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{{Short description|Ancient Greek mythical character}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Meleager''' was the son of [[Althaea]] and [[Oeneus]] and father of [[Parthenopeus]] and [[Polydora]].

{{About|the mythological figure}}

{{Redirect|Meleagros|the genus of beetle|Meleagros (beetle)}}

{{Infobox deity

| type = Greek

| image = Meleager Skopas BM GR1906.1-17.1.jpg

| siblings = [[Deianira]]

| name = Meleager

| offspring = [[Parthenpaios]], [[Polydora]]

| consort = [[Atalanta]]<br />[[Cleopatra Alcyone|Cleopatra]]

| abode = [[Calydon]]

| deity_of = Prince of [[Calydon]]

| parents = [[Oineus]] and [[Althaea (mythology)|Althaea]]

}}

{{Greek mythology sidebar}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Meleager''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|ɛ|l|i|ˈ|eɪ|g|ər|}},<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Wells | first1 = John C. | authorlink1 = John C. Wells | title = Longman Pronunciation Dictionary | chapter = Meleager | publisher = Pearson Longman | year = 2009 | ___location = London | isbn = 978-1-4058-8118-0}}</ref> {{langx|grc|Μελέαγρος|Meléagros}}) was a [[Greek hero|hero]] venerated in his ''[[temenos]]'' at [[Calydon]] in [[Aetolia]]. He was already famed as the host of the [[Calydonian Boar|Calydonian boar hunt]] in the [[epic tradition]] that was reworked by [[Homer]].<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' 9.529–99</ref> Meleager is also mentioned as one of the [[Argonauts]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.16&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Meleager 1.9.16]</ref>

When Meleager was born, the [[Moirae]] predicted he would only live until a brand, burning in the family hearth, was consumed by fire. Althaea immediately hid the brand.

==Biography==

Meleager married Cleopatra, daughter of [[Idas]].

Meleager was a Calydonian prince as the son of [[Althaea (Greek mythology)|Althaea]] and the [[vintner]] King [[Oeneus]]<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.16&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Meleager 1.9.16]; [[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#2 2] as cited in [[Nicander|Nicander's]] ''Metamorphoses''</ref> or according to some, of the god [[Ares]].<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.8.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022 1.8.2]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#14.3 14] & [https://topostext.org/work/206#171 171]</ref> He was the brother of [[Deianira|Deianeira]], [[Toxeus]], [[Clymenus]], [[Periphas]], [[Agelaus]] (or [[Ageleus]]), [[Thyreus (mythology)|Thyreus]] (or [[Phereus]] or [[Pheres]]), [[Gorge (mythology)|Gorge]], [[Eurymede]] and [[Melanippe]].<ref name=":0">[[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#2 2] as cited in [[Nicander|Nicander's]] ''Metamorphoses''</ref><ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women|Ehoiai]]'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HesiodCatalogues.html fr. 98] as cited in ''Berlin Papyri, No. 9777''</ref>

Meleager was the father of [[Parthenopeus]] by [[Atalanta]]<ref>Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#70 70] & [https://topostext.org/work/206#99 99]</ref> but he married [[Cleopatra Alcyone|Cleopatra]], daughter of [[Idas]] and [[Marpessa]].<ref>Kerenyi 1959: Genealogical table F, p. 372.</ref> They had a daughter, [[Polydora]], who became the bride of [[Protesilaus]], who left her bed on their wedding-night to join the expedition to [[Troy]].

Oeneus sent Meleager to gather up heroes to hunt the [[Calydonian Boar]] that had been stalking the area. Among many others, he chose [[Atalanta]], a fierce huntress, whom he loved. According to one account of the hunt, [[Hylaeus]] and [[Rhaecus]], two [[centaur]]s, tried to rape Atalanta. Meleager killed them. Then, Atalanta wounded the boar and Meleager killed it. He awarded her the hide since she had drawn the first drop of blood. [[Toxeus]] and [[Plexippus]] (Althaea's brothers) grew enraged that the prize was given to a woman. Meleager killed them in the ensuing argument. He also killed [[Iphicles]] and [[Eurypylus]] for insulting Atalanta.

==Mythology==

Since Meleager had killed her two brothers, [[Althaea]] placed the brand back upon the fire, killing him.

=== Calydonian boar hunt ===

Later, Meleager was one of the [[Argonauts]]. This may, or may not, have been the same Meleager.

[[File:Wall painting - Meleagros and Atalanta - Pompeii (VI 9 3) - Napoli MAN 8980.jpg|thumb|Meleager (sitting on a rock, with 2 spears) and Atalanta (standing) reposing after the Calydonian boar-hunt. Antique fresco from [[Pompeii]].]]

When Meleager was born, the [[MoiraeMoirai]]&nbsp;(the Fates) predicted he would only live until a brandpiece of wood, then burning in the family hearth, was consumed by fire. Overhearing them, Althaea immediately doused and hid theit.<ref>Hyginus, brand''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#171 171]; Apollodorus, 1.8.2</ref>

Oeneus sent Meleager to gather up heroes from all over Greece<ref>Apollodorus, 1.8.2</ref> to [[Calydonian boar hunt|hunt the [[Calydonian Boarboar]] that had been stalkingterrorizing the area and rooting up the vines, as Oeneus had omitted [[Artemis]] at a festival in which he honored the other gods. In Amongaddition manyto the heroes he othersrequired, he chose [[Atalanta]], a fierce huntress, whom he loved.<ref>[[Euripides]], Frg. 520, noted by [[Karl Kerenyi]], ''The Heroes of the Greeks'', 1959:119 note 673.</ref> According to one account of the hunt, when [[Hylaeus]] and [[Rhaecus]], two [[centaur]]s, tried to rape Atalanta., Meleager killed them. Then, Atalanta wounded the boar and Meleager killed it. He awarded her the hide since she had drawn the first drop of blood. [[Toxeus]] and [[Plexippus]] (Althaea's brothers) grew enraged that the prize was given to a woman. Meleager killed them in the ensuing argument. He also killed [[Iphicles]] and [[Eurypylus]] for insulting Atalanta.

With Atalanta, Meleager was the father of [[Parthenopeus]].

Meleager's uncles [[Toxeus]], the "archer",<ref>There were two further brothers, Thyreus, the "porter", and Klymenos, the "famous"—though Meleager is by far the most renowned of the four—and two sisters, Gorge and Deianira (Kerenyi 1959:199 and Genealogical table G, p. 375).</ref> and [[Plexippus]] grew enraged that the prize was given to a woman. Meleager killed them in the following argument.<ref>Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#244 244]</ref> He also killed [[Iphicles]] and [[Eurypylus]] for insulting Atalanta. When Althaea found out that Meleager had killed her brothers, she placed the piece of wood that she had stolen from the Fates (the one that the Fates predicted, once engulfed with fire, would kill Meleager) upon the fire, thus fulfilling the prophecy and killing Meleager, her own son.<ref>Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#239 239] & [https://topostext.org/work/206#249 249]</ref> [[Meleagrids|Meleager's sisters]] who mourned his death excessively were turned into [[helmeted guineafowl|guineafowl]] (''meleagrides'').<ref>Hyginus, ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#174 174]</ref>

[[Apollodorus]]. [[Bibliotheke]] I, viii, 1-3; [[Ovid]]. [[Metamorphoses]] VIII, 269-525; [[Homer]]. [[Iliad]] IX, 529-99.

===Afterlife===

In the [[underworld]], his was the only shade that did not flee [[Heracles]], who had come after [[Cerberus]]. In [[Bacchylides]]' Ode V, Meleager is depicted as still in his shining armor, so formidable, in Bacchylides' account, that Heracles reached for his bow to defend himself. Heracles was moved to tears by Meleager's account; Meleager had left his sister<ref>Or perhaps his half-sister, if [[Dionysus]] was the real father of Deianira, as Apollodorus, 1.8.1, would have it; Oeneus himself was "to judge by his name a double of the wine-god", as Kerenyi observes (Kerenyi 1959:199).</ref> [[Deianira]] unwedded in his father's house, and entreated Heracles to take her as his bride;<ref>[[Scholia]] on ''Iliad'' 21.194, noted by Kerenyi 1959:180 note 103.</ref> here [[Bacchylides]] breaks off his account of the meeting, without noting that in this way Heracles in the underworld chooses a disastrous wife.

According to [[Pliny the Elder]]'s [[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]], Book 37, Chapter 11, [[Sophocles]] believed that [[amber]] is produced in the countries beyond India, from the tears that are shed for Meleager, by the birds called "meleagrides".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXVII. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES., CHAP. 11.—AMBER: THE MANY FALSEHOODS THAT HAVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT IT. |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=37:chapter=11 |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

==Influences==

Among the Romans, the heroes assembled by Meleager for the Calydonian hunt provided a theme of multiple nudes in striking action, to be portrayed frieze-like on [[Sarcophagus|sarcophagi]].

Meleager's story has similarities with the Scandinavian ''[[Norna-Gests þáttr]]''.

== Family tree ==

{{Calydonian dynasty}}

== Gallery ==

<gallery widths="154" heights="155" perrow="7" mode="packed-hover" caption="Meleager in art">

File:Giulio Romano - Meleager et Atalanta.jpg|''Meleager et Atalanta'', after [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]]

File:Meleagros Antikensammlung Berlin Sk215.jpg|Statue of Meleager modeled after [[Skopas]]

File:Calydonian hunt Musei Capitolini MC917.jpg|Meleager [[sarcophagus]]

File:Jacob Jordaens - Meleager and Atalanta, 1620-1650.jpg|''Meleager and Atalanta'' (17th century) by [[Jacob Jordaens]]

File:S03 06 01 021 image 2609.jpg|Volterra, Italy. Etruscan cinerary urn; Hunt of Maleager, Volterra. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection

File:S03 06 01 020 image 2583.jpg|Meleager, Scopas' influence. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection

File:Flemish - Meleager and Atalanta Setting Out to Hunt the Calydonian Boar - Walters 829 - View C.jpg|''Meleager and Atalanta Setting Out to Hunt the [[Calydonian Boar]]'', [[tapestry]], [[Walters Art Museum]]

File:Meleagrosz-tál.jpg|Meleager plate

File:Meleagrosz-tál (2).jpg|Meleager plate (detail)

File:BLW Meleager.jpg| Renaissance sculpture of Meleager by Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi, who was known by his contemporaries as L'Antico. V&A Museum.

</gallery>

== References ==

{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==

{{EB1911 poster|Meleager}}

* [[Bacchylides]] Fr 5.93

* [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' I, 190–201.

* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], I, viii, 1–3.

* [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]'' VIII, 269–525.

==External links==

* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000105 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Meleager)]

*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Argonauts]]

[[Category:Princes in Greek mythology]]

[[Category:Family of Calyce (mythology)]]

[[Category:Children of Ares]]

[[Category:Mythological Aetolians]]

[[Category:Characters in the Argonautica]]

[[Category:Aetolian mythology]]

[[Category:Mythology of Heracles]]