Atalanta
Atalanta | |
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Princess of Melanion) | |
Offspring | Parthenopaeus |
Atalanta (/ˌætəˈlæntə/; Greek: Ἀταλάντη, translit. Atalántē, lit. "equal in weight") is a heroine in Greek mythology.
There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia,[1] whose parents were Iasus and Clymene[2][3] and who is primarily known from the tales of the Calydonian boar hunt and the Argonauts;[4] and the other from Boeotia, who is the daughter of King Schoeneus[5][6] and is primarily noted for her skill in the footrace.[5] In both versions, Atalanta was a local figure allied to the goddess Artemis;[7] in such oral traditions, minor characters were often assigned different names, resulting in minor regional variations.[8]
Mythology
Early life
At birth, Atalanta was taken to Mount Parthenion to be exposed because her father had desired a son.[3] 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.[1] Atalanta then grew up to be a swift-footed virgin who eschewed men and devoted herself to the huntress Artemis.[3]
Atalanta modelled herself after Artemis, wearing a simple sleeveless
The voyage of the Argonauts
Atalanta is only occasionally mentioned in the legend of the Argonauts;[8][9] 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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]
After the death of King Pelias in Iolcus, funeral games were held in which Atalanta defeated Peleus in a wrestling match.[3] This match became a popular subject in Greek art.[7]
The Calydonian boar hunt
In an annual celebration,
During the hunt
Footrace
According to
Atalanta bore a son,
Metamorphoses into lions
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[6] or Rhea.[16] They were turned into lions for their sacrilege by either Artemis (angered by Atalanta losing her virginity), the goddess Cybele, or Zeus himself.[3] 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".[6][9]
This view has been criticized, however. In her book The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World, Adrienne Mayor argues there is no evidence to support the notion that the Ancient Greeks believed male and female lions could not engage in sexual intercourse. Rather, Mayor contends the transformation of Atalanta and her lover into lions occurred at a moment of emotional and sexual bliss, which can be interpreted as divine sympathy for a couple who defied traditional Greek
Modern
The Italian
The English football club Huddersfield Atalanta Ladies F.C. 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.[22][23] 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.[24]
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."[25]
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 Caledonian boar hunt and the tales of her skill in the footrace.[26]
Gallery
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Oil painting of Atalanta and Meleager hunting the Calydonian boar (Jan Fyt, 1648). The Ringling, Bequest of John Ringling, 1936.
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Meleager presenting Atalante the head of the Calydonian Boar in 16th century alabaster, Bode Museum.
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Landscape painting of the hunt. Jan Wildens, 17th century.
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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).
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Meleager Presenting the Head of the Caledonian Boar to Atalanta at the Temple of Artemis. M. Maurice Stora (1530–1535).
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Atalanta and Meleager hunting the Calydonian boar. Woodcut by Giovanni Battista Palumba, print in the British Museum.
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Meleager and Atalante. Jacob Jordaens (1620–1650), Museo Nacional del Prado.
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The Race between Atalanta and Hippomenes. Nicolas Colombel (1644–1717), Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna.
Explanatory notes
Citations
- ^ a b c d "Aelian: Various Histories. Book XIII, Ch. 1". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ a b c d e "CALLIMACHUS, HYMNS 1-3 - Theoi Classical Texts Library, HYMN 3". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-20. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "APOLLODORUS, THE LIBRARY BOOK 3.9.2 - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-20. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "APOLLODORUS, THE LIBRARY BOOK 1.8.2-3, Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-20. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ a b c d e f "HESIOD, CATALOGUES OF WOMEN FRAGMENTS, FRAGMENT 14 - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-20. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Hyginus, Fabulae. 173-174 and 185". topostext.org. Archived from the original on 2018-08-26. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ JSTOR 4104327.
- ^ JSTOR 43609443.
- ^ JSTOR 25011031.
- ^ "Apollodorus, Library, book 1, chapter 9, section 16". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
- ^ "DIODORUS SICULUS, LIBRARY OF HISTORY BOOK 4.48.5 - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-20. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ "APOLLONIUS RHODIUS, ARGONAUTICA BOOK 1.768 - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-20. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ "PHILOSTRATUS THE YOUNGER, IMAGINES 13 - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2008-07-05. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ "OVID, METAMORPHOSES 8.300 - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ "Pausanias, Description of Greece, Arcadia, chapter 45, section 2". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ a b c d e "OVID, METAMORPHOSES 10.560-681 - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ "Pausanias, Description of Greece, Elis 1, chapter 19, section 2". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
- ^ "AESCHYLUS, SEVEN AGAINST THEBES, 526 - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-20. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ "DIODORUS SICULUS, LIBRARY OF HISTORY BOOK 4.65-7 - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-20. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- JSTOR j.ctt7zvndm.5.
- ^ Munday, Billy (9 March 2020). "Behind the badge: the story of Atalanta's logo". thesefootballtimes.co. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- ^ Powers, Janis (26 October 2013) [26 August 2013]. "Atalanta and the No-Choice Generation". The Blog. HuffPost. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
- ^ "The History of Free to Be You and Me: As Remembered by Marlo Thomas, Carole Hart, Stephen Lawrence and Letty Cottin Pogrebin". The Free to Be Foundation. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
- ^ Penguin Books (2017). Emily Hauser: For the Winner. Penguin Books. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-7207-1856-0.
- ^ Saint, Jennifer 2023, Atalanta, Wildfire, London.
General and cited sources
- Aelian: Various Histories. Book XIII. Translated by Thomas Stanley,
- Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, Suppliants, Seven Against Thebes. Translation by Vellacott, P. The Penguin Classics. London. Penguin Books
- Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology. Translation by Aldrich, Keith. Lawrence, Kansas: Coronado Press, 1975.
- Apollodorus, The Library. English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Includes Frazer's notes.
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. Translation by Rieu, E. V. The Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books.
- Barringer, Judith M. (1996). "Atalanta as Model: The Hunter and the Hunted". Classical Antiquity. 15 (1): 48–76. JSTOR 25011031.
- Boardman, John (1983). "Atalanta". Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies. 10: 3–19. JSTOR 4104327.
- Callimachus, Hymns & Epigrams. Translation by Mair, A. W. & Mair, G. R. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. Translation by Oldfather, C. H. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 303, 377. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press.
- Hesiod, The Homeric Hymns, Translation by Evelyn-White, H. G. Loeb Classical Library Vol 57. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
- Howell, Reet A.; Howell, Maxwell L. (1989). "The Atalanta Legend in Art and Literature". Journal of Sport History. 16 (2): 127–139. JSTOR 43609443.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses. Translation by Melville, A. D
- Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus, translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies, no. 34. https://topostext.org/work/206
- Pausanias. Description of Greece. English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.
- Philostratus Elder, Philostratus Younger, Callistratus. Translation by Fairbanks, A. Loeb Classical Library Vol 256. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Further reading
- Bolen, Jean Shinoda. Artemis: The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman, Conari Press, 2014.
- Faraone, C. A. (1990). "Aphrodite's ΚΕΣΤΟΣ and Apples for Atalanta: Aphrodisiacs in Early Greek Myth and Ritual". Phoenix. 44 (3): 219–243. JSTOR 1088934.
- Mathews, Richard (1971). "Heart's Love and Heart's Division: The Quest for Unity in "Atalanta in Catydon"". Victorian Poetry. 9 (1/2): 35–48. JSTOR 40001587.
- Reid, Heather (1 September 2020). "Plato on women in sport". Journal of the Philosophy of Sport. 47 (3): 344–361. S2CID 225230978.
- JSTOR 3257236.
External links
- Atalanta—World History Encyclopedia
- Atalanta, a summary at the Theoi Project
- Classical sculpture head of either Hygieia or Atalanta, a replica from the Louvre.
- Atalanta and Hippomenes art collection, National Museum of Scotland.
- The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Atalanta)