Miscellaneous Myths: Actaeon

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Referring to them as "Artemis's bonkhonagahoogs" is exactly the kind of thing that gets you turned into a deer and devoured by hounds.

Actaeon: Accidentally seens Artemis naked. Artemis: I'll punish you for this. Artists for the next 3000 years: I can use this as an excuse to show Artemis naked!

okay the fact that Chrion made a statue specifically to comfort Actaeons hounds is really sad and honestly kind of sweet. those poor puppies :(

Okay, here's a theory: some dude's dogs ended up eating him, and the story was just so very viral that everyone and their dog was speaking about it. Perhaps shared as a cautionary tale about not having your dogs too rabid/hungry/mistreated, but, by the time ye Olde telephone game had taken place, it was concluded that this sounded distinctively Devine retribution, and the story was retold from there, hence why the reason is inconsistent: the "original" had nothing to do with gods and goddesses, that was added in retroactively in every situation. The association with Artemis in particular is just that she was a hunter, he was a hunter, he was killed by hunting dogs, so she must have had SOMETHING to do with it.

Fun fact, in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Diana's room (aka the deer named after Artemis) is based on a bath house SPECIFICALLY as a reference to this myth.

the hounds being confused about where he is then getting a statue made of him made me kinda sad 😭

Absolutely ended up chuckling like a madman at: "Accidently sees Artemis's hoohas" "Accidently sees Artemis's bonkonagahoogs" "Accidently sees Artemis's and her posse's dobonhonkeros" I am WEAK P L EA S E--

Do you think Artemis ever put up warning signs? Y'know, the "TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT" type of sign, because it feels like this happened a lot in Greek Mythology.

Imagine having: "Accidentally saw Artemis's bonkhonagahoogs" written on your tombstone

I love how the only thing that was consistent about this guy is the way he died. Like all the authers agreed that he just had to be killed by hounds.

Red: Say it with me now, he’s- Me: DEVOURED BY HIS OWN HOUNDS Red: - A hunter

Actaeon: "I'm a better hunter than Artemis!" Artemis: "Well, I could just shoot him from here and call it a day, but I'm really liking the irony of making his hunting dogs eat him." I'm really liking this version of it. Short, to the point, without a lot of the general cruelty and dragging it out that most Olympians like to do when Mortals start doing that hubris thing.

Actaeon: "Oops, did I a hubris and/or sacrilege?" Hounds: "Our human will be SO pleased with this magnificent buck we took down! By the way: has anyone seen/heard/sniffed where he's at..??" Chiron: Deduces the mystery better than Sherlock Holmes; plus has the empathy and emotional intelligence to know how to comfort the hounds.

One day, Red will talk about Ixion. She has basically done all the other guys who got punished. Tantalus, Sisyphus, Piorithus.

Guess I'll be the one who gives Actaeon a happy ending: After apologizing for the accident Artemis was pretty chill about it. Actaeon lived a pretty normal life afterwards. He died at the age of 72. Cause of death was a stroke... and then he got devoured by his own hounds. It was never meant to be...

I figured it out. The True Story mystic hand waving Actaeon was a hunter, trained by Chiron, who had the hots for Semele. He tried to sway her by boasting about his hunting skills, saying he was better than Artemis herself. Semele, not being the brightest sweet miss, just kind of nods along and tells her boyfriend about it later. Well Zeus is none too thrilled about this upstart both hitting on his gf AND insulting his daughter, so he comes up with a plan. He transforms into Semele and meets up with Actaeon, telling him to prove his boasts by showing her just how good of a hunter he is. "She" tells him to meet him in a certain spot at a certain time with his gear and dogs ready. This certain spot is, of course, Artemis' sacred grotto. This certain time is-- you guessed it-- when Artemis and her squad are bathing. Artemis, both shocked and panicked for herself and worried for her girls, chucks water at the bewildered and stuttering hunter, turning him into a deer. He is thus (drumroll please) turned on and devoured by his own hounds. THE END

Omg his story is just that trope in anime where the guy accidentally walks into the girl’s sauna and is beaten half to death before he can explain 😭

This story is like a game with fixed ending. No matter what path Actaeon takes it will end with him in hounds' stomach

I just can't stop laughing at the thought of ancient Greece's version of "Get a load of this unlucky Jackass" and then putting him everywhere with no context