Stag Hunt Mosaic the Rape of Helen by Theseus, depicted in another mosaic in the same house, but also to Alexander's conquest of Persia. As Actaeon had hunted Artemis but was destroyed by his dogs, so the Persians had tried to subdue Hellas - an effort earlier Macedonian kings had participated in - resulting ultimately in the empire's destruction by Alexander. In Greek Mythology, The Stag is associated with Artemis who was the virginal huntress. The myth goes when Actaeon saw Artemis naked, out of anger she turned him into a stag and he was torn to pieces by his own. In other
Ino (Greek mythology) son, King Pentheus, while struck with Dionysian madness, and Actaeon, son of Autonoe, the third sibling, was torn apart by his own hunting dogs. Also, the insanity of Ino and Athamas, who hunted his own son Learchos as a stag and slew him, can be explained as a result of their contact with Dionysus, whose presence can cause insanity. None can escape the powers of Dionysus, the god of wine. Euripides took up the tale in "The Bacchae", explaining their madness in Dionysiac terms, as a result of their having initially resisted belief in the god's divinity. When Athamas returned