Heroic Qualities/ Flaws QualitiesFlaws Confident.Didn’t know love. Achieved enough that her father forgave her for not being a son and let her come home. She had a lot of male qualities. Valued her freedom over everything. Resisted marrying Athletic, good hunter, Independent, Unrivalled beauty. Didn’t have princess qualities.

Infancy- Abandoned by her father in the mountains to get eaten by wolves because she wasn’t a son like he wanted. She was then nursed And nurtured by a bear. Childhood- Nursed by one of Artermis’s bears. Found by a hunter, and then raised by him. Fighting centaurs- Rhoecus and Hylaeus attempted to rape her, she quickly killed them with her arrows.

Meleager: Son of Calydon and Althaea. At a young age, he came to be regarded as second only to Heracles in his abilities. Was brave and noble Was married to Cleopatra and had a daughter Polydora. He naturally took a leading role in killing the boar during what became known as the Calydonian Boar Hunt which lead to his death.

Quest: Calydonian boar hunt Atalanta joined Meleager and others to go on the hunt for a boar. Many of the men were angry that a woman was joining them on this hunt but Meleager persuaded them to include her. Atalanta was a big contribute to this hunt, her shooting skills allowed her to draw first blood which helped Meleager in the final kill of the boar. As a reward Meleager, who was at the time in love with Atalanta, gave the boars head to her which made his uncles very mad. As a result Meleager killed his uncles which led to his mom killing him. His mother burns the magic stick from the Fates visit, as predicted Meleager dies.

Task: Foot Race After the Calydonian boar hunt, Atalanta was rediscovered by her father. He wanted her to be married, but Atalanta, uninterested in marriage, said she would marry someone who could beat her in a Footrace. Hippomenes was the first to win the race. He had asked Aphrodite for help before the race. She gave him three golden apples to slow Atalanta down. The apples were irresistible, where if Atalanta got ahead of him, Hippomenes would just roll an apple in front of her which she would then immediately chase after. Because of this tactic, Hippomenes won the footrace and then married Atalanta. They eventually had a son; Parthenopaios who was one of the seven against Thebes. Zues/Hera turned Atalanta and Hippomenes into lions after they made love together in one of his temples.

Atalanta’s Apperence: Atalanta was a great and famous huntress. She was exposed by her father in the wilderness at birth, but was suckled by a she-bear and afterwards found and raised by hunters. She swore To defend her virginity in which she kept to that promise, Killing anyone who tried to rape her/take her virginity. Due to the environment She was raised in, it affected a lot of her qualities, she had many boyish aspects such as her athleticism and her ability to hunt. Before her Race, she looked beautiful.

Major Archetypes: o Earth Mother- The bear; who nursed her o Supernatural Intervention- Aphrodite- how she gave Hippomenes the golden apples saying it the only way to win the race against Atalanta. o The innocent- Atalanta; When she was young she grew up with bears and when she got older she was raised by hunters~ She only knew the way of life of hunters and bears, she didn’t know anything different. o Trickster- Hippomenes; he used golden apples to win the race so she would marry him.

Motifs/Themes: Motif~ Beauty- The beauty of Atalanta was like a common trait in myths and legends, beauty seems to stick with the good side, because its easy to understand and associate beauty with good, and ugly with evil. Theme~ Love conquers all- Throughout the myth, you see and understand the unwilling attitude Atalanta had towards getting married. She didn’t want any change in her life and was sure marriage would change a lot of things about her life, for example her independence. But towards the end, after Hippomenes and Atalanta had the race and he won, she opened herself up to fall in love and get married.

Atalanta’s~ Summary Atalanta was a brave, athletic girl who was very passionate. She refused to give up her virginity. As an infant, her father was disappointed she was a girl and not a boy so her took her in the mountains and left her there stranded. She, from then on was raised and nurtured by a motherly bear. As she got older and more mature, she was found by a hunter and then raised by him. Atalanta became a very good hunter and she was the fastest runner in Greece. With that being known a man, Meleager who had a lust for Atalanta, invited her to play a role in the boar hunt. She was a major contribute to the hunt being the first to strike to boar leading to its final kill. She was rewarded with the boars head which lead to the death of Meleager. After the hunt, she was reunited with her father. He wanted her to get married and she agreed to marry anyone that could beat her in a footrace. She got beat by a man, Hippomenes, which used golden apples that were irresistible to win the race. They then got married and eventually had a son. Later on both Atalanta and Hippomenes got turned into lions. Throughout this myth you see how Atalanta did not stick to the female role, she ended up getting married, which goes against her what seemed to be, positive decision of never getting married

Lessons of the myth: Males are Superior- At the beginning of the story, Atalanta’s father was disappointed that she was not a male. So he took her and left her in the mountains to die. This example shows how superior males are at the time. Another example is during the boar hunt, those who were hunting were all males and they were against the fact that a female was joining and helping them. Enjoy your Freedom-She loved the freedom she had, She did not want to change her life. She wanted things to stay just the way they were, which is why she was so hesitant to get married. Marriage does not limit you- After marriage, Atalanta found being married doesn’t change who you are. She still had the same qualities and intrests as before marriage. Most Important: In the end the female cannot avoid her fate: to get married.