The story of Actaeon and the inevitability of myth

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Comparison of ancient accounts of the myth of Actaeon shows that, while the nature of his offense differs markedly between sources, the form of his death is stable throughout antiquity. This chapter uses observations from Nick Lowe and Ada Neschke-Hentschke about the paradigmatic functioning of myths to consider how the inevitability of Actaeon's end could be harnessed to lend specific narrative colouring to retellings. It uses Ovid's account of Actaeon in the Metamorphoses to examine the broader ancient tradition, arguing that the identification of Actaeon by name functioned in a meta-poetic manner to hasten his death, and that the inevitability of this death brought with it implicit consideration of the workings of justice in the mythic story-world.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationLa mitología griega en la tradición literaria: de la Antigüedad a la Grecia contemporánea = Greek mythology in the literary tradition: from Antiquity to contemporary Greece
EditorsMinerva Alganza Roldán, Panagiota Papadopoulou
Place of PublicationGranada
PublisherCentre of Byzantine, Modern Greek and Cypriot Studies
Pages79-97
Number of pages19
ISBN (Print)9788495905895
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Actaeon
  • Ovid
  • paradigm
  • divine justice
  • exemplum

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