Heracles Kynagidas was the patron god of hunting in the Macedonian Kingdom, to whom hunting trophies were dedicated. The epithet was also attributed to "Artemis

Artemis

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

 Kynago" , in its female form.

Inscriptional attestations

Heracles Kynagidas is attested in fourteen inscriptions of various places in Macedonia

Macedonia (region)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...

 from the 4th century BC to the 2nd century AD; Artemis Kynago, attested twice. The oldest inscription comes from Beroea

Beroea

Beroea is:*Veria , a city in northern Greece*a former name of Aleppo, Syria*mentioned in Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War; I,61,2...

 (ca. 350-300 BC), where a sanctuary to Heracles Kynagidas has been discovered, as well the longest text including names of hunters and priests of the god. In a Roman-era inscription from Styberra, it is also spelled Kounagidas. A dedicatory inscription by King Philip V

Philip V of Macedon

Philip V was King of Macedon from 221 BC to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by an unsuccessful struggle with the emerging power of Rome. Philip was attractive and charismatic as a young man...

 in Pella

Pella

Pella , an ancient Greek city located in Pella Prefecture of Macedonia in Greece, was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia.-Etymology:...

 has also been found. Respectively, the Attic

Attic Greek

Attic Greek is the prestige dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek, and is the standard form of the language studied in courses of "Ancient Greek". It is sometimes included in Ionic.- Origin and range...

 form for huntsman is kynêgetês, Doric

Doric Greek

Doric or Dorian was a dialect of ancient Greek. Its variants were spoken in the southern and eastern Peloponnese, Crete, Rhodes, some islands in the southern Aegean Sea, some cities on the coasts of Asia Minor, Southern Italy, Sicily, Epirus and Macedon. Together with Northwest Greek, it forms the...

 kynagetas and Mycenaean ku-na-ke-ta-i.

Polybius

Polybius

Polybius

Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...

, who was interested in horse-riding and hunting, gives the following passage: