Diana and Actaeon

In this depiction on a Roman lamp, the goddess Diana (known as Artemis in Greek mythology) is accompanied by a stag. The stag is one of her main attributes, but also recalls the story of Actaeon, the hunter who was transformed into prey by the goddess.

According to myth, Actaeon was a young Boeotian hunter who happened to wander across a sacred grove where Diana and her nymphs were bathing. Indignant that she had been viewed and her modesty had been compromised, Diana splashed water into Actaeon’s face, using her powers to transform him into a stag.

Fleeing from the scene, Actaeon called his hunting dogs to him, but when his pets caught sight of him they pursued him as the animal he now was. Although he tried to speak to his dogs, he was unable to communicate with words. The trained hounds caught up to him and tore their master into pieces.

This myth is recorded in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, wherein he suggests that there is no right or wrong in this tale: “to some the punishment is more violent than just, merely for seeing the face of a goddess, others approve it and call it fitting because of her strict vow of virginity, and both can make a case.”

Author: Georgian Parkes