Atalanta

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The "Barberini Atalanta",[1] formerly

in the Barberini Palace, Rome, now
in the Vatican, inv. 2784. Either
Greek original, 1st century BC or
Roman copy, 2nd century AD

Atalanta (/ˌætəˈlæntə/; Greek: Ἀταλάντη Atalantē) is a character in Greek

mythology, a virgin huntress, unwilling to marry, and loved by the hero
Meleager.

According to the Bibliotheca of pseudo-Apollodorus, Atalanta was the daughter

of Iasus, son of Lycurgus, and Clymene, daughter of Minyas.[2] She is also
mentioned as the daughter of Mainalos or Schoeneus (according to Hyginus),
of a Boeotian (according to Hesiod), or of an Arcadian princess (according to
the Bibliotheca). The Bibliotheca is the only source which gives an account of
Atalanta's birth and upbringing. Prince Iasus wanted a son; when Atalanta was
born, he left her on a mountaintop to die. Some stories say that a she-bear
suckled and cared for Atalanta until hunters found and raised her, and she
learned to fight and hunt as a bear would. She was later reunited with her
father.
Having grown up in the wilderness, Atalanta became a fierce hunter and was
always happy. She took an oath of virginity to the goddess Artemis, and slew
two centaurs, Hylaeus and Rhoecus, who attempted to rape her.[3][4]

Calydonian Boar Hunt

Meleager, assisted by Cupid,

presents Atalanta with the head of
the Calydonian Boar. Oil on panel,
studio of Rubens, Rothschild
collection, Château de Ferrières.
Another large version by Rubens
c.1635 is at the Alte Pinakothek,
Munich, and a smaller version at the
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

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

Peleus and Atalanta wrestling, black-figured

hydria, c. 550 BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen
(Inv. 596).

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

The Race between Atalanta and

Hippomenes, by Nicolas Colombel
(1644–1717), Liechtenstein
Museum, Vienna. Atalanta is
slowed as she picks up the golden
apples rolled down by her rival

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.

The German mythologist, epigramist, composer, physician and counsellor to

Rudolf II, Michael Maier published Atalanta Fugiens in 1617, an early work of
mixed media which included an epigrammatic verse on the Greek myth, along
with 50 emblematic images and music fugues relating to Atalanta's flight.

Handel wrote a 1736 opera about the character, Atalanta.

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.

Versions of the story of Atalanta appear in the television series Atlantis

produced by BBC, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, the Hallmark mini-series
of Jason and the Argonauts, and Free to Be... You and Me (featuring the
footrace only, Hippomenes renamed Young John, no death penalty for the
losers, no golden apples, a tie, and a mutual decision that both would explore
the world leaving open the question of marriage).

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.

Atalanta appears in the light novel series Fate/Apocrypha (2012–2014) as the

Archer of Red, and the mobile game Fate/Grand Order.

In the late 1920s, Studebaker adopted Atalanta as a symbolic hood ornament

for its cars.[6]

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

Richard Wilson - Meleager and Atalanta (circa 1770)

Lëtzebuergesch: Meleager Béierkapp

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

Meleager presents the Boar's head to Atalanta. From Neueröffneter Musen-Tempel

by Bernard Picart, 1733 (University of Heidelberg)

Atalanta and Meleager by Peter Paul Rubens (ca. 1616) at Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York City

"Meleager et Atalanta", from a drawing by Giulio Romano, engraved by François

Louis Lonsing. Atalanta is the woman on the far left with the bow; Meleager is just
right of her, with the boar spear sticking into the Calydonian Boar. (1773)
  

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

Meleager en Atalanta (between 1675 and 1699) at Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Meleager and Atalante by Jacob Jordaens (1620-1650) at Museo Nacional del

Prado, Madrid, Spain
  

English: by Circle of Paolo Veronese (f1550-1600) at National Museum of Ancient

Art, Lisbon, Portugal

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

Engraving by Magdalena van de Passe from book Les Metamorphoses d'Ovide, En

Latin Et François: Divisées En XV. Livres, page 335. Published 1677.

Atalanta and Hippomenes by Johann Heinrich Schönfeld (1650-1660) at Brukenthal

National Museum, Sibiu, Romania
  

Notes

1. In the opinion of Lempriere's Classical Dictionary, "the finest representation of

Atalanta"

2. Pseudo-Apollodorus, 3.9.2 Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine.

3. "ATALANTA (Atalante) - Arcadian Heroine of Greek Mythology" .

www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-30.

4. "Archived copy" . Archived from the original on 2012-08-23. Retrieved

2012-11-11.

5. Roman, Luke; Roman, Monica (2010). Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman

Mythology . Infobase Publishing. p. 88. ISBN 9781438126395.

6. The Golden Age Archived 2015-05-11 at the Wayback Machine at

Studebaker 100 historical website

7. Wikipedia entry for Atalanta_(1937_automobile)Atalanta (1937 automobile)

8. Grant, Gregor (1948). British Sports Cars (1st ed.). Los Angeles: Floyd Clymer.
pp. 37–43.

9. Discogs - Diana and the Golden Apples

10. "Diana and the golden apples" . Library of Congress.

Sources
 Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 9. 2 for Atalanta and 1.8.3 for the Boar Hunt

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atalanta.

Rubens's "Atalanta and Meleager" in the Lady Lever Art Gallery

  Atalanta, represented as a Huntress with her bow. One of the Medallion

Wafer poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon in the Literary Gazette, 1823.