Atalanta
(Greek: ?ta???t?, English translation: "balanced") is a character from ancient Greek mythology.
|
ATALANTA BC TICKETS
|
Family
Atalanta is the daughter of
Schoineus or
Iasos (or Mainalos), a Boeotian (according to Hesiod) or an Arcadian (according to Apollodorus) Princess. Apollodorus is the only one who gives an account of Atalanta’s birth and upbringing.
[1]
Legend
Her father,
Schoeneus or
Iasius, wanted a son so badly that when Atalanta was born , he left her on a mountain top to die.
Artemis sent a "
she-bear" to suckle Atalanta, who learned to fight and hunt as a bear would. Some stories say that eventually kind hunters rescued her, after which Atalanta herself became a fine huntress.
Calydonian Boar Hunt
When a wild boar, sent by Artemis when forgotten at a sacrifice by King Oineus, ravaged the land, destroyed men and cattle and prevented the crops from being sown, Atalanta joined Meleager and many other famous heroes others on a hunt. Many of the men were angry to have a woman in the party, but Meleager (who, though married, lusted after Atalanta) persuaded them to allow Atalanta. Several of the men were killed before Atalanta wounded the boar, allowing Meleager to kill it with his spear. Since her strike drew first blood, Meleager awarded the boar skin to Atalanta. Meleager's uncles, Plexippus and Toxeus, were angry and tried to take the skin from Atalanta. In his anger,
Meleagros killed his uncles, and Meleager's mother in turn killed him for the murder of her brothers.
After the Calydonian Boar Hunt, Atalanta was rediscovered by her father, King Schoineus. He wanted her to be wed, but Atalanta, uninterested in marriage, agreed to marry only if her suitors could beat her in a foot race. Schoineus agreed to this condition, adding only that any man who failed the challenge be put to death. Many young men died in the attempt to win Atalanta.
Hippomenes (also known as Melanion), a young man enamoured of Atalanta, asked the goddess Aphrodite for her aid. Aphrodite supplied him with three
golden apples from
the garden of the Hesperides. During the race, whenever Atalanta came on the verge of overtaking Hippomenes, he would roll one of these apples across the path, where Atalanta would feel compelled to pick it up, thus slowing her enough for Hippomenes to win both the race and the princess.
Hippomenes and Atalanta had a son, Parthenopaios, who was one of the
Seven against Thebes.
Zeus turned Atalanta and Hippomenes into
lions after they made love 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.
Apollodorus also says Atalanta wrestled and defeated Peleus at the funeral for Pelias.
In some versions of the quest for the
Golden Fleece, Atalanta sailed with the
Argonauts as the only female among them, suffered injury in the battle at
Colchis and was healed by
Medea. Other authors claim
Jason would not allow a woman on the ship.
In Other Works
Handel wrote an opera about the character,
Atalanta
.
Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote his play (in the style of
Greek tragedy)
Atalanta in Calydon
in 1865.
Cartoons
A
feminist interpretation of Atalanta's footrace was included in
Free to Be... You and Me, first released in November 1972, and later in 1974 as a television special. It is presented as the story of a Princess Atalanta, whose father the King wants her to marry. The story highlights Atalanta's role as a feminist figure, where she is a skilled athlete and gifted astronomer. A man known only as 'Young John' ties with Atalanta in the race and is award her hand; however, he refuses the marriage offer, saying that he could not marry her against her will and that he accepted the race solely for the opportunity of getting to know her. John and Atalanta part as friends.
Comic books
In 2000, the
Belgian comic book artist and writer
Crisse (Didier Chrispeels) introduced the first of a series of comic books featuring
Atalanta, who is also abandoned by her father but saved by goddesses and nurtured by a bear. She is adopted by the hunters who killed the bear and becomes well known for her fast running. The series focuses mainly on her adventures with the
Argonauts whom she accompanies as a means of later joining the
Amazons. The series also features
Jason,
Hercules, and other heroes and gods and goddesses of
Greek mythology, though the emphasis is mainly on humour. ()
Atalanta is currently one of the featured characters in the comic
Hecules; the Thracian Wars
from Radical Comics. In this version she is a lesbian acolyte of Artemis, the huntress, and after being defeated by Hippomenes and the three "golden apples" in the legendary foot race and then deflowered, seeks death in order to rejoin Artemis and her fellow acolytes. She kills Hippomenes and joins up with Hercules hoping for an honorable death to be forgiven by Artemis. Other notables include the familiar Meleager,
Autolycus, and
Iolcaus.
In
Peter David's run on
The Incredible Hulk
in the 1990s, there was a character named Atalanta who was a member of a group called The Pantheon. She and other members of this group were descendants of an immortal youth named Agamemnon and were named after characters in Greek mythology. This Atalanta was a brash, confident
warrior-woman. Like the majority of her fellow Pantheon teammates, she had somewhat enhanced strength and agility. Her weapon was a bow that could shoot energy projectiles. She was the unwilling object of affection to a Troyjan (an alien race whose people have no noses) prince named Trauma.
Pop Culture
In the Nintendo Game Boy Advance game,
Golden Sun, and its sequel
Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Atalanta (The heavenly huntress) is a second-level Jupiter element Summon that requires the use of 2 Jupiter Djinn to summon.
In the 1997 Sega Saturn/Sony Playstation
Herc's Adventures, she is a playable character.
A version of Atalanta appears in 3 episodes of
Hercules: the Legendary Journeys
.
Ares
;
Let the Games Begin
; and
If I Had a Hammer
. Played by
Corinna 'Cory' Everson. In this version she is
Spartan and a
blacksmith as well as a superior athlete. An Atalanta action figure was included in the 'Hercules' line.
In the PC game, Poseidon (an expansion pack for
Master Of Olympus - Zeus), the player can summon Atalanta to fulfill quests given to the player by the Gods, namely Artemis. She will say the line "this city is as wonderful as a golden apple," if your city is especially liked.
In the PC/Xbox360/PS3 game Rise of The Argonauts, Atalanta appears as a headstrong huntress who was orphaned at a young age and raised by centaurs on the island of Saria. She joins the crew of the Argo and can assist the player, as Jason, with her archery.
References
- Mythology