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
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").