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Atlanta's parentage is uncertain. One possibility is King Iasus with Clymene. Shecame into the world in the undesirable state of being female. As a result herFather had her carried into the woods and left exposed to die. Instead, she wasraised during her childhood by a bear. As she grew older she began to spend timewith hunters and was soon the best amongst them. She loved hunting and theoutdoors and had no use for a man in her life. She also received an oracle thather marriage would end in disaster. She had no compunction in defending hervirginity. When the centaurs Rhoecus and Hylaeus attempted to rape her she quicklykilled them with her arrows.She wished to join the Argonauts but, Jason thought it inadvisable to have a womenamong the crew, fearing problems like those that would occur during the boar hunt.Her shooting skills allowed her to draw first blood during the Calydonian BoarHunt. Her contribution to the hunt was marred when a quarrel over giving her atrophy of the hunt resulted in the death of Meleager and his uncles.At the funeral games honoring Pelias, Atlanta entered the wrestling contests. Hereshe gained more fame by scoring a victory over Peleus.She achieved enough that her Father forgave her for not being a son and allowedher to return home. Once there he attempted to fulfill his fatherly obligations byfinding her a husband. For her to simply refuse might arouse dangerous resentment.Instead she proposed a test. The successful suitor would have to beat her in afoot race. Losing suitors would be beheaded by her. As Atlanta was one of thefastest mortals this appeared to insure her maidenhood.For quite some time this worked. Some say that she evened the odds by wearingarmor while she ran. Others say that she gave the suitors a head start of half thedistance. In any case the heads stacked up.Melanion fell in love with her. He knew that he was not fast enough to win therace. So he did what many frustrated lovers have done. He prayed to Aphrodite forhelp. Aphrodite has a weakness for lovers and a concern about those that rejectromance to the degree that Atlanta did. Aphrodite presented Melanion with threegolden apples and a plan. In return Melanion was to sacrifice to Aphrodite.Melanion then ran his race with Atlanta carrying the apples with him. When Atlantacaught up to him he tossed the first apple at her feet. The sight of the magicgolden apple was irresistible to Atlanta. She stopped to pick it up confident thatshe could make up the time. Soon enough she was once again passing Melanion. Hethrew the second apple, this time further to the side. Again, she lost timeretrieving the apple. As she again caught up the finish line was near and chasingthe third thrown apple cost her the race.Despite her resistance once won marriage seemed to suit Atlanta. Melanion'shappiness and joy was so great he completely forgot his obligations to sacrificeto Aphrodite. As usual when messing up with the gods payback was severe.Aphrodite waited until Melanion and Atlanta were passing a shrine to a god,possibly Zeus. She then hit them with overwhelming desire. Melanion took Atlantainto the shrine and lay with her. At this point the infuriated god turned themboth into lions. This was regarded by the Greeks as particularly poetic as theybelieved that lions could mate only with leopards.There is one other mystery of Atlanta. Somehow despite her vaunted virginity shehad a son - Parthenopaeus. The father is uncertain. Melanion and Meleager haveboth been suggested but, both of them were with Atlanta only briefly. Aris has