Atalanta



Atlanta was a character in Greek mythology. I Her father left her on top of a mountain to die because he wanted a son. However, lady luck smiled on the baby Atalanta and a She-bear came to take care of her and breast feed her until some hunters found her and raised her.

Atalanta grew up to become a beautiful and strong woman. Being raised among hunters, she became a fierce hunter herself and was a very strong willed woman. She was always happy and was said to take an oath of virginity to the goddess Artemis. Once, two centaurs, Rhoecus and Hylaeus, tried to rape her. She killed them.

 Atalanta was also mentioned to have joined the quest for the Golden Fleece, although there are some sources that say that Atalanta was not allowed to join because Jason forbade women to join.

Atalanta also joined the hunt for the Calydonian wild boar. She was, however, disdained by the men in the hunt because they were insulted for having a woman join. But, since Meleager, who was quite an important guy, lusted for Atalanta, she was able to stay and take part in the hunt. She was, even, the one to first strike the wild boar with an arrow. When the boar was killed, Meleager offered the bear skin to Atalanta, this would cause great turmoil within their group and in the end led to the death of Meleager's brothers and Meleager himself.



Because of Atalanta's beauty, she was sought after by many men. However, because of her oath of virginity. She resisted their courtship. Instead, in order for a man to marry Atalanta, he had to beat her in a a race involving physical strength. However, should the man lose to Atalanta, the punsishment would be death. Many men were cruelly killed because none of them could defeat Atalanta. However, Melanion asked help from Aphrodite and was given 3 golden apples. Using the golden apples, he distracted Atalanta to slow her down and therefore win the race. So they got married.

Once day, Melanion and Atalanta were at the temple. Suddenly, Melanion felt a rush of desire for Atalanta. So they made love there. This angered Zeus so he turned them into lions (who couldn't mate with other lions)