{"id":1302,"date":"2019-10-21T12:09:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T11:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/?post_type=heroes&p=1302"},"modified":"2023-08-19T10:18:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T09:18:22","slug":"atlanta","status":"publish","type":"heroes","link":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/heroes\/atlanta\/","title":{"rendered":"Atalanta – Ancient Greek Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Atalanta was a huntress and a favorite of the goddess Artemis<\/a>. She was one of the few female heroes in Greek mythology<\/a>, and is first mentioned in \u201cCatalogues of Women,\u201d a poem believed to have been written by Hesiod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atalanta had a number of adventures. She took part in the Calydonian boar hunt. The king of Calydon<\/a>, Oineus, neglected to make a sacrifice to Artemis, who got angry and sent a gigantic boar to terrorize the kingdom. Oineus sent messengers throughout Greece begging aid from the best hunters and warriors in the country. Atalanta naturally decided to take part \u2013 as did Oineus, son Meleager<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as he saw Atalanta, Meleager fell in love with her. During the hunt, Atalanta drew first blood, and Meleager slew the boar. He wanted to give the skin to Atalanta, but that angered many of the men, including two of Meleager\u2019s uncles. They tried to take the skin from Atalanta, and Meleager angrily killed them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More facts about Atalanta<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 When Atalanta was born, her father, Iasus, was extremely disappointed she wasn\u2019t a boy \u2013 and abandoned her on a mountain to die.

\u2022 A female bear found Atalanta and nursed her for a while, until some hunters found the girl and raised her as their own.

\u2022 Atalanta became a huntress herself and soon found favor with Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.

\u2022 When two centaurs<\/a> tried to kidnap Atalanta, she fought and killed them.

\u2022 Atalanta vowed to remain a virgin to keep Artemis\u2019 favor.

\u2022 Some stories say Atalanta was one of the Argonauts<\/a> and helped Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece<\/a>; she was the only female Argonaut.

\u2022 Other stories say Jason<\/a> refused to take her, or that Atalanta decided not to go.

\u2022 Atalanta defeated Peleus<\/a>, who would one day be the father of Achilles, in a wrestling match held at the funeral games for Pelias.

\u2022 Atalanta\u2019s father was impressed by her deeds, and he sought her out.

\u2022 The two reconciled, and Iasus invited Atalanta to stay at his palace.

\u2022 He imposed one condition: She had to get married.

\u2022 Atalanta agreed \u2013 but her husband had to beat her in a footrace first.

\u2022 Atalanta was famous for her speed; racing her would be like racing Usain Bolt.

\u2022 One man, Hippomenes, prayed to the goddess of love Aphrodite<\/a> for help.

\u2022 Aphrodite gave Hippomenes three enchanted golden apples, that he used to distract Atalanta during the race.

\u2022 Atalanta and Hippomenes married and had a son named Parthenopaios.

\u2022 Hippomenes forgot to honor Aphrodite<\/a>, and she put a curse on him and Atalanta that compelled them to make love in a temple.

\u2022 The temple may have belonged to Zeus<\/a>, Rhea<\/a>, or Artemis, and the angry deity turned the couple into lions.

\u2022 The ancient Greeks believed that lions couldn\u2019t mate with each other but only with leopards.

\u2022 Turning Atalanta and Hippomenes into lions would thus make sure they could not make love ever again<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atalanta was a huntress and a favorite of the goddess Artemis. She was one of the few female heroes in Greek mythology, and is first mentioned in \u201cCatalogues of Women,\u201d a poem believed to have been written by Hesiod. Atalanta had a number of adventures. She took part in the Calydonian boar hunt. The king […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4339,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/heroes\/1302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/heroes"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/heroes"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1302"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/heroes\/1302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4342,"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/heroes\/1302\/revisions\/4342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greekgodsandgoddesses.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}