Early life At birth, Atalanta was taken to
Mount Parthenion to be
exposed because her wealthy father had desired a son. however, her participation is noted in
Pseudo-Apollodorus's account, which says that during the search for the
Golden Fleece, Atalanta, who was invited and invoked the protection of Artemis, sailed with the Argonauts as the only woman among them. In
Diodorus Siculus's account, Atalanta is not only noted to have sailed with the Argonauts but to have fought alongside them at the battle in
Colchis, where she,
Jason,
Laertes, and the
sons of Thesipae were wounded and later healed by
Medea. In the account of
Apollonius of Rhodes, Jason prevents Atalanta from joining not because she lacks skill but because as a woman she has the potential to cause strife among men on the ship. After the death of King
Pelias in
Iolcus,
funeral games were held in which Atalanta defeated
Peleus in a wrestling match. Atalanta was called upon to join
Meleager,
Theseus,
Pollux,
Telamon, Peleus, and all those who were part of the Argonaut expedition on the hunt for the boar. During the hunt
Hyleus and
Ancaeus were killed, Peleus accidentally killed a fellow hunter and others were wounded. Atalanta drew first blood on the boar with her bow. but it was taken away by Meleager's uncles,
Plexippus and
Toxeus, who considered it dishonorable for a woman to hold such a prize. After the Calydonian boar hunt, Atalanta was accepted by her family and gained aristocratic status; however, by social custom she was now expected to marry.
Metamorphosis into lions After the footrace, Hippomenes forgot to thank Aphrodite for her aid, and while the couple were out hunting, the goddess afflicted them with such sexual passion that they had sex in a sanctuary belonging to either
Zeus or
Rhea. They were turned into lions for their sacrilege by either Artemis (angered by Atalanta losing her
virginity), the goddess
Cybele, or Zeus himself. The belief at the time was that lions could not mate with their own species, only with
leopards; therefore Atalanta and Hippomenes would never be able to have "intercourse of love". == Modern ==