Classicstober day 17: Atalanta🦁🏹

Classicstober Day 17: Atalanta 🐗

Hanging out with Artemis.

illustration of atalanta and the calydonian boar i did for the dames anthology

ko-fi

Classicstober day 17: Atalanta🏹

Jason and the argonauts as requested!

I know Atalanta isn’t a part of the argonauts in most interpretations, but I needed an excuse to draw her…

Atalanta taking on the Caledonian boar

We all know and love zutara's Hades & Persephone parallels. Complimentary opposites constantly being misunderstood as a captor/victim- badboy/goodgirl- edgy/sunshine trope despite significant nuances; being torn between familial and spousal devotion; ruling over their kingdom as equally powerful forces of nature... Good good stuff.

But may I humbly suggest that we have been woefully neglecting the sheer dramatic potential of taang x Eros & Psyche.

Classicstober Day 17: Atalanta (𐀀𐀲𐀨𐀙)

One of the few women in Greek mythology who is known for her own sake. She was an athlete without peer, raised by bears, and she even sailed with Jason on the Argo (depending on what version you like).

Unlike most of my pieces for Classicstober, refreshingly little research needed to be put into Atalanta. The best descriptions of her I could find described her with a sleeveless knee-length tunic, so that's what I drew. Although I still imagine her living in the Mycenaean period, her outfit is a bit of a call-forward to the classical Greek tradition of folding a sheet in half and calling it a garment.

Atalanta's story is really cool, if a bit muddied on account of there being apparently two separate canons about two separate women named 'Atalanta,' but I prefer the interpretation of both these accounts being true and filling her life with bold, free adventure. I'm not deluding myself about how her story ends, but I did not want to show that. I just wanted to see her running free and wild through Arcadia.

The argonauts are fightingggg and they haven't even set off yet!

"So he spoke, but Idas son of Aphareus burst into laughter and with scorn in his eyes he replied abusively:

'Come now! Tell me this through your prophetic skill: will the gods destroy me in the way your father bestowed the destruction upon the Aloiadai? Take thought for how you will escape my hands if you are found to have uttered empty prophecies!'

So he attacked him angrily and the quarrel would have gone further had not the son of Aison himself restrained their dispute with words of rebuke. Moreover Orpheus took up his lyre in his left hand and began to sing.

- Jason and the Golden Fleece, Book 1 lines 486-494, Apollonius of Rhodes as Translated by Richard Hunter.

Idas really said chat shit get hit. Atalanta is not present in this translation but I simply want her there.

Hippomenes and Atalanta, Guido Reni, 1618-19

#ClassicsTober23 17: 🏃‍♀️Atalanta🤼‍♀️

Fun fact: I have never drawn Atalanta! But she’s so damn cool I had to draw her looking as regal as possible, not just running or being distracted by a golden apple 🙄 Did you know she killed two centaurs, Rhoecus and Hylaios, with her bow and arrow when they tried to rape her?

I used some vase paintings by the Meleager Painter to base her figure. He was famous for painting lush fabrics and thus randomly putting characters in ‘Eastern’ or ‘Oriental’ dress (thanks for being so unspecific and old fashioned in your wording Museum websites!), so I’m not entirely sure what she’s wearing, save that it is the same as what all the men in the scene are wearing - a patterned chitoniskos (short Chiton/tunic) and boots and chlamys (cloak) which she’s taken off and is sitting on.

Her hair is amazing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meleager_Painter#/media/File%3ANAMA_15113_Calydonian_Hunt_3.JPG

Free to read for #LesbianVisibilityDay

#wlw fantasy of the #Argonautica illustrated with a beautiful, sexy comic by @TheLastBacchae!

Medea falls for her fellow female argonaut Atalante...

part 5:

When the call went out to Greece’s greatest heroes, for fame and glory, to join Jason and his quest for the Golden fleece, only the bravest answered the call. Heroes like Hercules, Orpheus, Telamon, Peleus, and yes, Atalanta mustered her courage and journeyed to join them.

Appollonius of Rhodes wrote the epic poem “Argonautica” about Jason’s quest for the golden fleece around the 3rd century B.C. based on a much older tale, (referenced in Homer and Pindar). Apparently Appollonius elevated the romantic relationship between Jason and Medea, which in turn inspired latin poetry and Virgil’s Aeneid. In Appollonius tale, Atalanta shows up to join the Argonauts, but Jason turns her away, fearing having such a beautiful woman on board would cause conflict between his men. However, In Appollodorus “Library” (1-2nd century A.D.) he lists Atalanta as being one of the heroes who accompany Jason for the Golden fleece. Unfortunately, there are no surviving versions where we see the entirety of the journey with Atalanta involved, which begs the question; what would the adventure be like if Atalanta joined?

On the topic of sea quests, lets take a quick look at ancient Greek seafaring. The Argo ship is portrayed as a sort of Trireme (ancient warship with three rows of oars and curved prow). Developments in astronomy helped ancient sea sailors navigate through constellations like Ursa Minor (little dipper) , as well as moon cycles and eclipses. They also used “sounding weights” to measure sea depths, which helped to inform distances to land. There is evidence from around 100 B.C. of an ancient “Orrery” (solar model) tool for celestial navigation called the Antikythera Mechanism. This ingenious, hand-powered device contained gears and could predict and track astronomical positions and eclipses.

Thanks for looking and reading! :D To see more of my Greek myth illustrations: https://linktr.ee/tylermileslockett

My villain origin story is that Hylas and Atalanta are the most underrated argonauts so much that I didn’t know about them until very recently despite being into Greek mythology since I was five years old. Every book went “and all known heroes joined like Heracles and Orpheus and the twins winged sons of Boreas” FUCK the flying kids why did no one tell me about pretty boy Hylas who had the no. 1 Greek hero Heracles crazy over him or absolute badass queen Atalanta who hunted alone and took shit from no one?

Meleager: It’s too dangerous to go alone! Take this!

Atalanta:

Atalanta: You are just holding out your hand.