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Atalanta: This Article Needs Additional Citations For Verification
Atalanta: This Article Needs Additional Citations For Verification
When Artemis was forgotten at a sacrifice by King Oineus, she was angered
and sent the Calydonian Boar, a wild boar that ravaged the land, men, and
cattle and prevented crops from being sown. Atalanta joined Meleager and
many other famous heroes on a hunt for the boar. Many of the men were angry
that a woman was joining them, but Meleager, though married, lusted for
Atalanta, and so he persuaded them to include her. Several of the men were
killed before Atalanta became the first to hit the boar and draw blood. After
Meleager finally killed the boar with his spear, he awarded the hide to Atalanta.
This act of Meleager’s generosity caused a set of events that led to his
death.[5] Meleager's uncles, Plexippus and Toxeus, were angry and tried to take
the skin from her. In revenge, Meleager killed his uncles. Wild with grief,
Meleager's mother Althaea threw a charmed log on the fire, which consumed
Meleager's life as it burned.
Footrace
Guido Reni – Atalanta and Hippomenes – WGA19271
After the Calydonian boar hunt, Atalanta was rediscovered by her father. He
wanted her to be married, but Atalanta, uninterested in marriage, agreed to
marry only if her suitors could outrun her in a footrace. Those who lost would
be killed. King Oeneus agreed, and many young men died in the attempt until
Hippomenes, a grandson of Poseidon, came along.[5] Hippomenes asked the
goddess Aphrodite for help, and she gave him three golden apples in order to
slow Atalanta down. The apples were irresistible, so every time Atalanta got
ahead of Hippomenes, he rolled an apple ahead of her, and she would run after
it. In this way, Hippomenes won the footrace and came to marry Atalanta. In
some versions, Atalanta loved Hippomenes and hoped he would win.[5]
Eventually they had a son Parthenopaios, who was one of the Seven against
Thebes. Zeus – or his mother, Rhea – turned Atalanta and Hippomenes into
lions after they had sex together in one of his temples. Other accounts say that
Aphrodite changed them into lions because they did not give her proper honor.
The belief at the time was that lions could not mate with their own species,
only with leopards; thus Atalanta and Hippomenes would never be able to
remain with one another.
The Argo
In many versions of the quest for the Golden Fleece, such as that published by
Robert Graves in 1944, Atalanta sailed with the Argonauts as the only woman
among them. She jumped aboard the ship soon after the expedition set out,
invoking the protection of Artemis, to whom she was a virgin priestess. She
was following Meleager, who had put away his young wife for Atalanta's sake.
Atalanta returned his love but was prevented by an oracle from consummating
their union, being warned that losing her virginity would prove disastrous for
her. A disappointed Meleager joined the Argo, but Atalanta would not let him
out of her sight. She plays a major part in various adventures of Jason's crew,
suffered injury in a battle at Colchis, and was healed by Medea. Apollonius of
Rhodes, on the other hand, claims Jason would not allow a woman on the ship
because she would cause strife on the otherwise all-male expedition
(Argonautica 1.769–73).
Wrestling
The Bibliotheca also says she wrestled and defeated Peleus at the funeral
games for Pelias. The subject is popular in ancient Greek vase painting.
Cultural depictions
In Ovid's Metamorphosis Aphrodite tells the story of the footrace, and what
follows, including a mysterious prophecy which in this version scared Atalanta
away from marriage.
Founded in 1907 in Bergamo by local "liceo classico" (high school) students,
football club Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio gets its name from the Greek deity.
The club is for this reason also nicknamed "La Dea" (the Goddess) by its
supporters.
In the 20th century, Robert Ashley also wrote an opera, Atalanta (Acts of God),
with loose allegorical connections to the myth.
Other works based on the myth include a play by Algernon Charles Swinburne,
Atalanta in Calydon, written (in the style of Greek tragedy) in 1865.
Comic books have also used versions of her story, including Hercules: the
Thracian Wars, and The Incredible Hulk.
Video game appearances include the Golden Sun series, Herc's Adventures, an
expansion of Zeus: Master of Olympus, Rise of the Argonauts, and Age of
Mythology.
Atalanta also appears in the 2014 film Hercules, where she is depicted as an
Amazonian archer, and member of Hercules' traveling band of mercenaries.
There have been several British car manufacturing companies that used the
name Atalanta, most notably Atalanta Motors Ltd. of Staines Middlesex UK, in
operation 1937-39.[7][8]
Atalanta is the subject of the song Atalanta's Hand by Emilia Dahlin on her
album Stealing Glimpses.
Elizabeth Tammi's Outrun the Wind brings a unique twist to the story of
Atalanta.
The Atalanta Sandals are a piece of Legendary Armor that can be equipped in
Assassin's Creed Odyssey and part of the Greek Heroes Armor Set, which also
includes the Perseus Helmet, Jason's Golden Fleece, Hippolyta's Belt and the
Bracers of Theseus. All of which can be acquired by defeating specific
mercenaries.
An audiobook retelling of the story for children, Diana and the Golden Apples,
was narrated by Art Gilmore with an orchestral backing of Prokofiev's
Lieutenant Kije, and released by Capitol Records in the 1950s.[9][10] An
accompanying animated short was also produced by Mel-O-Toons.
Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast is a 2003 novel by Robert J. Harris and Jane
Yolen, part of the Young Heroe series.
Gallery
Landscape with Hunt of Meleager and Atalanta by Jan Wildens (17th century) at
Geschonken aan het museum door Artibus Patriae, Antwerpen, 1938.
Meleager and Atalanta by Jacob Jordaens (circa 1618) at the Royal Museum of
Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium
Atalanta and Meleager by Peter Paul Rubens (ca. 1616) at Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York City
Atalanta and Meleager Hunt the Calydonian Boar by Jan Fyt and Pieter Thijs (1648)
at Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida
Atalanta and Meleager with the Calydonian Boar by Francesco Mosca, called Il
Moschino (ca. 1564-1565). Exhibit in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City,
Missouri
Atalanta and Meleager Present the Head of the Caledonian Boar at the Temple of
Artemis by M. Maurice Stora (1530 - 1535) at Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
The Race between Hippomenes and Atalanta by Noël Hallé (1762-1765) at Louvre
Museum, Paris
Atalanta and Hippomenes by Willem van Herp (circa 1650) at National Museum in
Warsaw
Notes
8. Grant, Gregor (1948). British Sports Cars (1st ed.). Los Angeles: Floyd Clymer.
pp. 37–43.
Sources
Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 9. 2 for Atalanta and 1.8.3 for the Boar Hunt
External links