Footnotes: Actaeon
1. Artistic accounts of the scene typically show Actaeon being attacked by three to four hounds. In the literary account given by Ovid he mentions thirty-six hounds by name (with several unnamed others). He gives their names as: Melampus, Ichnobates, Pamphagus, Dorceus, Oribasos, Nebrophonos, Theron, Laelaps, Pterelas, Agre, Hylaeus, Nape, Poemenis, Harpyia, Ladon, Dromas, Canache, Sticte, Tigris, Alce, Leucon, Asbolos, Lacon, Aëllo, Thoos, Lycisce, Cyprius, Harpalos, Melaneus, Lachne, Labros, Argiodus, Hylactor, Melanchaetes, Theridamas, and Oresitrophos (Metamorphoses 3.206-233). Return
2. Ovid's account of Actaeon's crime (Metamorphoses 3.138-252), where the hunter inadvertently sees the goddess Artemis bathing then is changed into a deer and dismembered is the most famous version of the tale. That is not to say that it is the only version of the story that survives. Diodorus Siculus tells a version where Actaeon presumes to marry Artemis after he presents the spoils of his hunt to the goddess at her temple (Bibliotheca Historica 4.81.4). Diodorus also mentions that some other writers say that his crime was claiming to be more skilled at hunting than Artemis. Certainly this is Euripides' understanding of the event, since in the Bacchae Cadmus tells his grandson Pentheus that Actaeon was torn apart by his own hounds for boasting of being a better hunter than Artemis (Bacchae 337-340). In Hyginus' brief account, Actaeon's crime is both seeing Artemis bathing and desiring to ravish her (Fabulae 180). Another interesting possibility is found in a fragment from Stesichorus, which says that Artemis killed Actaeon to prevent him from marrying Semele (Poetae Melici Graeci 236). Why Artemis should care that Actaeon wishes to marry his own aunt is never stated, but Apollodorus states that one reason for Actaeon's death was that Zeus was angry at him for courting Semele (Library 3.4.4). That Zeus should use Artemis as a vehicle for his vengeance is perhaps logical considering Actaeon's role as a hunter. But regardless of this connection, Apollodorus never explicitly states that Artemis killed Actaeon at Zeus' command. Return
3. The story that Actaeon was transformed into a deer by Artemis and then torn apart by his hounds is almost universally attested in ancient literary sources. Nevertheless artistic depictions always show Actaeon being attacked by his hounds while still in mid-transformation.
Doubtlessly this artistic tradition of depicting Actaeon being torn apart before fully morphed into animal form is merely an artistic convenience to differentiate this particular scene from what might otherwise be mistaken for a generic hunting scene. Return
