Atalanta

The Boeotian Atalante. About her the same stories are related as about the Arcadian Atalanta, except that her parentage and the localities are described differently. Thus she is said to have been a daughter of Schoeneus, and to have been married to Hippomenes. Her footrace is transferred to the Boeotian Onchestus, and the sanctuary which the newly married couple profaned by their love, was a temple of Cybele, who metamorphosed them into lions, and yoked them to her chariot.1

In both traditions the main cause of the metamorphosis is, that the husband of Atalante neglected to thank Aphrodite for the gift of the golden apples.

Atalante has in the ancient poets various surnames or epithets, which refer partly to her descent, partly to her occupation (the chase), and partly to her swiftness.

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References

Notes

  1. Ovid. Metamorphoses x, 565 ff., viii, 318 ff.; Hyginus. Fabulae, 185.

Source

  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.