Atalanta
Born in Arcadia, Atalanta was abandoned in the woods by her father who had wanted a son. Left alone to die, Atalanta was rescued by a bear and raised by her and her many cubs. Naturally, Atalanta became an exceptional hunter. Later, a group of hunters took her in and helped refine her hunting skills. Atalanta pledged that she would stay forever unmarried and began hunting in the name of the maiden goddess Artemis.
One year, when making his annual sacrifices to the gods, the king of Calydon failed to honor Artemis. To punish the king, the angry goddess sent a great boar to torment his lands. The king called upon the finest hunters in the area to find and kill the boar. Among those hunters was a man named Meleager, whose parents had once received a prophecy from the gods that a single piece of firewood, once it was burned away, would also extinguish his life.
All of the great hunters, including Atalanta, convened to kill the boar. They raced toward the field where the boar was last seen and awaited its next appearance. After about an hour, the beast lumbered into sight and, detecting the human scent, stared directly at them. Atalanta, armed with a bow, shot straight and true directly at the boar’s hind, drawing the first blood. Encouraged by this sign of weakness, the rest of the hunters charged the boar with swords and knives. The boar fought back ferociously, impaling many hunters with its massive tusks. But so many blades wore down the beast, and with one final strike, Meleager brought down the boar.
After taking a break, they decided to skin the boar and award it to the hunter most deserving. Meleager, who had organized the group and had ultimately killed the boar, was advocating that the boar skin be rewarded to Atalanta for drawing first blood. However, Meleager’s uncles who had also participated in the hunt disagreed. Before long, a fight broke out, resulting in the death of the uncles. Upon hearing this news, Meleager’s mother-- who had been guarding the sacred firewood that held Meleager’s life-- was enraged. In an act of anger and resentment, she tossed the firewood into the fire, burning it away and killing her son.
As word spread of the famous boar hunt, Atalanta’s fame grew. Her father, who had abandoned her as a child, suddenly wanted in on the fame and demanded that she get married. Wanting no business with her father, Atalanta argued, but as he was still her father, she reluctantly agreed. Atalanta, who was still a sworn maiden and confident in her own abilities, conditioned that the suitor must beat her in a foot race.
All of the men in the area heard about the race and gathered at the track in hopes of winning Atalanta’s hand. Sometimes, if Atalanta was feeling especially brazen, she would give her suitor a head start, and upon catching up, she would take a spear and kill the unfortunate man.
A man named Hippomenes knew that he was not the fastest man but desperately wanted to be with Atalanta, so he prayed to the goddess Aphrodite for assistance. The goddess, excited about the prospect of creating a new relationship, offered the young man three golden apples.
“As you are running, and Atalanta is catching up to you, toss one behind your back. It will distract her and she will be forced to pick it up. You have three tries. Good luck.” With that, the goddess disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The race began, and Hippomenes took off running. The roar of the crowd indicated that Atalanta was drawing near, so a quarter of the way around the track, Hippomenes tossed one of the apples behind him. As he rounded the corner, he could see Atalanta, confused, chasing after the apple; once she retrieved it, she snapped out of her daze and continued the race, apple in hand. Once again, Atalanta began to catch up with him, so he tossed the second apple. This time, Atalanta recovered the apple more quickly and ended up right behind him. In the home stretch, as they were neck and neck, Hippomenes tossed the last apple as far back as he could, leaving him the clear winner of the race and of Atalanta’s hand.