Atalanta in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Atalanta

12 passages from 7 ancient authors that tell of Atalanta, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Atalanta's parentage is uncertain. Her parents may have been King Iasus and Clymene. She came into the world in the "undesirable state" of being female... For the story in one place, read our article on Atalanta.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 1.14–18Atalanta, Danaus and the daughters of ProetusThe longest fragment describes the suitors of Atalanta and the foot-race in which Hippomenes distracts her with golden apples. Shorter pieces record that Danaus made waterless Argos well-watered and that Aegyptus sent his fifty sons there. A last group tells how the daughters of Proetus lost their beauty because of their wantonness.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.8.1–6Oeneus, Meleager and the Calydonian boarOeneus of Calydon is the first to receive a vine from Dionysus, and the Fates declare that his son Meleager will die when the brand on the hearth is burnt out, so Althaea hides it. When Oeneus forgets Artemis in his sacrifices she sends a boar, and a company of heroes is gathered; Atalanta wounds it first and Meleager kills it and gives her the hide. He kills his mother's brothers, the sons of Thestius, who took it from her, and Althaea burns the brand; a second version has him fall in a war against the Curetes. The section ends with Oeneus's later marriage, Tydeus (father of Diomedes) and the revenge of Diomedes on the sons of Agrius.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.9.1–2Arcas, Auge and Telephus; Atalanta and MelanionArcas has two sons, Elatus and Aphidas, who divide the land; Aphidas's son Aleus has a daughter, Auge, who bears Telephus to Heracles and is sent away to Teuthras in Mysia. Lycurgus's son Iasus has a daughter, Atalanta, who is exposed but suckled by a she-bear and raised by hunters. She kills the centaurs who attack her, wrestles Peleus and hunts the Calydonian boar, and Melanion wins her in a foot race with Aphrodite's golden apples; both are later turned into lions, and their son is Parthenopaeus.

Euripides (2)

Euripides, Suppliants 837–917Fourth episode: Adrastus praises the seven fallen chiefsTheseus says that he had meant to ask Adrastus about the battle, but that he can leave it, and asks him to tell him the character of each of the fallen. Adrastus describes them one by one, among them Capaneus struck by Zeus' bolt, Eteocles, Parthenopaeus, the son of Atalanta, and Tydeus, and says that they should be a model for the young.
Euripides, Phoenician Women 1067–1201Fifth episode: a Messenger describes the seven gates and the Argive assaultA Messenger tells Jocasta that both sons are still alive and that the city is safe. He tells how Menoeceus died on the turret and how Eteocles posted seven companies at the gates. He describes the Argive leaders, the shield devices and the first assault, and how Capaneus was struck by a thunderbolt as he climbed the wall.

Callimachus (1)

Callimachus, Hymns 3.1–268Hymn to Artemis: the goddess's childhood wishesAs a small girl on her father's knees, Artemis asks Zeus to let her stay a maiden for ever and to give her a bow, a short tunic, sixty nymphs of Oceanus for her choir and twenty nymphs of Amnisus to tend her hounds, and Zeus smiles and grants it, adding cities. She visits the Cyclopes on Lipara for her arrows, takes hounds from Pan in Arcadia and captures four golden-horned deer for her chariot. The poet praises her favourite places and companions, among them Britomartis, Cyrene and Atalanta, and her shrines at Miletus and Ephesus. He ends with a warning to those who wronged her, such as Oeneus, Otus and Orion.

Diodorus Siculus (1)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.34.1–4.35.4Deianeira, Meleager and the Calydonian boarHeracles settles at Calydon and marries Deïaneira, daughter of Oeneus. The chapters tell of Meleager and the Calydonian boar: his love for Atalanta, his killing of Althaea's brothers, and his mother's curse, with Oeneus's remarriage to Periboea and the birth of Tydeus.

Ovid (2)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.519–709Aphrodite and Adonis; Atalanta and HippomenesAdonis grows into a youth so beautiful that Aphrodite (Venus) herself, wounded by one of Eros' (Cupid's) arrows, falls in love with him and gives up heaven to be with him. She warns him to avoid dangerous beasts and tells him the tale of Atalanta, who would marry only the man who could beat her in a foot-race, the loser being killed. Hippomenes wins her with the help of Aphrodite, who gives him three golden apples to throw before her, and is later turned with Atalanta into a lion for profaning a temple of Cybele. Aphrodite ends her warning, and Adonis does not heed it.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.264–444The Calydonian boar huntArtemis (Diana), angered at being forgotten at the harvest rites, sends a huge boar to ravage the fields of Calydon, and Meleager gathers heroes from all Greece to hunt it. The hunters include Theseus, Jason, Castor and Pollux, and the huntress Atalanta, whose beauty and skill the others admire. Atalanta first wounds the boar, and Meleager kills it, and awards the head and hide to her. Meleager's uncles, jealous of Atalanta, snatch the prize from her, and Meleager kills them in a rage.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.45.1–7Tegea: the temple of Athena Alea and its sculpturesPausanias lists the townships of Tegea and the achievements the Tegeans claim: Ancaeus and Atalanta at the Calydonian boar hunt, Echemus' victory over Hyllus, and their defeat of Lacedaemonian invaders. The old sanctuary of Athena Alea was burned and replaced by a large temple with Doric, Corinthian and Ionic columns, which he credits to the architect Scopas of Paros. The front gable shows the Calydonian boar hunt and the back gable shows the fight of Telephus with Achilles on the plain of the Caicus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 3.24.1–11Laconian coast: Zarax, Cyphanta, Brasiae, Las and HypsaPausanias describes Zarax, destroyed by Cleonymus, the grotto of Aesculapius at Cyphanta with its spring struck by Atalanta, and Brasiae, whose people say Semele and the infant Dionysus drifted there in a chest. He then describes Las, with its temple of Athena Asia, the fountain Galaco, the river Smenus and the grave of Las. He argues from Homer that Achilles cannot have been a suitor of Helen.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.35.1–10Megalopolis: roads to Messenia and Lacedaemon and the ruined towns of the interiorPausanias describes the road from Megalopolis to Carnasium in Messenia, the Hermaeum 'at the Mistress' on the border, and the road to Lacedaemon, with a remark on the disputed town of Belemina. He then lists the roads into the interior and the ruined towns founded by the sons of Lycaon: Charisiae, Tricoloni with its sanctuary of Poseidon, Zoetia, Paroria, Thyraeum, Hypsus and Phalanthus. He also mentions the grave of Callisto with its sanctuary of Artemis Calliste, and the plain of Polus and Schoenus, which he links to the race-courses of Atalanta.