Atalanta as Model: The Hunter and the Hunted - Robert Bedrosian's ...

BARRINGER: Atalanta as Model 65
Why would the boar hunt myth be appropriate for nuptial or specifically
feminine vases during the archaic period? Most obviously, the hunt generally is
a rite of passage for the male, just as the wedding is for the female, in which
case these images would combine the male and female aspects of initiation. This
juxtaposition can be observed on the Toledo krater (fig. 4a-b), which has a scene of
a boar hunt (perhaps the Calydonian boar hunt) on one side and that of a wedding
procession on the other. A Caeretan hydria of ca. 525-500 B.C., now in the Louvre
(E696; fig. 15a-b),85 presents a similar scenario. The painting on the obverse is of
the Calydonian boar hunt, and while the composition differs markedly from that
of the Attic black-figure examples discussed above, the archer Atalanta can still
be recognized at the far right. The reverse is decorated with an image of Europa
borne across the water by Zeus disguised as a bull; again, the presence of the
hare, here on the island of Crete where Zeus will deflower Europa, underscores
the amorous atmosphere. The two depictions can be read as a pair: the male
rite of passage, hunting, and the female rite of passage, marriage. As was the
case with the earlier discussed Caeretan hydria (Copenhagen, National Museum
13567), we may observe the contrast between the civilized sphere (marriage) and
the uncivilized realm (hunting).
Furthermore, the motif of a couple comprised of an Amazon and a Greek
hero is a common topos in Greek myth. Consider, for example, Penthesilea and
Achilles, Hippolyte and Theseus, and Antiope and Theseus.6 We have discussed
how Amazons represent outsiders, foreigners, and how, as a dangerous threat to
civilization, Amazons are either slaughtered or tamed by marriage. Atalanta, who
is similar to the Amazons, must also be domesticated. Perhaps the Calydonian
boar hunt myth with its couple of Atalanta and Melanion was included on nuptial
vases to allude to heroic couples who represent the taming of the wild by the
civilized Greek male. Yet Atalanta is neither a positive nor a negative example for
the bride, but a troubling in-between figure, who suggests and emphasizes the
dangers and ambiguities of transition. Such ambiguity is also characteristic of
Artemis, Atalanta's leader, who presides over cult and ritual designed to mark the
transition between childhood and adulthood.87 From the time of Euripides' play
on, Atalanta's participation in the hunt would have had ominous overtones, for it
was her presence that ultimately led to disaster. The realms of Aphrodite (signified
by those later versions that tell of a love between Meleager and Atalanta) and of
Artemis (the boar hunt) merge with disastrous results, as is often the case in
myth, such as the tragic stories of Hippolytus, Adonis, or Kallisto.88 It is notable
85. Heldensage3 311, C3; Hemelrijk (supra, n. 69) 21-23, pls. 6-7, 15, 51-53, 128, 143-44,
151, 157, figs. 10-11, 55, 61-62, 71.
86. Ament (supra, n. 12) 20 points out that the heroes associated with transvestism, Achilles
and Herakles, are also associated with Amazons.
87. Vernant (supra, n. 12) 195-243.
88. See, e.g., Schnapp (supra, n. 79); Froma I. Zeitlin, "The Power of Aphrodite: Eros and the
Boundaries of the Self in the Hippolytus," in P. Burian, ed., Directions in Euripidean Criticism:
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