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Artemis
The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman
By JEAN SHINODA BOLEN Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
Copyright © 2014 Jean Shinoda Bolen
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-60925-811-5
CHAPTER 1
Atalanta the Myth
Stories often change with the telling and the point of view of the storyteller. In Greek mythology, there were two versions of Atalanta's origins as a famous hunter from either Arcadia (as told by Apollodorus) or Boetia (as told by Hesiod). In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Greek myths were assembled and retold in Latin verse. I describe Atalanta as being from Arcadia because it is in this version that we get the account of her birth and how she was abandoned and suckled by a bear.
Atalanta is also mentioned as wanting to enlist with Jason and the Argonauts on their search for the Golden Fleece. She is refused because her presence as a woman among men would be disruptive—the same argument that was used to keep women from serving in the military until recently. This didn't stop Atalanta, however, as told by classical scholar Robert Graves (The Golden Fleece, 1944). Graves describes how, as the Argo casts off, Atalanta jumps aboard and, invoking the protection of Artemis (for her virginity), joins the heroes. In another vignette, when two centaurs try to rape her, she kills them with her arrows.
I have taken liberties as a storyteller to combine elements from separate myths in which Atalanta is mentioned, adding some embellishments. For example, when I tell how the bear finds her, I incorporate Bernard Evslin's version of how she and Meleager meet (Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths, 1968). I tell of her return to Arcadia after the hunt for the boar to provide continuity between the hunt and the footrace. Here is the story as I tell it.
The Myth of Atalanta
In the kingdom of Arcadia, the king is eagerly awaiting the birth of his first-born. When the new baby proves not to be the son and heir he expects, he vents his anger on his unwanted daughter and orders a shepherd to take her to a nearby mountain and leave her there to die of exposure or an attack by a wild animal. Atalanta begins her life unwanted and rejected. But what was intended as the end of her life in fact turns out to be an unusual beginning.
The shepherd does as he is told. He takes the baby and places her among the rocks on the mountain. Atalanta wails; she is hungry, wet, and cold. Her cries attract a mother bear whose den is somewhere nearby. Whether out of curiosity or maternal instinct, the bear investigates and sniffs the baby. Atalanta grasps the fur of the bear and the human infant and mother bear bond. The mother bear takes the baby to her den, suckles her, and keeeps her warm. It was said that the goddess Artemis sent the bear.
Bear cubs are small and helpless when they are born. Like human babies, they cannot survive without maternal care. They grow to adulthood faster than human babies, however, so Atalanta is raised with a succession of cubs as siblings. In another version of the tale, when she is able to walk, she is found by hunters who raise her and teach her to hunt and speak.
Meleager
At about the same time that Atalanta is born, in the neighboring kingdom of Calydon, another king eagerly awaits the birth of his first-born. It is a boy! The son is named Meleager and his birth is greeted with festivities and celebration.
Shortly after Meleager is born, an unusual visitor—Atropos, one of the three Fates—calls upon Meleager's mother. A blazing fire heats the room in which the queen receives her guest. Atropos goes to the fireplace, stands on the hearth, and points to a log that is burning on one end. She says: "Do you see this? As long as it remains unconsumed, your son will live!" The queen leaps up, grasps the log, and smothers the flames. She then wraps it up, locks it in a brass chest, and hides the chest and the secret away. Meleager's life (or death) has been put into his mother's hands.
Meleager grows to manhood, raised to someday become king. Tutors teach him what he is expected to know to fill this role. His mother concentrates on finding him a suitable wife. Meleager spends as little time as he can in the castle. He prefers to be in the forests and wilderness of Calydon. Every so often, his mother insists that he meet an eligible young woman from a suitable family. Time and time again, the matchmaking fails. Meleager isn't interested in soft, frilly, feminine, simpering girls with whom he has nothing in common. "Find me a girl," he says, "who can join me in the outdoors, who can be my companion."
Atalanta and Meleager
One day when Meleager is out hunting, he hears the sound of a large animal and sees that it is a bear—a worthy trophy for him. With his strong arm and bow, he sends an arrow into the bear, wounding it badly, but not fatally. The bear, in pain and loosing blood, instinctively goes in the direction of its den, away from Calydon. Meleager follows, intent on bringing the bear down. The bear plunges through the brush and trees, hour after hour, mile after mile, losing blood and getting weaker as the day goes on. Finally, at the foothill of a mountain, the bear collapses.
Meleager has just caught up with the bear, when he sees a woman coming down the mountain toward him. He is immediately enthralled. She is everything that the girls he knows at court are not. She is as beautiful as any creature in nature—sun-tanned, longhaired, long-limbed, graceful, athletic—his dream girl!
"I am Meleager," he tells her. "I killed this bear, and I will give his pelt to you as a trophy!"
"I am Atalanta," she replies. "That bear is my brother, and now I will kill you!"
Atalanta rushes at him with killing on her mind. But Meleager, now smitten, has love on his. They are evenly matched and it seems as if they wrestle for hours.
Outdoors in the mountain air, with the smell of crushed grasses under them, both perspire as they wrestle, skin to skin. Atalanta's focus shifts to being in this totally new experience. This is the first time she has wrestled with a human being like herself—the first time she has felt skin rather than fur. The embrace begins with her wanting to kill Meleager, and him holding her to prevent it. As they struggle in this embrace, however, new feelings and curiosity arise in her.
However it happens, Meleager and Atalanta become a couple. Soon they become famous. Seen hunting together, they are a handsome pair, each as striking as the other in appearance and in skill. Meleager's mother seethes when she learns about the relationship. Atalanta is totally inappropriate for her son! She is truly a nobody, a rustic with no known family, and totally without social graces. Definitely not a proper young woman to become queen someday.
Meanwhile, the king has a major problem on his hands—a huge boar sent to devastate his kingdom by an outraged goddesss. He brought this on his kingdom by neglecting to honor Artemis in the yearly rites. Meleager's new girlfriend is probably not as much of a concern to him as the destruction caused by this creature.
The Hunt for the Calydon Boar
The boar is enormous. With its sharp curved tusks and its huge feet, it rages through fields, destroying crops and trampling domesticated animals and people who can not get out of its way. It destroys villages and threatens the whole countryside. Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, fashioned the boar out of mud and gave it life in retaliation against the king who neglected her while making sacrifices to other divinities. Although this is the usual reason given for her wrath, however, another cause may be the awe that people feel toward Atalanta, a mere human. When they look at Atalanta as if she were Artemis, this offends the goddess.
Regardless of the cause, the boar has to be dealt with. The king invites the heroes of Greece to gain honor and reward for themselves by hunting it. Among those who answer the challenge are many of the heroes who went with Jason as Argonauts and later took part in the Trojan War.
The heroes assemble prior to the hunt. The last to arrive are Meleager and Atalanta. The other hunters are scandalized. Even though she is now a famous hunter, how dare a woman join the hunt! There is muttering among the men, with Meleager's uncles speaking aloud against having Atalanta there, using demeaning words. Meleager rises to her defense, draws his sword, and challenges them. Cooler heads prevail and all are reminded that they are, after all, there to kill the boar.
It is a large hunting party of very strong, wily men, each wanting fame and reward for taking down the boar. Some are slashed or gored or trampled in the attempt. The canny boar takes its stand in a place where hunters can not act as a group, but have to attack the boar singly or in pairs. None of them succeed in even wounding the animal, because the boar's pelt is impervious to arrows and spears.
No one draws blood, until Atalanta faces the boar. The boar charges straight at her, its razor-sharp tusks now covered with blood, its massive weight bearing down upon her. Atalanta's bowstring is taut, her arrow at the ready, her eye steady. The boar is almost to her when, with unerring aim, she sends an arrow through one of its eyes, penetrating its brain. It staggers, but is not dead. Now it is Meleager's turn to act. He takes his sword and delivers the death blow.
The boar is dead! Meleager has the right to the pelt, but, instead of claiming it for himself, he gives it to Atalanta. This is truly an important trophy and there is resentment among the others that a woman should have it. It isn't just that it is a symbol of a major heroic achievement that will bring fame to the one who possesses it. This pelt can be made into a garment that is flexible, warm, and impervious to spear and arrow. There could be no better armor.
Meleager's uncles are enraged. Such a prize should not go to a woman! If Meleager doesn't want it for himself, then, they—as his male relatives—should have it and not Atalanta! They speak against her. One of them attempts to snatch the pelt from her. Meleager responds with his drawn sword, lopping off first this uncle's head and then the other's; silencing all protest.
Now it is time to return to the castle with news of the death of the boar. All but Atalanta and Meleager tramp back to the castle, where the king and queen await them. The returning hunters come back with good news—the boar is dead. And then comes the bad news—Meleager has killed his uncles, the queen's brothers.
The queen now learns that Atalanta shot the arrow that drew first blood and Meleager then killed the boar and gave the trophy to her. Then she learns how Meleager was provoked by his uncles' insulting words and their disrespect to Atalanta, and how he killed them. This is too much for her. Maddened by this news, the queen goes to where she hid the locked chest. She opens it and takes out the log given to her by Atropos. Then she orders the servants to build a fire—and throws the log in.
The Death of Meleager
Atalanta and Meleager do not return to the castle after the hunt. They stay with each other where they are most at home, in the wilderness of the forest and hills. They are in each other's arms when, suddenly, Meleager makes a horrible sound and, clutching his abdomen, cries out in pain. Then his torso blackens as if burned, his face turns ashen, and he dies.
Atalanta grieves for him. Nature is her only solace. She weeps and wanders for weeks in the forest and glades. Then, one day, she realizes that she must leave this place that reminds her of Meleager and their time together. With him gone, there is nothing here to hold her and no one who matters.
And so, she leaves Calydon and travels through forests and over hills toward Arcadia.
The Footrace and the Golden Apples
Meanwhile, the fame of Atalanta has traveled to the neighboring kingdom. The heroes who return from the Calydon hunt tell about her beauty and prowess as a hunter. When Atalanta arrives home, her description and fame have preceded her. The king welcomes her and, perhaps from her story or appearance, realizes that she is the daughter that he ordered exposed on the mountain years before. In the intervening years, he has not had a son and heir. Now he recognizes Atalanta as his daughter—a daughter more accomplished and famous than any son he might have had.
Atalanta is now not only beautiful and famous; but she is also an heiress to a kingdom. This makes her very marriageable. After many suitors turn up, her father demands that she must marry one of them for the sake of the kingdom.
Atalanta doesn't want to marry anyone. When her father insists, she finally agrees, but only under one condition. The man she marries must be able to beat her in a footrace. And if he loses the race, he must forfeit his life.
Many men, thinking they can beat her, accept this challenge. But Atalanta is swift and wins race after race. Men come from afar, lose to her, and forfeit their lives.
Finally, only one man remains to race her—Hippomenes, a most unlikely suitor. All of the other men who accepted the challenge thought that by beating Atalanta they would acquire a kingdom and a famous and beautiful wife. Hippomenes, on the other hand, knows he can not win the race. He is not a heroic figure; he is not particularly strong or swift as a runner. Nonetheless, he intends to enter the race. He has followed Atalanta from Calydon. He knows of her love for and loss of Meleager and has compassion for what happened. In short, he loves her.
On the evening before the race, Hippomenes prays to Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty. He prays that Atalanta may love him and for there to be a way for him to win her. All the others who had lost the race (and their lives) had prayed to other gods to be able to overcome and possess her. Some prayed to Hermes for speed, others to Zeus to overpower her, others to Ares for strength to beat her.
Aphrodite hears Hippomenes' prayers and appears to him with three golden apples and some advice. On awakening, he thinks it was all a dream—until he sees the three apples.
The next morning, Atalanta stands at the starting line waiting for Hippomenes to arrive. She has noticed him before, and wished that he would not race her, since the outcome is inevitable. He is no match for her as a runner.
Hippomenes arrives clutching his arms around his waistband, holding the three golden apples out of sight. This strikes Atalanta as peculiar, and then it reminds her of how Meleager clutched his abdomen just before he died in her arms. She goes into a reverie, taking her mind off the race. So when the signal to start is given, Hippomenes runs as fast as he can, but Atalanta is not prepared. Startled by the realization that the race has begun, she runs to catch up. As she draws even with Hippomenes, he drops a golden apple. The rolling motion of the apple catches her eye and reminds her of how the heads had rolled when Meleager came to her defense.
The apple is irresistible. Its golden glow and beauty draw her and she has to stop to pick it up. She gazes at it and sees a reflection of her own face, distorted by the curves of the apple.
Meanwhile, Hippomenes races ahead. Atalanta is so swift, however, that she soon overtakes him once again. Then he drops the second apple, which rolls across her path and to the side. Again she stops to pick it up.
Now Hippomenes is in the lead, with the finish line in view. Atalanta puts on a spurt of speed and catches up with him. At this moment, Hippomenes drops the third apple. If she ignores it, she will win the race. If she picks it up, she will lose the race. Atalanta reaches for the apple as Hippomenes crosses the finish line. He wins the race and Atalanta in marriage. But did she let him win?
The Meaning of the Myth
The end of the footrace is not the end of the personal story for women who resemble Atalanta. It is, more likely, the beginning of the second half of their lives. This is also not the end of Atalanta's mythic story. There are versions of the myth that do not end with the race, but go on to tell how Atalanta and Hippomenes are punished and transformed into a pair of lions and yoked together to pull a divine chariot. The story deepens when these events are seen as metaphors and interpreted as symbolic.
While Atalanta is a mortal in the image of Artemis, her life is influenced and changed by more than one goddess. Through Hippomenes, Atalanta feels the spell of Aphrodite's golden apples. This is the case with contemporary women as well. All of the goddesses are potential archetypal patterns in every woman and, while Artemis may be dominant in the first third of a woman's life and can remain a strong influence, often one or more other archetypes may emerge in the second and third phases of life.
Atalanta's story has the power of a big dream with many layers of meaning. At first, it is intriguing to take in the whole story with the images that come to mind as you read it. Even at first glance, a particular image or detail may catch your imagination. Enduring myths are similar to important dreams that people remember because there is "something" to them. They touch the psyche of the dreamer, reader, or listener, even without interpretation. Atalanta is a mortal and is like a real woman who appears in a dream or in life, bringing the archetype of Artemis or a quality of Artemis to life. When this happens, a woman who is like Atalanta can become a combination of goddess and mortal to others.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Artemis by JEAN SHINODA BOLEN. Copyright © 2014 Jean Shinoda Bolen. Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
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