The Death of Actaeon

This second-century BCE Etruscan urn shows the death of Actaeon. The myth was popular in the Ancient Mediterranean world and tells a story about a fated hunter, Actaeon, who gazed at the virginal Goddess Artemis/Diana. This forbidden act caused the Goddess to transform the man into a stag, and he was then devoured by his own hounds.

The story was so well known that it was a reference point in all sorts of ancient artwork — the written story influenced the visual arts, which in turn provided inspiration for more literature. And that brings me to the cool phenomenon of “ekphrasis” which is when a work of art is described in literature in a way that heightens the action and amplifies its meaning.

You can see ekphrasis in _The Golden Ass_, a second-century CE Roman novel about a man with misplaced curiosity. The main character is constantly obsessed with inquisitiveness about magic performed by women, and his forbidden desire for such witchcraft gets him turned into a donkey. At one point in the story, before he becomes an ass, he goes to a party at a luxurious home, where a statue of Diana, Actaeon, and the hounds appears. The author uses ekphrasis to focus on his description of the statue, which shows the moment Actaeon gazes upon the Goddess.

The description is a foreshadowing of the main character’s upcoming troublesome transformation, which happens after he arranges to watch the spells of a witch. Throughout the novel, readers are repeatedly shown the erroneous ways that male curiosity and desire for magic misdirect away from a “true” spiritual journey. The comedic fable eventually is revealed to be a sort of apologia promoting the mystery cult of Isis.