When Atalanta was born her bad luck had just began. Her father, King Calydon had wanted a son so she was left on the nearest mountain in a cleft of rock in the night. Her cries attracted a she-bear that was searching for her cub. She found the cleft in the rock and a small hand came out and grasped the shaggy fur of the bear. The huge bear picked her up carefully, and with Atalanta in her jaws the bear brought the baby to a cave.
Across the valley from the cave was King Calydon’s castle with a son named Meleager. When Meleager was three when his mom Queen Althaea was visited by Atropos, one of the three fates, Atropos said to Althaea “See that stick on the edge of the fire just beginning to burn? Your son’s life will last as long as that stick remains unburned’ Then Atropos disappeared. Althaea leaped at the fireplace, pulled the stick out of the flames and locked it in a brass chest.
From his childhood Meleager was obsessed with hunting. He practiced all the time and once he grew up he became known as the best hunter in all of Greece. He hunted from horseback and on foot. His parents worried about him only because he seemed uninterested in marrying anyone.
One day, Meleager was out hunting and was attacked by a bear. He managed to stab the bear in the neck with his dagger. The bear ran off and Meleager followed the trail of blood. He saw a tall, bare-legged maiden running down the hill wearing a shaggy fur cloak. He was surprised to see that she was carrying the bear he had wounded.
He stopped and the girl stopped and put the bear on the ground. He fell in love with her instantly, and offered the bear to the girl, claiming it was his kill. She was angry because the bear was her brother. She charged at him to kill him with her bare hands. The two wrestled for quite some time and a change came over her. She was overwhelmed by being so near to Meleager and started to believe that he was fighting her with magic; she passed out.
When she woke up, she told him her name: “I am Atalanta. I belong to this mountain, to the clan of the mountain bears.” He replied “I am Meleager. I belong to Atalanta.”
Meleager and Atalanta were such successful hunters, that Artemis became angry with Atalanta and created a huge mud-colored boar with red eyes, larger than a rhinoceros with tusks so long, heavy, and sharp it could shear a tree with a toss of the head. She made the beast and filled it with blood-thirst and sent him to ravage the countryside of Calydon.
Immediately the boar spread death and fear throughout the land. He uprooted crops, killed livestock-and also those who took care of them. He trampled the men who worked in the field, he trampled a farmhouse. Meleager swore to his father he would kill the boar. His father the king instead invited all the heroes of Greece to hunt the boar.
The king chose to stay home and guard the castle, even though he feared his son would die in the hunt. The queen Althaea reassured him that she held a brand that as long as it remained unburned, Meleager would live. The queen did not like Atalanta though, and did not want her son to bring her, and sent her brothers to keep an eye on Meleager. Meleager brought Atalanta her anyway, making the other hunters angry. His uncles tried to stop him but Meleager threatened to call off the hunt.
They rode out to find the boar. A bloody fight followed, and many men died trying to kill the boar. With Atalanta help, Meleager finally killed it and gave the hide to Atalanta. Meleager’s uncles were furious, and Meleager killed them as he was determined to marry Atalanta. When they returned to the castle and the king and queen heard the news, the queen threw the brand into the fire. Atalanta watched Meleager die.
After Meleager died, Atalanta left Calydon and returned to her father, the king in Arcadia. She now hated hunting because it reminded her of Meleager. Yet, many heroes came to try to marry her, but she wasn’t interested. Finally they agreed that any man who can outrun her in a race, could marry her. If they lost, they would lose their heads.
No man managed to beat her in a race, and thus many were beheaded. There was one man, Hippomenes, who loved her and prayed to the goddess of love – Aphrodite – for help in winning the race. She came to him in a dream and gave him 3 golden apples and told him how to use them. On the day of the race, he used the apples to distract Atalanta from the race, and he won.
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