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Actaeon

American  
[ak-tee-uhn] / ækˈti ən /

noun

Classical Mythology.
  1. a hunter who, for having seen Diana bathing, was changed by her into a stag and was torn to pieces by his own hounds.


Actaeon British  
/ ˈæktɪən, ækˈtiːən /

noun

  1. Greek myth a hunter of Boeotia who, having accidentally seen Artemis bathing, was turned into a stag and torn apart by his own hounds

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The painting in question, entitled Diana and Actaeon, dates from the Renaissance era and portrays a mythical scene from the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses.

From BBC • Dec. 12, 2023

When Corot attempts a mythological or religious picture — Dante and Virgil, Diana and Actaeon — the results are respectable.

From Washington Post • Sep. 24, 2018

When Diana sees Actaeon watching her, she covers her body in a rage and turns him from a human into a stag, a lower member of the food chain.

From The New Yorker • May 16, 2015

All were following figures in Greek mythology — notably the hunter Actaeon, who in Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” chances, with catastrophic effect, upon the goddess Diana bathing.

From New York Times • May 3, 2015

Achilles was his pupil and Aesculapius, the great physician; the famous hunter Actaeon, too, and many another.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton