Meleager
- son of the Calydonian king Oeneus and Althaea, one of the combatants at the Calydonian boar-hunt. His life depended on the preservation of an extinguished brand; this his mother burned, out of revenge for the death of her brothers who had fallen by his hand, and he expired, Ov. M. 8, 299 sq.; id. H. 9, 151; Val. Fl. 1, 435; Hyg. Fab. 171 sq.; Serv. Verg. A. 7, 306.—Hence,
- A Mĕlĕāgrēus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Meleager, Luc. 6, 365.—
- B Mĕlĕāgrĭdes, um, f.
- 1 The sisters of Meleager, who, according to the fable, bitterly lamented his death, and were changed into birds called after his name, Hyg. Fab. 174; Ov. M. 8, 534 sq.—
- 2 A kind of fowls, Guinea-hens, the same as Gallinae Africanae, or a variety of them, Varr. R. R. 3, 9, 18; Plin. 10, 26, 38, § 74.—
- C Mĕlĕāgrĭus, a, um, adj., = Μελεάγριος, of or belonging to Meleager, Meleagrian, Stat. Th. 4, 103.
(Μελέαγρος). (1) The son of Oeneus of Calydon and Althaea, husband of Cleopatra (see Idas), one of the most celebrated heroes of Greek legend. He took part in the expedition of the Argonauts, and brought about the celebrated chase of the Calydonian boar (see Oeneus), to which he invited the most renowned heroes of the time, Admetus, Amphiaraüs, Iason, Idas, Lynceus, Castor and Pollux, Nestor , Theseus, and Pirithous, Peleus, Telamon, and others. Many lost their lives, till at last Meleager slew the monster. However, Artemis thereupon stirred up a furious strife between the Calydonians and the Curetes who dwelt at Pleuron, about the head and skin of the boar, the prize of victory. The Calydonians were victorious as long as Meleager fought at their head; but when he slew the brother of his mother, she invoked a terrible curse on him, and he retired sullenly from the fray. The Curetes immediately forced the Calydonians to retreat, and were already beginning to climb the walls of Calydon, when, at the height of their distress, he yielded to the prayers of his wife, and again joined in the fight to ward off destruction from the city; but he did not return alive, for the Erinys had accomplished the curse of his mother. According to a later legend, the Moerae appeared to his mother on the seventh day after his birth, and announced to her that her son would have to die when a log of wood on the hearth was consumed by the flame; whereupon Althaea immediately snatched the log from the fire and concealed it in a chest. At the Calydonian Hunt, Meleager fell in love with Atalante (q. v.), and gave her (who had inflicted the first wound) the prize, the skin of the animal which he had killed. He slew the brothers of his mother, the sons of Thestius, when they were lying in wait for the virgin to rob her of the boar's hide. Overcome by pain at the death of her brothers, Althaea set fire to the log, and Meleager died a sudden death. His mother and wife hanged themselves; his sisters wept so bitterly for Meleager, that Artemis for pity changed them into guineahens (μελεαγρίδες). Legends relate that even in the nether world Meleager retained his dauntless courage; for when Heracles descended to Hades, all the shades fled before him except Meleager and Medusa.
(2) A Greek epigrammatist of Gadara in Palestine, who flourished about B.C. 60. His collection of epigrams, by himself and others, entitled Stephanos (wreath), formed the nucleus of the Greek anthology. Of his own poems there remain 131, in which amatory themes are cleverly and wittily treated. See anthology.
- Apollod. 1.8.1; Paus. 4.2.7
- his life bound up with burning brand: Apollod. 1.8.1
- in the Argo: Apollod. 1.9.17
- hunts the Calydonian boar: Apollod. 1.8.2
- slays Calydonian boar: Paus. 8.4.10
- kills the sons of Thestius and gives the boar's skin to Atalanta: Apollod. 1.8.2
- dedicates his spear to Apollo: Paus. 2.7.9
- his death: Apollod. 1.8.2, Apollod. 1.8.3
- legends of his death: Paus. 10.31.3ff.
- painted by Polygnotus: Paus. 10.31.3
- represented in gable of temple of Athena Alea: Paus. 8.45.6
- seen by Herakles in Hades: Apollod. 2.5.12