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Actaeon had been trained as an excellent hunter by the wise and courageous centaur Chiron. The story of Actaeon is known, however, not for his skills as a hunter, but because he ended up prey to his dogs when he was transformed into a male deer.

Actaeon's father was Aristaeus, the son of Apollo, and his mother Autonoe, the daughter of the first king of the Thebes, Cadmus. There are four basic versions of the myth of Actaeon. The most famous is found in the "Transformations" of the Roman poet Ovid. It is a collection of stories and myths, many of which relate to the transformation of humans into animals and plants.

According to Ovid, Actaeon hunted one day in the woods when he met the goddess Artemis and her nymphs following her bathing in a secret spring on Mount Kithairon. Artemis was a strict protector of the purity and virginity of her followers, so when she caught Actaeon looking at her naked body, she was outraged.

To avenge him,the goddess threw at him a few drops of water, turning him into a male deer. His own dogs did not recognize him, they got him into the hunt, and when they caught him, they tore him apart. After his death, the hunter's dogs were constantly screaming about their lost master. Their cries made the Centaur Chiron to feel sorry for them. He made a statue out of his old student, which looked so alive that the dogs believed he was really their master, so they stopped howling.

In the second of the four most popular versions of story, the king of the gods of Zeus killed Actaeon because he flirted with his aunt Semeli, whom Zeus wanted for himself. In a third variation of the myth, Actaeon caused Artemis's wrath when he claimed to be a more capable hunter than her, while in the fourth version he asked Artemis to become his wife. The result in the last two cases was the same as the first: The goddess transformed Actaeon into a male deer, making him a prey and causing his death.