ATALANTA HIGHLIGHTS
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ATALANTA THE HUNTRESS

Atalanta was also a stunningly beautiful woman and many princely suitors from all over Greece came to ask for her hand in marriage. No way. Atalanta had vowed to remain husbandless until she died, and would challenge any potential suitor to a foot race - If she lost she would become his wife...if the man was defeated in the race he would lose his life!

Needless to say, many suitors were killed by her, until Aphrodite, the goddess of Love, got involved...

The identity of Atalanta's father is in dispute (some say it was Iasus and Clymene, others that it was Schoenus), but whoever he was, he passionately desired a son and was terribly disappointed when Atalanta was born. Distraught because she was a girl, the jerk exposed her to die somewhere in Arcadia. But she survived, for a she-bear (a symbol of Artemis, goddess of the hunt) appeared and kept her warm and suckled her until some hunters found the baby girl and brought her to their village to raise as their own.

Atalanta (her name means 'unswaying') grew to become a most beautiful woman and vowed to remain a virgin. She was very swift and used to surpass men in racing, and once she won a wrestling match against Peleus, who later became Achilles' father, during the games that were held in honour of King Pelias. So living and hunting in the wilderness she remained always under arms, ready to defend herself, and quite capable of doing so.

On one occasion the Centaurs (half-men/half-horse) Rhoecus and Hylaeus tried to rape her and the brave beauty shot them down and killed them, sending a message that she wasn't one to mess with.

The goddess Artemis grew angry at King Oeneus of Calydon and sent a boar of huge size and strength, which prevented the land from being sown, destroying and terrorizing both cattle and people. In order to get rid of this ravaging beast, King Oeneus sent out heralds all across Greece, inviting the bravest fighters to take part in the Calydonian Boar hunt.

He promised to give the boar's pelt and tusks as a prize to the warrior who should kill it - not to mention the undying gratitude and goodwill of the people that the hero would receive.

The chance at greatness was too tempting and many fearless warriors vied to take part in the great hunt. In no time there assembled the noblest men of Greece, who became known as the Calydonian Hunters.

Among these noble men came also the fair maiden Atalanta who shortly before had traveled with the Argonauts in their successful voyage to bring back to Greece the Golden Fleece. She had already established her reputation as a fighter and hunter and was widely respected.

However the Arcadians King Cepheus of Tegea and Ancaeus, were chauvinistic and disdained going hunting with a woman. Oeneus's son Meleager, being in love with Atalanta though he himself was already married, made the unwilling men permit Atalanta to take part in the hunt.

Atalanta and Amphiaraus were armed with bows and arrows, others carried javelins, axes, boar-spears and swords. The Calydonian hunters stealthily advanced through the boar's forest, a half-moon lighting their path. Suddenly they were upon the beast's lair, and it wasn't happy to be woken up by hostile strangers.

Mayhem ensued. The Calydonian Boar charged out, gored two of the men, hamstrung another and even chased poor young Nestor up a tree! Jason (yes, he of the Argonauts, told you these guys were famous) missed with his javelin, as did several others - that's how fast and furiously the boar bounded. Jason was renowned for his accuracy, which made the miss all that much more unbelievable, and the boar that much more fearsome!

Iphicles managed to graze the monster's shoulder with his hurled javelin, but Telemon, attacking with his boar-spear, tripped over a tree root and, as his buddy Peleus was pulling him to his feet, the enraged boar turned on them, roaring its displeasure at the shoulder flesh wound.

Not to mention being woken up...

It looked like the two hunters were about to become pig feed, but just then intrepid Atalanta let fly a timely arrow, perfectly striking the poised pig just behind the ear, the dart penetrating all the way to its livid brain.

That's got to hurt.

The boar was stunned, stopped in its stinking tracks! Telamon and Peleus scurried to the safety of their comrades, silently reminding themselves to buy Atalanta a drink following the hunt...

As the dazed Calydonian Boar meandered about, trying to remember its name (and with the makings of a mega-migraine coming on), Amphiaraus added to its misery by firing an arrow of his own, shooting it in the eye and permanently blinding it.

If there's one thing more dangerous than an angry beast, it's a blind angry beast. Ancaeus, emboldened by the staggered swine, swung his battle axe at the charging boar, but he was a tad too slow and in the next breath he lay dead, gored by the animal's huge tusks. Not to be outdone, Peleus hurled his javelin at the stampeding boar, missing the beast and instead striking Eurytion, killing him.

Theseus could slay the Minotaur, but he had little luck against the boar. His javelin flew wide (at least he didn't hit one of his own party!) and it finally took Meleager to dispatch it with a mighty stab with his sword.

And then there was one less boar in town.

Meleager gave the Calydonian Boar's skin to Atalanta, which totally ticked off the chauvinists, who thought that a woman had no business hunting with them. When the sons of Thestius insisted that the Boar's skin belonged to them, things got violent and Meleager slew them. Eventually this led to Meleager's own death, but we're here to study Atalanta.

Word of her beauty and bravery spread and many princely suitors sought her hand (not to mention the rest of her) in marriage. She asked her father to remain a virgin so her father set up a contest with the following rules: Each of Atalanta's suitors would race unarmed and she would pursue them with a weapon. Were she to be defeated, she would marry the suitor. If she overtook him within the limits of the race, she should kill him and fix his head up in the stadium, to serve as notice to other potential suitors.

Rules like that can seriously crimp a girl's social life, not to mention a suitor's ardor. Still, Atalanta was so gorgeous (and even brought dinner home daily, huntress that she was) that countless nobles lined up for a go at her.

You can say that they all lost their head over her... Miserably. Atalanta was too fast, and the stadium was lined with impaled noble heads.

Many perished in this cruel race, until a man called Melanion, or as others say Hippomenes, appealed to the goddess of Love, Aphrodite, to help him land Atalanta as wife. Aphrodite was irked that Atalanta was not moved by feelings of love, and felt that she had failed in her job, so she decided to help Melanion.

She gave him some magical golden apples with instructions to scatter them on the ground when Atalanta gained on him. As Melanion was being pursued he threw down the golden apples that he had received from Aphrodite, and Atalanta, slowing down to pick up the exquisitely irresistible dropped fruit, was beaten in the race.

Melanion took home his new wife but in his excitement he forgot the role that Aphrodite played and did not pay her proper thanks. Duh. The peeved goddess of Love decided to punish the ungrateful man, so while he was sacrificing on Mount Parnassus to Zeus to celebrate his victory, Aphrodite inflamed him with desire and he lay with Atalanta in the temple while the sacred images turned away their eyes. Zeus saw this profane act in his temple and in his fury he turned them into lion and lioness.

Myth Man's note: The above version is of Arcadian Atalanta. The Boeotian Atalanta version (Arcadia and Boeotia are different regions of Greece) pretty well follows the same story line, but with a few exceptions. In the Boeotian myth, her father's name was Schoeneus (Schoenus) and she married Hippomenes. The foot race takes place in Boeotian Onchestus and the temple defiled was a sanctuary of Cybelle (Rhea). In this version, Cybelle in anger changed Atalanta and Hippomenes into lions and then yoked them to her chariot, forever to serve her.

Parentage: There are three version of her parents...

1) Schoeneus & unknown

2) Iasus (Iasion, Iasius) & Clymene

3) Maenalus & unknown

With either Melanion, Meleager, Ares or Hippomenes she had a son named Parthenopaeus, who was one of the famous warriors known as the Seven Against Thebes.

I hope this helped a little bit. Good luck on your projects!
MYTH MAN