young man staring at her body without clothing, Artemis told him not to talk again or she will turn him into a stag. However, opposite to what the goddess ordered, Actaeon heard his hounds and called them. Thus, the goddess immediately transformed him into a stag.
While some versions of this story say that Actaeon encountered Artemis by mistake, others say that it was absolutely intentional and that the young man even suggested that they sleep together, which angered the goddess.
Version Three
According to a Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, from the first century BC, there were two reasons that enraged Artemis. It is said that Actaeon went to Artemis’ temple with a desire to marry her, and the goddess killed him for his arrogance. However, it is said that Actaeon offended the goddess by bragging that his hunting skills exceeded hers.
Either way, all the accounts ended up with Actaeon being transformed into a stag. What was worse was that he panicked about his transformation, and as soon as he started running into the woods, his trained pack of hounds were triggered with a wolf’s frenzy, chased him, and tore him to pieces. Actaeon, unfortunately, died from the jaws of his hunting dogs, unable to defend himself or even cry out for help.
Version Four
In the fourth version, the hounds, later on, became heartbroken upon realizing that they have killed their master. This was said to be the reason why Chiron, the wise centaur, erected a statue of Actaeon for them to look at and ease their pain. Actaeon’s parents have grieved and left Thebes upon knowing what happened to their child. His father Aristaeus went to Sardinia, whereas his mother Autonoe went to Megara.
One account of Stesichorus, a lyric poet of the first half of the sixth century, showed a completely different version of what happened to Actaeon. It is said that the hunter had wished to marry Semele, his aunt, or his mother’s younger sister. Zeus, the king of gods, who also had affection for Semele did not permit a mere mortal to compete with him.
This created a conflict between the mortal and the god. Zeus then retaliated by turning Actaeon into a stag to be killed by his own hounds. According to this story, it was possible that Zeus might have sent his daughter Artemis to punish Actaeon just like how their mother Leto instructed Artemis and Apollo to punish Niobe by killing all her children as Niobe boasted about her children and claimed that she was a greater mother than Leto.
Why Did Artemis Kill Actaeon?
Artemis, being a virgin goddess who was accidentally seen naked, did not take it kindly and felt disrespected by a mortal. This is the reason why she turned Actaeon into a stag and let him be chased and eaten by his own hunting hounds. The Actaeon and Artemis myths was widely known in antiquity, and various tragic poets presented them on stage. One example is “The Female Archers” by Aeschylus in his lost Toxotides. Actaeon was also honored and worshipped in Orchomenus and Platae.
However, Actaeon’s gruesome fate at the hands of Artemis was just one of many killings done by the goddess. Just like Actaeon’s fate, there was another story about Sipriotes. Sipriotes, in Greek mythology, was a hero from Crete who also went out hunting and unintentionally saw the goddess naked while bathing. Although Artemis did not kill him, he was transformed into a woman as a punishment.
FAQ
What Was Actaeon’s Origin?
Actaeon, in Greek mythology, was a hero and hunter born in Boeotia to his father Aristaeus, a minor god and a herdsman, and Autonoe, the goddess of Harmonia, a Theban princess, and the eldest daughter of Cadmus. Cadmus was a Phoenician nobleman who journeyed to Greece in search of his sister Europa who was allegedly kidnapped by Zeus. Failing to find his sister, Cadmus decided to settle in Boeotia and became the founder of Thebes.
Conclusion
The story of Actaeon was regarded as a representation of human sacrifice in order to satisfy a goddess. This is another clear circumstance that showed the distinction between a mortal and an immortal.
- Actaeon was a young hunter, whereas Artemis was the goddess of hunting.
- Actaeon accidentally saw Artemis’ naked body while bathing, so the latter punished him.
- Actaeon was killed by his own trained hunting dogs.
- Sipriotes was a Cretan hero who also dealt with Artemis’ wrath.
- Artemis and Actaeon’s myth was another sympathetic story in Greek mythology.
What happened to Actaeon in different versions of the story you have just read might have given you different pictures of him, but one thing you must realize from this is to never ever mess with the gods, as even an unintentional act can have dire consequences.
