Diana and Actaeon which might have been better called "Diana and Endymion," is still performed today as a spectacular showpiece for a ballerina and her partner. Diana and Actaeon The myth of Diana and Actaeon can be found in Ovid’s "Metamorphoses". The tale recounts the unfortunate fate of a young hunter named Actaeon, who was a grandson of Cadmus, and his encounter with chaste Artemis, known to the Romans as Diana, goddess of the hunt. The latter is nude and enjoying a bath in a spring with help from her escort of nymphs when the mortal man unwittingly stumbles upon the scene. The
Diana and Endymion whom she had fifty daughters. The late 7th-century – early 6th-century BC poet Sappho had apparently already mentioned Selene and Endymion's history. In Roman mythology, Diana has the attributes of Selene and she was mentioned as the goddess who falls in love with Endymion. Both goddesses were regarded as lunar goddesses, except for the fact that in Roman mythology, Diana became a virgin goddess. "Diana and Endymion" is part of the last period of Solimena's works when he mainly concentrated on mythological subjects; he developed this interest in mythological stories while was inspired by the Arcadian movement embracing classical culture.