Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses of Actaeon is one of the first presented in the "Metamorphoses" that is very metatheatrical in nature. One of the first known appearances of this myth was in a tragedy written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, the "Toxotides", or the "Female Archers". The myth, as presented in the "Metamorphoses" shows Actaeon coming across the sight of Diana, or Artemis in the Greek tragedy, bathing herself. Upon being discovered, Actaeon is turned into a deer and eventually killed by his own pack of hunting dogs. Though the full text of Aeschylus' tragedy is lost to modern readers, it would
Grünes Gewölbe is suspended in place of the shaft, while the bowl seems to float on the tips of the stag's antlers. This masterpiece depicts the mythological scene in which the unapproachable Diana changes the hunter Actaeon into a deer and has him torn to pieces by his own dogs for having watched her bathing. The base of the piece presents the forest floor, upon which lies the head of the stag Actaeon, with the dogs falling ravenously upon it. The inscription picked out in diamonds on the rim of the base reads, "DISCRETION SERT EFFRONTERIE PERD" ("Discretion is laudable, indiscretion unwise").