Atalanta

Atalanta, the name of two heroines in Greek mythology, often confounded with each other. (1) The Arcadian Atalanta, daughter of Iasus and Clymenc. At her birth she was exposed by her father, who had wished for a son, but she was suckled by a she-bear, and grew up to be a maiden-huntress of marvellous courage and skill. She slew the centaurs who pursued her, afterwards sailed with the Argonauts to Colchis, and took a prominent part in the chase of the Calydonian boar. She had many suitors, but was merciless in the conditions which she imposed on them. Being the swiftest of mortals, she offered to become the wife of him that should outstrip her—the penalty of defeat being death. At length she was conquered through stratagem by Milanion. He obtained from Venus a gift of three golden apples, which he dropped one after another during the race; and Atalanta was so charmed by their beauty, that she could not refrain from stooping to gather them, and so lost the race. They were both metamorphosed into lions for having profaned the sacred grove of Zeus. Her story has been put into poetic form by Swinburne in his Atalanta in Calydon; and the race is the theme of a picture by Poynter. The same story is told of (2) the Bœotian Atalanta, daughter of Sœonus, but her husband was Hippomenes.