Meleager
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Meleagron Proper-name noun: masculine accusative singular of 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), a son of Oeneus (whence he is called Οἰνεΐδης), and Althaea, the daughter of Thestius, and was married to Cleopatra, by whom he became the father of Polydora. (Apollod. 1.8.2; Paus. 4.2 in fin.; Orph. Argon. 157.) Other accounts call Meleager a son of Ares, by Althaea (Plut. Parall. Min. 26; Ov. Met. 8.437; Hyg. Fab. 171); and Hyginus calls Parthenopaeus a son of Meleager. (Fab. 99, 270.) His brothers and sisters were Phereus or Thyreus, Agelaus, Toxeus, Periphas, Gorge, Eurymede, Deianeira, Melanippe. Meleager is one of the most famous Aetolian heroes of Calydon, and distinguished himself by his skill in throwing the javelin, as one of the Argonauts, and in the Calydonian hunt. Thus he gained the victory at the funeral games of Acastus (Hyg. Fab. 273; Athen. 4.172); and the spear with which he had slain the Calydonian boar he dedicated in the temple of Apollo at Sicyon. (Paus. 2.7.8.) In the expedition of the Argonauts he was said in some legends to have slain Aeetes in the contest for the golden fleece. (Diod. 4.48.) While Meleager was at Calydon, Oeneus, the king of the place, once neglected to offer up a sacrifice to Artemis, whereupon the angry goddess sent a monstrous boar into the fields of Calydon, which were ravaged by the beast, while no one had the courage to hunt it. At length Meleager, with a band of other heroes, whose number and names are different in the different accounts (Apollod. 1.8.2; Ov. Met. 8.300, &c.; Hyg. Fab. 174; Paus. 8.45.4), went out to hunt the boar, which was killed by Meleager. Artemis, however, created a dispute about the animal's head and skin among the Calydonians and Curetes. Late writers represent Atalante as taking part in this famous hunt; but the huntsmen refused to go out with her, until Meleager, who loved her, prevailed upon them. According to Ovid (Ov. Met. 8.380), Atalante inflicted the first wound upon the animal; while, according to others, Meleager first struck and killed it. He gave his prize, the boar's skin, to Atalante, who was deprived of it by the sons of Thestius; but Meleager slew them. (Apollod. Ov. ll. cc.; Diod. 4.34.) During the war between the Calydonians and Curetes, the former were always victorious, so long as Meleager went out with them. But on one occasion he killed his mother's brothers; and his mother pronounced a curse upon him, in consequence of which he became indignant, and stayed at home, so that the victorious Curetes began to press Calydon very hard. It was in vain that the old men of the town made him the most brilliant promises if he would again join in the fight, and also the entreaties of his own friends remained without effect. At length, however, he yielded to the prayers of his wife, Cleopatra: he put the Curetes to flight, but never returned home, for the Erinnys, who had heard the curse of his mother, overtook him. (Honu. Il. 9.527-600; comp. 2.641.) The post-Homeric account gives a different cause of his death. When Meleager was seven days old, it is said, the Moerae appeared, declaring that the boy would die as soon as the piece of wood that was burning on the hearth should be consumed. When Althaea heard this, she extinguished the firebrand, and concealed it in a chest. Meleager himself became invulnerable; but after he had killed the brothers of his mother, she lighted the piece of wood, and Meleager died, whereupon Althaea and Cleopatra hung themselves. (Apollod. 1.8.2, &c.; Hyg. Fab. 171; Diod. 4.34; Ov. Met. 8.450, &c., 531.) The sisters of Meleager wept unceasingly after his death, until Artemis changed them into guinea-hens (μελεαγρίδες), who were transferred to the island of Leros. Even in this condition they mourned during a certain part of the year for their brother. Two of them, Gorge and Deianeira, through the mediation of Dionysus, were not metamorphosed. (Ant. Lib. 2; Ov. Met. 8.532, &c.; Apollod. 1.8.3.) The story of Meleager, his hunt of the Calydonian boar, his contest with the sons of Thestius, and other scenes of his life, were frequently represented by ancient artists. (Paus. 3.18.9, 8.45.4.) He usually appears as a robust hunter, with curly hair, the Aetolian chlamys, and a boar's head. (Philostr. Icon. 15; comp. Welcker, Zeitschrit für die alte Kunst, p. 123, &c.) [L.S]
(Μελέαγρος).
1. Son of Neoptolemus, a Macedonian officer of distinctionin the service of Alexander the Great. He is first mentioned in the war against the Getae (B. C. 335); and at the passage of the Granicus in the following year, we find him commanding one of the divisions (τάξεις) of the phalanx, a post which he afterwards held apparently throughout the campaigns in Asia. He was appointed, together with Coenus and Ptolemy the son of Seleucus, to command the newly-married troops which were sent home from Caria to spend the winter in Macedonia, and rejoined Alexander at Gordium in the following summer (B. C. 333). We afterwards find him present at the battles of Issus and Arbela; associated with Craterus in the important task of dislodging the enemy who guarded the passes into Persia; and again bearing a part in the passage of the Hydaspes, and in various other operations in India (Arrian, Arr. Anab. 1.4, 14, 20, 24, 2.8, 3.11, 18, 5.1_2; Curt. 3.24, 5.14, 7.27 ; Diod. 17.57). But notwithstanding this long series of services we do not learn that Alexander promoted him to any higher or more confidential situation, nor do we find him employed in any separate command of importance. Already, before the king's death. Meleager had given evidence of an insolent and factious disposition, and these qualities broke out in their full force during the discussions which ensued after the death of Alexander. His conduct on that occasion is differently related. According to Justin, he was the first to propose in the council of officers, that either Arrhioaeus or Heracles the son of Barsine should at once be chosen king, instead of waiting for the chance of Roxana bearing a son. Curtius, on the contrary, represents him as breaking out into violent invectives against the ambition of Perdiccas, and abruptly quitting the assembly, in order to excite the soldiery to a tumult. Diodorus, again, states that he was sent by the assembled generals to appease the clamours and discontent of the troops, but instead of doing so he himself joined the mutineers. In any case it is certain that Meleager early assumed the lead of the opposition to Perdiccas and his party; and placed himself at the head of the infantry, who had declared themselves (probably at his instigation) in favour of the claims of Arrhidaeus to the vacant throne. Meleager even went so far as to order the execution of Perdiccas, without any express authority from his puppet of a king; but this project was disconcerted by the boldness of the regent: and the greater part of the cavalry, together with almost all the generals, sided with Perdiccas, and, quitting Babylon, established themselves in a separate camp without the walls of the city. Matters thus seemed tending to an open rupture, but a reconciliation was effected, principally by the intervention of Eumenes, and it was agreed that the royal authority should be divided between Arrhidaeus and the expected son of Roxana, and that in the mean time Meleager should be associated with Perdiccas in the regency. It was, however, evidently impossible that these two should long continue on really friendly terms, and Meleager proved no match for his wily and designing antagonist. Perdiccas contrived by his profound dissimulation, to lull his rival into fancied security, while he made himself master both of the person and the disposition of the imbecile Arrhidaeus, of which he immediately took advantage, and hastened to strike the first blow. The whole army was assembled under pretence of a general review and lustration, when the king, at the instigation of Perdiccas, suddenly demanded the surrender and punishment of all the leaders in the late disorders. The infantry were taken by surprise, and unable to offer any resistance; 300 of the alleged mutineers were singled out, and instantly executed ; and though Meleager himself was not personally attacked, he deemed it necessary to provide for his safety by flight, and took refuge in a temple, where he was quickly pursued and put to death by order of Perdiccas. (Curt. 10.21_29; Just. 13.2_4; Arrian, apud Phot. p. 69a.; Diod. 18.2.)
2. An ilarch or commander of a squadron of cavalry in the army of Alexander at the battle of Arbela. (Arrian, Arr. Anab. 3.11; Curt. 4.50.) He is certainly distinct from the preceding, and is probably the same person whom we afterwards find mentioned among the friends and adherents of Pithon, who participated in his projects of revolt against Antigonus. B. C. 316. [Pithon.] After the death of their leader, Meleager and Menoetas broke out into open insurrection, but were speedily defeated by Orontobates and Hippostratus, who had been left by Antigonus in the government of Media, and Meleager was slain in the battle. (Diod. 19.47.)
3. A son of Ptolemy Soter and Eurydice, daughter of Antipater, succeeded his brother Ptolemy Ceraunus on the throne of Macedonia, after the latter had fallen in battle against the Gauls (B. C. 280); but was compelled by the Macedonian troops to resign the crown, after a reign of only two months. (Euseb. Arm. pp. 156, 157; Dexippus, apud Syncell. pp. 267, 270.) His reign is omitted by Justin. [E.H.B]
(Μελέαγρος), son of Eucrates, the celebrated writer and collector of epigrams, was a native of Gadara in Palestine, and lived about B. C. 60. Works
There are 131 of his epigrams in the Greek Anthology, written in a good Greek style, though somewhat affected, and distinguished by sophistic acumen and amatory fancy. (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. pp. 1-38; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. i. pp. 1-40, vol. xiii. pp. 639, 698, 915, 916; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. pp. 416-420.) Editions
Besides the various editions of the Greek Anthology, there are separate editions of the epigrams of Meleager, for which see Fabricius. Further Information
An account of his Στέφανος, or collection of epigrams, is given under Planudes. [P.S]
(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