Other Images

Actaeon

This red figure bell krater, c. 440 B.C., by the Lykaon Painter shows Actaeon being attacked by his own hunting dogs. Inscriptions at the top of the scene identify the figures as (from left to right) Zeus, Lyssa, Actaeon, and Artemis. Note the dog’s head appearing out of Lyssa’s head (!), and the horns on Actaeon’s forehead (hair, not visible here, is also beginning to appear on his face) which signal his metamorphoses into a stag. Zeus’ appearance suggests that the artist here had in mind the version of the myth (cf. Stesichorus) in which Zeus ordered Artemis to kill Actaeon for competing with the god for the attentions of Semele.

This metope shows Actaeon’s dogs attacking him as a female figure stands to the side.