Atalanta and Hippomenes

The tension between youthful independence and giving way to the boundaries of married life is embodied in the story of Atalanta.

The “bear girl” of Arcadia begins life as an unwanted child, left to die on a mountainside because she is not the male heir hoped for by her father-king. She is picked up by a she bear and nursed as one of its cubs until adopted by Artemis, virgin goddess of the wild. Her girlhood and adolescence are spent roaming and hunting the mountain forests far from civilization.

After joining the hunt for the Great Boar of Calydon, in which her deadly arrows bring both success and ruin to Meleager, she is reunited with her repentant father. He accepts the athletic maiden with pride, but soon begins pressuring her to marry as a proper princess is expected to do. She does not refuse outright, but agrees only to marry the man who can defeat her in a foot race. Anyone who tries and fails however, must be put to death.

Surprisingly, despite her reputation for Olympic swiftness, suitors appear to take up the challenge. Many forfeit their lives to the inaccessible beauty but she remains undefeated. Finally, one young man, Hippomenes by name, finds himself infatuated by this ’wild woman’ who is as lithe as a panther, and as dangerous. Having as much desire but a little more sense than the others, he prays to Aphrodite, goddess of love, who fortunately has grown impatient with this resistance to her gifts.

She offers Hippomenes three of the golden apples of the Hesperides. Their allure is irresistible. He is instructed to throw them off to the side of Atalanta’s path during the race. Since no mortal can deny their hypnotic attraction, she stops just long enough to lose the race. Or does she? Some versions of the tale claim that the maiden huntress feels pity for Hippomenes, and perhaps something more. Perhaps she has been influenced by Aphrodite even before the golden apples appear.

Close by the apple blooms the lotus. In the eastern world it has long been the symbol of enlightenment. In Greek myth it is the transformed Narcissus, the vain youth who falls in love with his own reflection. As it was in times past, adolescence is still a life defining struggle between narcissism and the pull of enlightenment.