ATALANTA  , in

Greek legend, the name of two Greek heroines . (1) The Arcadian Atalanta was the daughter of Iasius or Iasion and Clymene . At her birth, she had been exposed on a hill, her father having expected a son . At first she was suckled by a she-bear, and then saved by huntsmen, among whom she grew up to be skilled with the bow, swift, and fond of the chase, like the virgin goddess Artemis . At the Calydonian boar-hunt her arrows were the first to hit the monster, for which its head and hide were given her by Meleager . At the funeral games of Pelias, she wrestled with Peleus, and won . For a long time she remained true to Artemis and rejected all suitors, but Meilanion at last gained her love by his persistent devotion . She was the mother of Parthenopaeus, one of the Seven against Thebes (Apollodorus 9 ; Hyginus, Fab . 99) . (2) The Boeotian Atalanta was the daughter of Schoeneus . She was famed for her running, and would only consent to marry a suitor who could outstrip her in a race, the consequence of failure being death . Hippomenes, before starting, had obtained from Aphrodite three golden apples, which he dropped at intervals, and Atalanta, stopping to pick them up, fell behind .

Both were happy at the result; but forgetting to thank the goddess for the apples, they were led by her to a religious

crime, and were transformed into lions by the goddess Cybele (Ovid, Metam. x . 56o; Hyginus, Fab . 185) . The characteristics of these two heroines (frequently confounded) point to their being secondary forms of the Arcadian Artemis .