Who are AFA and ACTA?
I
Once upon a time, there was on the Greek island of Thasos a king and queen.
They had a daughter of indescribable beauty.
She was called Litus because she was born on the golden beach of the island.
She spent her childhood years in her father's magnificent palace made of pure marble,
where she admired a flock of flamingos refreshing themselves almost daily at the impluvium.
Ever since her body began to adorn itself with the seductive charms of a woman,
suitors came from all over the inhabited world to court her favour.
However, because Litus' father wanted a young man with spiritual gifts as his son-in-law,
he kept all the suitors away. He was certainly wise and revered Venus in particular,
for he was deeply grateful for the beauty that the goddess had made blossom in his daughter.
One day, though, when Jupiter saw Litus, he fell in love and transformed himself to approach her.
He took on the silhouetted form of a flamingo drawn from a black line.
Litus admired it and allowed herself to be guided by it to an abandoned sanctuary of Apollo.
There, using the art of seduction to perfection, Jupiter managed to unite with her.
After he had left the young woman and regained his natural appearance,
he made all the necessary arrangements for her well-being at the remote site.
The king's daughter concealed her pregnancy and only rarely appeared in the palace.
But when the birth was imminent, Apollo led Litus once again to his secluded place of worship.
Here, on a clear starry night, the king's daughter gave birth to a semi-divine child
and as her son was born on the fine-grained beach of the sanctuary, she named him Afa.
II
Afa's appearance showed the human features of his mortal mother,
which were painterly outlined by a black brushstroke like the dark divine flamingo.
Apollo himself blessed him with musical talents and gifted him with a lyre and a precious wooden plectrum,
through which Afa produced magical melodies that harmonised the atmosphere.
In order to prevent the husbandless Litus from falling into disrepute because of her illegitimate child,
Jupiter the Thunderer had the noble Cautes shipwrecked near Thasos, only to have him rescued
by the sea nymph Acta at the bay of the Apollo sanctuary and become Afa's mortal father.
Thus it was by divine will that Litus and Cautes finally met there
and, having entered the cult building of the consecrated complex, decided to enter into a family union.
During the preparations for the wedding of this noble couple, which were kept secret from the islanders,
the palace servants were enchanted by Afa's lyra performance and the sight of him
and began to worship him as a favourite of Apollo and to pay homage to Litus and Cautes as his priests.
The king and queen also travelled there and blissfully and gratefully praised the marriage of their daughter,
which was celebrated magnificently on the hill at the shrine in the presence of selected minds.
It wasn't long before the popularity of the demigod increased and the shrine returned to a lively centre.
A flourishing cult developed around the semi-divine Afa himself and his glowing lyre play.
The Neireid Acta was also attracted to Afa and lovingly drew his form in the sand of the beach.
But with the increasing adoration of her beloved demigod, the feeling of disdain grew in her
and fickleness bothered her, who had once rescued Cautes from the threatening waves, the soul.
She no longer wanted to endure this rejection and decided to get a place for herself next to Afa.
III
Driven by love for Afa's appearance, but also by envy of his admiration,
the wavering Acta went in frustration about her neglect to the vengeful Juno.
However, she turned her anger at her husband's infidelity against Litus and Afa and transformed
the Nereid, the deliverer of the bad news, into the mirror image of the beloved demigod.
To cause discord among the islanders, she ordered the icy north wind to drop Acta on Thasos
and Mercury to steal Afa the Plectrum. Both fulfilled her order, but Mercury only halfway, as he
hid the pick in the cult building. Acta, who now looked like Afa, was bitterly remorseful and went into hiding.
Afa, offended by the futile search for his plectrum, also secretly left his home.
So, the search for the revered demigod began, until the fishermen found Afa lonely on the coast and the stonemasons found Acta
secluded among the mountain peaks. Both set out triumphantly to bring the lost Afa back
to the place of worship, but when Afa was delivered to Litus there twice, a fierce dispute broke out
among the mortals as to who had found the real Afa. The fishermen set up their camp on the beach
around the sanctuary of Apollo, while the stonemasons moved into a fortified tower. Both kept their Afa with them.
Because only the play of Lyra could bring truth and resolve the conflict, Cautes asked the oracle for advice.
But when Acta faced unforeseeable danger in her secluded tower chamber, it was Venus who came to her aid
and adorned her with the most beautiful and obvious feminine charms. Finally, Cautes succeeded
on the ninth day of the Thasiotic war in unravelling the oracle's spell and presented the plectrum to Afa,
who immediately brought peace to the island with the sublime sounds of his lyre. And so it was that the beautiful Acta
and the musical Afa were united, but the fishermen and stonemasons were to be punished with lasting labours.
After all, Afa and Acta still appear to mortals with their divine effect in emotional moments.