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Faun

October 17th, 2007

Daniel Pontius

Another bust. Encyclopedia Mythica tells us that among the Romans, fauns were wild forest deities with little horns, the hooves of a goat, and a short tail. Analogous to the Greek satyr. Nevertheless, on Jan Ringsmoseh’s site it calls out this piece by Johannes Hedegaard as “Actaeon Satyr.” Actaeon was the grandson of Cadmus the founder of the city of Thebes–Actaeon was turned into a stag and killed by his own hunting dogs as punishment for offending Artemis. Either he saw her while bathing or was too boastful of his hunting skills. There are different versions of the story. It seems that our faun is mislabeled. This is not a Roman Faun but more likely a Greek Satyr. Moreover it is possibly Actaeon in process of transmogrification into a dogs dinner. Alas, poor Acteon, be neither boastful nor get caught gazing lasciviously at a bathing beauty.

Center 44, NYC.

One Comment

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  1. Anonymous #
    October 18, 2007

    This is a fascinating site – both in terms of the objects featured but also the background information. I am learning so much about such wonderful oddities and their history.

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