| Meleager | |
|---|---|
Prince ofCalydon | |
 | |
| Abode | Calydon |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | Oineus andAlthaea |
| Siblings | Deianira |
| Consort | Atalanta Cleopatra |
| Offspring | Parthenpaios,Polydora |
| Part ofa series on |
| Greek mythology |
|---|
 Theseus slays the Minotaur under the gaze of Athena |
| Deities |
| Heroes and heroism |
| Related |
| Ancient Greece portal Myths portal |
InGreek mythology,Meleager (/ˌmɛliˈeɪɡər/,[1]Ancient Greek:Μελέαγρος,romanized: Meléagros) was ahero venerated in histemenos atCalydon inAetolia. He was already famed as the host of theCalydonian boar hunt in theepic tradition that was reworked byHomer.[2] Meleager is also mentioned as one of theArgonauts.[3]
Meleager was a Calydonian prince as the son ofAlthaea and thevintner KingOeneus[4] or according to some, of the godAres.[5] He was the brother ofDeianeira,Toxeus,Clymenus,Periphas,Agelaus (orAgeleus),Thyreus (orPhereus orPheres),Gorge,Eurymede andMelanippe.[6][7]
Meleager was the father ofParthenopeus byAtalanta[8] but he marriedCleopatra, daughter ofIdas andMarpessa.[9] They had a daughter,Polydora, who became the bride ofProtesilaus, who left her bed on their wedding-night to join the expedition toTroy.
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When Meleager was born, theMoirai (the Fates) predicted he would only live until a piece of wood, then burning in the family hearth, was consumed by fire. Overhearing them, Althaea immediately doused and hid it.[10]
Oeneus sent Meleager to gather up heroes from all over Greece[11] tohunt the Calydonian boar that had been terrorizing the area and rooting up the vines, as Oeneus had omittedArtemis at a festival in which he honored the other gods. In addition to the heroes he required, he choseAtalanta, a fierce huntress, whom he loved.[12] According to one account of the hunt, whenHylaeus and Rhaecus, twocentaurs, tried to rape Atalanta, Meleager killed them. Then Atalanta wounded the boar and Meleager killed it. He awarded her the hide since she had drawn the first drop of blood.
Meleager's unclesToxeus, the "archer",[13] andPlexippus grew enraged that the prize was given to a woman. Meleager killed them in the following argument.[14] He also killedIphicles andEurypylus for insulting Atalanta. When Althaea found out that Meleager had killed her brothers, she placed the piece of wood that she was given by the Fates (the one that the Fates foretold that, once engulfed with fire, would kill Meleager) upon the fire, thus fulfilling the prophecy and killing Meleager, her own son.[15]Meleager's sisters who mourned his death excessively were turned intoguineafowl (meleagrides).[16]
In theunderworld, his was the only shade that did not fleeHeracles, who had come afterCerberus. InBacchylides' Ode V, Meleager is depicted as still in his shining armor, so formidable, in Bacchylides' account, that Heracles reached for his bow to defend himself. Heracles was moved to tears by Meleager's account; Meleager had left his sister[17]Deianira unwedded in his father's house, and entreated Heracles to take her as his bride;[18] hereBacchylides breaks off his account of the meeting, without noting that in this way Heracles in the underworld chooses a disastrous wife.
According toPliny the Elder'sNatural History, Book 37, Chapter 11,Sophocles believed thatamber is produced in the countries beyond India, from the tears that are shed for Meleager, by the birds called "meleagrides".[19]
Among the Romans, the heroes assembled by Meleager for the Calydonian hunt provided a theme of multiple nudes in striking action, to be portrayed frieze-like onsarcophagi.
Meleager's story has similarities with the ScandinavianNorna-Gests þáttr.
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Media related toMeleager at Wikimedia Commons
