Acoetes

Dionysos in a ship, sailing among dolphins (pirates). Exekias Attic black-figure kylix, ca. 530 BC

Acoetes (Ἀκοίτης) was a figure in Roman / Greek mythology. As a young man, Dionysus was exceptionally attractive. Once, while disguised as a mortal on a ship, the sailors attempted to kidnap him for their sexual pleasures. Bacchus mercifully turned them into dolphins but saved the captain, Acoetes, who recognized the god and tried to stop his sailors. As a reward, Acoetes was made priest on Naxos. [1]

Sailors being transformed by Baccus aboard Acoetes's Ship

Johann Ulrich Krauss , Illustration from Ovid's Metamorphoses III 1690

Another Acoetes was father to Laocoon, who warned about the Trojan Horse. [2]

Ovid's Metamorphoses III, 696.

Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae 135

Greek Mythology

See also : Greek Mythology. Paintings, Drawings

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