Source Verification: Atalanta and the Race
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
Who was Atalanta's lover?
The race stories name one, the man who beat her. Apollodorus calls him Melanion and says he ran for love of her. Ovid calls him Hippomenes and says he fell in love when he saw her run. Apollodorus adds that Euripides gave the husband's name as Hippomenes rather than Melanion, so the two names are one figure in different sources.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2
Who was Hippomenes in Greek mythology?
Ovid's name for the suitor who won Atalanta's race. He says Hippomenes was the son of Megareus of Onchestus and a great-grandson of Neptune. He began as a spectator who scorned the suitors, then saw her and fell in love. He prayed to Venus, who gave him three golden apples. Apollodorus attributes the same role to Melanion.
Source: Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560-680
Who fell in love with Atalanta?
In the race stories, the winning suitor does, and she may share it. Ovid's Hippomenes is struck the moment he sees her stripped to run. Ovid's Atalanta feels desire too but cannot name it, so she loves and does not know she is in love. Apollodorus says only that Melanion ran for love of her, and gives her no feelings.
Source: Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560-680
What goddess does Atalanta serve?
Artemis, in the sources that name a patron. Callimachus says the goddess greatly praised swift-footed Atalanta, the slayer of boars, and taught her to hunt with dogs and shoot well. Neither race telling calls her Artemis's servant. Ovid has her live unwed in the woods, and the goddess who acts in the race is Venus, who helps the suitor.
Source: Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 215-224
Where Accounts Differ
- melanion-or-hippomenes
- how-the-race-starts
- how-many-apples
- precinct-of-zeus-or-cave-of-cybele
- The husband's name differs. Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2, calls him Melanion, a son of Amphidamas, and reports that Euripides said the husband was Hippomenes and that Atalanta was a daughter of Maenalus. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560-680, uses Hippomenes, son of Megareus of Onchestus. This page uses Melanion for Apollodorus's account and Hippomenes for Ovid's.
- The start of the race differs. Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2, has the wooers run ahead from a stake three cubits high while Atalanta follows in arms and kills the one she overtakes. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560-680, has both runners start together at the trumpet, gives death as the price for losing, and mentions no weapon.
- The apples differ. Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2, says only golden apples from Aphrodite. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560-680, has Venus bring three from a tree in the field of Tamasus on Cyprus and gives each throw in turn, the last from the side so she must run wide. Ovid also has Venus force Atalanta to lift the third apple and make it heavier.
- The place of the transformation differs. Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2, has the couple enter a precinct of Zeus while hunting and turn into lions. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.686-704, has them profane a hidden cave near the temple that Echion built to the Mother of the gods, and Cybele changes them because Venus, offended by Hippomenes's ingratitude, roused his desire.
- Atalanta's father is named Iasus in Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2, and Apollodorus reports Hesiod and others naming Schoeneus and Euripides naming Maenalus. Ovid's Metamorphoses 10.660 calls her Schoeneus's daughter. That question belongs to her character page and is not settled here.
- The Perseus English of Ovid used for the quotation is an older verse rendering. The translator's name was not confirmed on the served page, so the quote block carries no translator credit.
Sources
- Apollodorus, Library 3.9.2
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560-574
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560-680
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.686-704
- Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 215-224