Actaeon
Hunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing and was transformed into a stag, then torn apart by his own hunting dogs.
The Legend of Actaeon
His own dogs ate him alive — and they did not recognize their master. Actaeon, grandson of Cadmus and the finest hunter in Thebes, stumbled upon Artemis bathing in a forest pool while hunting on Mount Cithaeron. He saw her naked. Artemis splashed water on him and he transformed into a stag — antlers, hide, hooves. His mind remained human. He fled, and his own pack of fifty hunting dogs chased him down and tore him apart. His companions, not recognizing the stag, cheered the dogs on. Ovid lists all fifty dogs by name. The dogs then searched for their master, not knowing they had killed him. Chiron made a statue of Actaeon to comfort them.
Parents
Aristaeus, Autonoe
Symbols
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Actaeon
🗡 heroHunter transformed into a stag
Actaeon was a master hunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing naked — she transformed him into a stag and his own hounds tore him apart.
Actaeon's Transformation
💭 concepttaboo, punishment
The hunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing naked and was transformed into a stag, then torn apart by his own hounds.
Meleager
🗡 heroLeader of the Calydonian Boar Hunt
Meleager's life was bound to a burning log.
Meleager
🗡 heroHero whose life was bound to a burning log
The leader of the Calydonian Boar Hunt whose fate was tied to a charred brand — when it burned out, he died.
Arcas
🗡 heroKingship, hunting, Arcadia
Eponymous founder and king of Arcadia who was nearly tricked into eating his own transformed mother
Atalanta
🗡 heroThe virgin huntress who outran every suitor
The swift-footed huntress who drew first blood against the Calydonian Boar and was only beaten in a footrace by divine trickery.
Bellerophon
🗡 heroThe hero who tamed Pegasus
The Corinthian hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and slew the Chimera, but fell from heaven when he tried to reach Olympus.
Eurytion
🗡 heroHunting, archery
Argonaut and skilled hunter who later participated in the Calydonian Boar Hunt
Phaea
🗡 heroNone recorded
Monstrous sow of Crommyon that terrorised the countryside until slain by Theseus
Hecuba
🗡 herovengeance
Queen of Troy who survived the fall, witnessed the sacrifice of Polyxena, and took savage revenge on the man who murdered her son Polydorus.
Iphitus
🗡 heroNone recorded
Son of Eurytus who gave Odysseus the great bow and was later murdered by Heracles
Io
🗡 herotransformation
Priestess of Hera transformed into a white cow by Zeus (or Hera), driven across the world by a gadfly until she reached Egypt.