Atalanta

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:About Template:Infobox deity

Atalanta (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx) is a heroine in Greek mythology.

There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia,<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> whose parents were Iasus and Clymene<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and who is primarily known from the tales of the Calydonian boar hunt and the Argonauts;<ref>Apollodorus, 1.9.16</ref> and the other from Boeotia, who is the daughter of King Schoeneus<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Apollodorus, 1.9.16</ref> and is primarily noted for her skill in the footrace.<ref name=":3" /> In both versions, Atalanta was a local figure allied to the goddess Artemis;<ref name=Boardman1983>Template:Cite journal</ref> in such oral traditions, minor characters were often assigned different names, resulting in minor regional variations.<ref name="Howell & Howell 1989">Template:Cite journal</ref>

MythologyEdit

Early lifeEdit

File:Atalanta Lepautre Louvre MR1804.jpg

Atalanta. Marble, 1703–1705. Copy by Pierre Lepautre of a Roman work after a Hellenistic original.

At birth, Atalanta was taken to Mount Parthenion to be exposed because her father had desired a son.<ref name=":2" /> A she-bear—one of the symbols of Artemis—whose cubs had been recently killed by hunters came upon Atalanta and nursed her until those same hunters discovered her and raised her themselves in the mountains.<ref name=":0" /> Atalanta then grew up to be a swift-footed virgin who eschewed men and devoted herself to the huntress Artemis.<ref name=":2" />

Atalanta modelled herself after Artemis, wearing a simple sleeveless tunic that reached her knees and living in the wilderness.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> While living in the wild, Atalanta slew two centaurs with her bow and arrows, Rhoecus and Hylaios, after her beauty caught their attention and they attempted to rape her.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

The voyage of the ArgonautsEdit

File:Atalanta Peleus Staatliche Antikensammlungen 596.jpg

Black-figure pottery showing a wrestling match between Peleus and Atalanta during the funerary games of King Pelias. In the background, the prize of the duel: the skin and the head of the Calydonian boar.

Atalanta is only occasionally mentioned in the legend of the Argonauts;<ref name="Howell & Howell 1989"/><ref name=":8">Template:Cite journal</ref> however, her participation is noted in Pseudo-Apollodorus's account, which says that during the search for the Golden Fleece, Atalanta, who was invited and invoked the protection of Artemis, sailed with the Argonauts as the only woman among them.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Diodorus Siculus's account, Atalanta is not only noted to have sailed with the Argonauts but to have fought alongside them at the battle in Colchis, where she, Jason, Laertes, and the sons of Thesipae were wounded and later healed by Medea.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the account of Apollonius of Rhodes, Jason prevents Atalanta from joining not because she lacks skill but because as a woman she has the potential to cause strife among men on the ship.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

After the death of King Pelias in Iolcus, funeral games were held in which Atalanta defeated Peleus in a wrestling match.<ref name=":2" /> This match became a popular subject in Greek art.<ref name=Boardman1983/>

The Calydonian boar huntEdit

File:Wall painting - Meleagros and Atalanta - Pompeii (VI 9 3) - Napoli MAN 8980.jpg

Fresco depicting Atalanta and Meleager resting after successfully hunting the Calydonian boar, Pompeii

In an annual celebration, King Oeneus of Calydon had forgotten to honour Artemis with a sacrifice in his rites to the gods.<ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1" /> In anger, she sent the Calydonian boar, a monstrous wild boar that ravaged the land, cattle, and people, and prevented the crops from being sown.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Atalanta was called upon to join Meleager, Theseus, Pollux, Telamon, Peleus, and all those who were part of the Argonaut expedition on the hunt for the boar.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Many of the men were angry that a woman was joining them, but Meleager, though having a family of his own, convinced them otherwise as he desired to father a child with Atalanta after hearing of her expertise in archery and beauty while hunting.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

During the hunt Hyleus and Ancaeus were killed, Peleus accidentally killed a fellow hunter and others were wounded. Atalanta drew first blood on the boar with her bow.<ref name=":4" /> After this feat, killing the boar became a collective effort as, after the initial blow, Amphiaraus shot the boar's eye and Meleager ended its life.<ref name=":4" /> Meleager awarded the hide to Atalanta for her valor,<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but it was taken away by Meleager's uncles, Plexippus and Toxeus, who considered it dishonorable for a woman to hold such a prize.<ref name=":4" /> In response, Meleager killed his uncles.<ref name=":4" /> Althaea, Meleager's mother, became grief-stricken after hearing of her brothers’ deaths and threw the log that was tied to her son's life into a fire, killing him.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />

FootraceEdit

According to Ovid, before her adventures, Atalanta had consulted an oracle who prophesied that marriage would be her undoing. As a result, she chose to live in the wilderness.<ref name=":9">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After the Calydonian boar hunt, Atalanta was discovered by her father, who accepted her as his daughter and began to arrange a marriage for her.<ref name=":2" /> To prevent this, she agreed to marry only if a suitor could outrun her in a footrace, which swift-footed Atalanta knew was impossible.<ref name=":3" />Template:Refn If the suitor was unsuccessful, he would be killed.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5" /> Her father agreed to the terms, and many suitors died in the attempt until Hippomenes,<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9" />Template:Refn who fell in love with Atalanta at first sight, appealed for divine help.<ref name=":2" /> Hippomenes knew he could not best Atalanta even with the advantage of a head start, so he prayed to the goddess Aphrodite for assistance.<ref name=":3" /> Aphrodite, who felt spurned because Atalanta was a devotee of Artemis and rejected love, gave Hippomenes three irresistible golden apples.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9" /> As the race began, Atalanta, wearing armour and carrying weapons, quickly passed Hippomenes, but she was diverted off the path when he tossed an apple for her to retrieve;<ref name=":5" /> each time Atalanta caught up with Hippomenes, he would toss another apple,<ref name=":9" /> ultimately winning the race and Atalanta herself.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" />

Atalanta bore a son, Parthenopaios (who may have been fathered by Meleager or Ares), who became one of the Seven against Thebes.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Metamorphosis into lionsEdit

After the footrace, Hippomenes forgot to thank Aphrodite for her aid, and while the couple were out hunting the goddess afflicted them with sexual passion so that they had sex in a sanctuary belonging to either Zeus<ref name=":5" /> or Rhea.<ref name=":9" /> They were turned into lions for their sacrilege by either Artemis (angered by Atalanta losing her virginity), the goddess Cybele, or Zeus himself.<ref name=":2" /> The belief at the time was that lions could not mate with their own species, only with leopards; therefore Atalanta and Hippomenes would never be able to have "intercourse of love".<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":8" />

ModernEdit

File:Archäologisches Museum Thessaloniki (Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης) (47779609262).jpg

Meleager and Atalanta hunt the boar on a Roman sarcophagus, 2nd century AD, from Salonica.

The Italian football club Atalanta, based in Bergamo, took its name from the heroine, and the club's crest depicts her face.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The English football club Huddersfield Atalanta Ladies F.C. was also named after the heroine.

A version of Atalanta's story appears in the multimedia children's entertainment project Free to Be... You and Me.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She is also the focus of the 2017 historical novel For the Winner, by the British Classicist and author Emily Hauser, which retells the story of Atalanta's voyage with the Argonauts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the light novel Fate/Apocrypha, Atalanta is summoned as the Archer-class Servant of the Red faction.

Olympic-medal-winning javelin thrower Fatima Whitbread said that she took up an interest in track and field events after being inspired by the myth of Atalanta, "whom no man could outrun except by cheating, and whose javelin killed a terrible monster."<ref name="FWAUTO">Template:Cite book</ref>

A version of Atalanta's story is told in Atalanta by Jennifer Saint (2023). This modern feminist retelling claims Atalanta as the daughter of Iasus and follows both the tales of the Argonauts and the Calydonian boar hunt and the tales of her skill in the footrace.<ref>Saint, Jennifer 2023, Atalanta, Wildfire, London. </ref>

The European Union anti-piracy mission in Somalia is named "Operation Atalanta" in reference to the Greek heroine.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

GalleryEdit

Jan Fyt and Pieter Thijs - Atalanta and Meleager Hunt the Calydonian Boar.jpg

Oil painting of Atalanta and Meleager hunting the Calydonian boar (Jan Fyt, 1648). The Ringling, Bequest of John Ringling, 1936.
Meleager-Béierkapp--w.jpg

Meleager presenting Atalante the head of the Calydonian Boar in 16th century alabaster, Bode Museum
Jan Wildens - Landscape with Hunt of Meleager and Atalanta.jpg

Landscape painting of the hunt. Jan Wildens, 17th century.
Giulio Romano - Meleager et Atalanta.jpg

Meleager et Atalanta, from a drawing by Giulio Romano, engraved by François Louis Lonsing. Atalanta is at far left with bow; Meleager is right of her, spearing the Calydonian boar (1773).
M. Maurice Stora - Atalanta and Meleager Present the Head of the Caledonian Boar at the Temple of Artemis - Google Art Project.jpg

Meleager Presenting the Head of the Calydonian Boar to Atalanta at the Temple of Artemis. M. Maurice Stora (1530–1535).
Palumba hunt.jpg

Atalanta and Meleager hunting the Calydonian boar. Woodcut by Giovanni Battista Palumba, print in the British Museum.
Jacob Jordaens - Meleager and Atalanta, 1620-1650.jpg

Meleager and Atalante. Jacob Jordaens (1620–1650), Museo Nacional del Prado.
Nicolas Colombel 002.jpg

The Race between Atalanta and Hippomenes. Nicolas Colombel (1644–1717), Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna.
La Course d'Hippomène et d'Atalante - Noël Hallé - Musée du Louvre Peintures INV 5270 ; B 645.jpg

Oil painting depicting the footrace between Hippomenes and Atalanta by Noël Hallé, housed in the Louvre Museum
Atalanta en Hippomenes in leeuwen veranderd Metamorfosen van Ovidius (serietitel), RP-P-OB-15.962.jpg

A woodcut engraving of the transformation of Atalanta and Hippomenes. Rijksmuseum

Explanatory notesEdit

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CitationsEdit