Ακταιων

Aristeus, son of Apollo and the Nymph Cyrene, had by Antonoe, Cadmus' daughter, a son named Actaeon; he was brought up by the Centaur Chiron who taught him the art of hunting. One day Actaeon was devoured by his own dogs on Mount Cithaeron. There are differing accounts of his death: some say that this was his punishment from Zeus for having tried to rob him of the love of Semele, but most authors ascribe it to the wrath of the goddess Artemis, incensed at having been seen naked by Actaeon when she was bathing in a spring. The goddess incited his pack of fifty hounds to fury and she set them on him. They ate him without recognizing him, then hunted for him in vain throughout the forest, which echoed with their howls. Finally their search brought them to the cave where the Centaur Chiron lived and he made a statue in the semblance of Actaeon to calm them down.

At the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts one can find a crater by the Pan painter dated c. 470 BC showing Artemis inciting Actaeon's hounds to tear the hunter to pieces to punish him for having seen her bathe naked.

{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}

Table of Sources:
- Hesiod, Theog. 977
- Apollod. Bibl. 3, 4, 4
- Hyg. Fab. 181
- Nonnus, Dion. 5, 287ff.
- Ovid, Met. 3, 131ff.
- Fulg. Myth. 3, 3
- Paus. 1, 44, 8; 9, 2, 3
- Euripides Bacchae337
- Diod. Sic. 4, 81

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