Atalanta

Atalanta, also spelled Atlanta, was a huntress and runner of Greek mythology, famed for her speed, for drawing first blood in the Calydonian boar hunt, and for the footrace in which golden apples won her a husband. The ancient sources disagree about her parents and about her husband’s name.

Parents and Upbringing

The Library of Apollodorus makes Atalanta the daughter of Iasus, son of Lycurgus of Arcadia, and Clymene, daughter of Minyas. It says her father exposed her because he wanted male children; a she-bear came often and suckled her until hunters found her and brought her up among themselves (Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2). In other accounts her father is Schoeneus: the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women calls her “the daughter of Schoeneus”, and Ovid and Diodorus Siculus do the same (Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, fragment 14; Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.609; Diodorus 4.34.4). Apollodorus himself calls her “daughter of Schoeneus” in his lists of the boar hunters and the Argonauts (Library 1.8.2, 1.9.16). Apollodorus adds that Euripides named her father Maenalus (Library 3.9.2).

The Huntress

Grown up, Atalanta kept herself a virgin and hunted in the wilderness, always under arms. The centaurs Rhoecus and Hylaeus tried to force her, but she shot and killed them (Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2). In Ovid, an oracle told her she had no need of a husband: she should flee marriage, yet she would not escape it, and would lose herself while still alive. She fled into the woods and drove off her suitors by setting the terms of the race (Metamorphoses 10.564–572).

The Calydonian Boar

Atalanta was one of the heroes who gathered at Calydon when Artemis sent a huge boar against King Oeneus’ land. Cepheus, Ancaeus and others scorned hunting beside a woman, but Meleager, who wanted a child by her, made them accept her. Atalanta was the first to wound the boar, shooting it in the back with an arrow; Amphiaraus hit its eye and Meleager killed it. Meleager gave her the skin, and when the sons of Thestius, his mother’s brothers, took it from her, he killed them, which led to his own death through the burning brand (Apollodorus, Library 1.8.2–3). Pausanias records that she received the head and hide of the boar as a prize for valour, and that the tusks were kept in the sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea until the emperor Augustus carried them away (Pausanias 8.45.2, 8.46.1).

Peleus and the Argonauts

At the funeral games of Pelias, Atalanta wrestled with Peleus and won (Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2; 3.13.3). Apollodorus lists her among the Argonauts (Library 1.9.16), and Diodorus names her among Jason’s companions and says she was wounded in the fight with the Colchians (Diodorus 4.41.2, 4.48.5). Apollonius tells it otherwise: Jason carried a spear that Atalanta had given him as a gift of hospitality on Mount Maenalus, when she was eager to join the voyage; but Jason himself kept her back, because he feared bitter quarrels for love’s sake (Argonautica 1.769–773).

The Footrace

According to Apollodorus, Atalanta later found her parents, and when her father wished her to marry she set up a race. The suitors ran from a stake planted in the middle of the course while she ran after them in arms; a suitor who was caught was killed on the spot, and one who was not caught won her. Many died. Ovid also makes death the price for the slow, and says that only the beauty of the girl persuaded a rash crowd of suitors to accept her terms (Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2; Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560–574). Hesiod’s Catalogue pictures the suitor as Hippomenes, stripped for the race, and has him throw down three golden apples given to him by Aphrodite, which Atalanta stopped to pick up (Hesiod, fragment 14).

Apollodorus names the winner Melanion, who ran for love of her carrying golden apples from Aphrodite; he threw them down as she pursued him, she stopped to pick them up and was beaten. Apollodorus notes that Hesiod and others made her the daughter of Schoeneus, and that Euripides named her husband Hippomenes rather than Melanion (Library 3.9.2). In Ovid, Hippomenes prays to Venus, who gives him three golden apples from her field in Cyprus, and he wins by throwing them one after another (Metamorphoses 10.640–680).

The Lions

Apollodorus says that Melanion and Atalanta once went hunting, entered a precinct of Zeus, and after taking their fill of love there were changed into lions (Library 3.9.2). Ovid tells it differently: Hippomenes forgot to thank Venus, and as the pair passed a temple of the Mother of the Gods, Venus roused a sudden desire in him. He entered a cave-like recess of the shrine and defiled it, and the Mother of the Gods turned the pair into lions, which now draw her yoke (Metamorphoses 10.681–704).

Her Son

Atalanta’s son Parthenopaeus marched with the Seven against Thebes (Apollodorus, Library 3.6.3; Diodorus 4.65.4). Apollodorus gives his father as Melanion or Ares (Library 3.9.2), and calls him Melanion’s son in the list of the Seven (Library 3.6.3).

Atalanta Sources

Apollodorus, Library 1.8.2–3, 1.9.16, 3.6.3, 3.9.2, 3.13.3; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, fragment 14 (the race with Hippomenes); Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560–707; Diodorus Siculus 4.34.4, 4.41.2, 4.48.5, 4.65.4; Pausanias 8.45.2, 8.46.1; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.769–773. See the Library 3.9.2 passage for the main account.

See Also: Aphrodite, Zeus, Artemis, Meleager, Calydonian Boar, Peleus, Parthenopaeus, Argonauts