King Oeneus of Calydon married Althaea, but she lay with the god Ares and gave birth to Meleager. Shortly after the child was born the Fates visited Althaea, warning her that if a certain log on the fire was burned Meleager would die. Althaea hurried to rescue the log and stored it safely away. In time Meleager became an unbeatable warrior and an expert with the javelin.
King Oeneus neglected to honor Artemis one summer as he was sacrificing the first fruits of his harvest to the Olympians. To avenge herself Artemis sent a gigantic boar to ravage Calydon. The animal succeeded in destroying the crops and killing Oeneus' cattle and men. To rid himself of the boar Oeneus sent out word that he needed hunters to slay the beast, and that the one who triumphed would be rewarded with its tusks and pelt. Heroes showed up from many parts of Greece, among them Jason, Theseus, Nestor, Castor and Polydeuces. Yet one who turned up was a woman, Atalanta, who was as good at tracking and killing game as any man in the party. Artemis was her protectress. The goddess had sent the young huntress as a source of contention.
Atalanta had beauty, toughness, and competence. Her life had not been easy. When she was born her father exposed her on a mountain to die in his disappointment at not having a son. She had been nursed by a she-bear and raised by a family of hunters. Artemis had chosen well in sending her to the Calydonian boar hunt, for she proved a great source of trouble.
Although he had a wife, Meleager fell passionately in love with her. Atalanta was a woman after his own heart. Some of the hunters refused to join in the hunt because of her presence, but Meleager managed to persuade them to stay. The group flushed the boar from its lair. Two men were killed in the onrush of the beast, and another died from a javelin that missed its mark. Atalanta struck the boar with an arrow, but Meleager finally killed it with two javelins.
In a gesture of gallantry Meleager awarded the pelt and tusks to Atalanta, who gladly accepted them. However, two of Meleager's uncles objected to this disgraceful act, since Atalanta had not killed the boar and because she was only a woman. In a rage Meleager killed the two uncles. But two other uncles raised a fighting force against Meleager, who killed them too. Meleager's mother, Althaea, became infuriated at the death of her brothers all because of a coarse, mannish girl. She took the log she had rescued from the fire years before and proceeded to burn it. Meleager felt himself devoured from within and died in agony.
Having obtained the trophies of the hunt, Atalanta went to her father's home to be reconciled to him, having proved herself the equal of men. Her father insisted that she marry, but Atalanta set the conditions. She would only marry a man who could beat her in a footrace. Since she was swifter than any young man, she could easily preserve her virginity. In addition, however, she would kill anyone who failed to beat her. A number of suitors died at her hands. But one Melanion requested help from Aphrodite, who gave him three golden apples and told him to roll each one in Atalanta's path as she gained on him. Aphrodite, after all, had no use for a woman who scorned to love. Atalanta looked stunning in her nudity, for in Greece races were run without clothes. Melanion, each time he saw Atalanta passing him, threw a golden apple in her way. She stopped to pick each one up, and in this manner Melanion won the race and gained her for his wife. Later Melanion persuaded her to make love in a place sacred to Zeus, and for this impiety Zeus changed the pair into lions.
