Source Verification: Meleager
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
What is the story of Meleager?
Meleager was the son of Oeneus, king of Calydon. Apollodorus's Library says the Fates tied his life to a brand on the hearth, which his mother Althaea hid in a chest. When Oeneus forgot Artemis at a sacrifice, she sent a boar, and Meleager killed it. He gave its skin to Atalanta and killed his uncles when they took it from her. Althaea then burned the brand, and he died. Homer's Iliad tells a version with a curse instead of a brand.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 1.8.2
Was Meleager in love with Atalanta?
In the later sources, yes. Ovid's Metamorphoses says he longed for her the moment he saw her, though some god forbade it. Apollodorus's Library says he forced the other hunters to accept her because he wanted a child by her, although he was married to Cleopatra. Hyginus's Fabulae says he killed his uncles putting love before kinship. Homer and Bacchylides tell his story without mentioning Atalanta at all.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 1.8.2
Who were Meleager and Cleopatra?
Cleopatra was Meleager's wife. Homer's Iliad makes her the daughter of Idas and Marpessa. Her parents called her Alcyone, after the mournful halcyon bird, because of a grief Apollo had caused Marpessa. When Meleager refused to fight, Cleopatra alone persuaded him, by describing what happens to a captured city. Apollodorus says she hanged herself after his death. Hyginus names Meleager's wife Alcyone and says she died of grief.
Source: Homer, Iliad 9.538-580
Why was Meleager angry?
Because his mother cursed him. In Homer's Iliad, Althaea grieved for her brother's death and called on Hades and Persephone to kill her son. Meleager, angry at her curses, stayed home beside his wife while the Curetes attacked Calydon. Apollodorus gives the background as a variant. The sons of Thestius claimed the boar's skin, war broke out, and Meleager killed some of them. Only then did Althaea curse him.
Source: Homer, Iliad 9.538-580
How did Meleager die?
The sources give three answers. Bacchylides, Apollodorus, Ovid and Hyginus say Althaea burned the brand his life depended on, after he killed her brothers. Homer's Iliad mentions only her curse and the Erinys who heard it, and Pausanias reads that as the cause of his death. Pausanias adds that the Eoeae and the Minyad had Apollo kill him in battle. Apollodorus reports a version where he simply fell fighting the Curetes.
Source: Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.31.3
Who was Meleager's father?
Usually Oeneus, king of Calydon. Homer's Iliad calls Meleager son of Oeneus, and Bacchylides's fifth Ode has Meleager name horse-driving Oineus as his father. Apollodorus agrees but adds that some said Ares begot him. Hyginus's Fabulae says both Oeneus and Mars slept with Althaea on the same night. Homer calls Meleager dear to Ares, but names Oeneus as his father.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 1.8.2
Where Accounts Differ
- how Meleager died
- who first told the story of the brand
- who fathered Meleager
- which uncles Meleager killed, and where
- whether Atalanta was part of his story
- how Althaea and Cleopatra died
- How Meleager died is the central disagreement. Homer (Iliad 9.538-580) has Althaea curse him and the Erinys hear her, but never narrates his death and never mentions a brand. Pausanias (10.31.3) reads Homer's curse as the cause of death. Bacchylides (Ode 5.121-151), Apollodorus (Library 1.8.3), Ovid (Metamorphoses 8.451-546) and Hyginus (Fabulae 174) make Althaea burn the brand. Apollodorus (1.8.3) also reports a version in which he fell fighting the Curetes. Pausanias (10.31.3) says the Eoeae and the Minyad had Apollo kill him.
- Pausanias (10.31.4) says the brand story was first put on stage by Phrynichus in his Pleuronian Women, but that it was already widely told in Greece.
- His father is Oeneus in Homer (Iliad 9.538-580), Bacchylides (Ode 5.56-81) and Apollodorus (Library 1.8.2). Apollodorus adds that some said Ares begot him. Hyginus (Fabulae 171) says Oeneus and Mars both slept with Althaea on the same night.
- Which uncles he killed, and where, varies. Apollodorus (Library 1.8.3) and Ovid (Metamorphoses 8.380-444) place the killing after the hunt, over the boar's skin, and Ovid names Plexippus and Toxeus. Bacchylides (Ode 5.121-151) places it in the war with the Curetes and names Iphiclus and Aphares. Homer (Iliad 9.538-580) speaks of Althaea's brother, unnamed.
- Atalanta appears only in the later accounts. Apollodorus (Library 1.8.2), Ovid (Metamorphoses 8.260-327) and Hyginus (Fabulae 174) make Meleager's love for her the cause of the quarrel. Homer and Bacchylides do not mention her.
- The deaths of his mother and wife differ. Apollodorus (Library 1.8.3) says Althaea and Cleopatra hanged themselves. Ovid (Metamorphoses 8.451-546) has Althaea stab herself. Hyginus (Fabulae 174) names the wife Alcyone and says she died of grief; Homer (Iliad 9.538-580) says Alcyone was Cleopatra's name at home.
Sources
- Homer, Iliad 9.492-537
- Homer, Iliad 9.538-580
- Homer, Iliad 9.581-599
- Bacchylides, Ode 5.56-81
- Bacchylides, Ode 5.90-110
- Bacchylides, Ode 5.121-151
- Bacchylides, Ode 5.155-175
- Apollodorus, Library 1.8.1
- Apollodorus, Library 1.8.2
- Apollodorus, Library 1.8.3
- Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16
- Apollodorus, Library 2.5.12
- Apollodorus, Library 2.7.5
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.260-327
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.380-444
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.451-546
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.31.3
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.31.4
- Hyginus, Fabulae 171
- Hyginus, Fabulae 172
- Hyginus, Fabulae 174