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

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70 CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY Volume 15/No. 1/April 1996 by the Jena Painter of the early fourth century B.C. in the Cabinet des M6dailles (818),112 on which appear the inscribed figures of Peleus and Atalanta (fig. 26). The figures, both nude, are clearly not in an athletic context, but in a highly charged, sexually suggestive atmosphere as indicated by the figures' languorous poses facing each other, Atalanta's head thrown back with her free-flowing hair, and her hand just touching Peleus' right thigh. The Suda describes Atalanta as the wife of Akastos, and says she was attracted to Peleus; Peleus eventually killed her in battle. The archaic vases together with the testimony of the Suda offer support for the suggestion of a sexual attraction between Atalanta and Peleus, especially when we note that the dinos, a vessel sometimes connected with nuptial activity, appears in the depictions of the wrestling contest as the victor's prize.'3 Atalanta behaves as female ephebe, as physically aggressive, but is also a sexually charged opponent. Atalanta's ephebic or immature state is again emphasized by the juxtaposition of two images on an Attic black-figure hydria of ca. 550 B.C., now in a private collection in Adolphseck (488, Philipp von Hessen coll.).114 The scene on the shoulder, Atalanta wrestling Peleus, was discussed above. On the body a young warrior arms himself in preparation for battle. Taken as a whole, the vase paintings may be read as two male initiatory activities: athletic contest and military activity, perhaps the first military experience. Atalanta also turns up in the world of the gymnasion, another ephebic arena. Several fifth-century Attic red-figure vase paintings show Atalanta relaxing in the palaestra (indicated by paraphernalia), often with a nude male athlete (or athletes)."' She also appears alone on an Attic red-figure cup by the Euaion Painter of ca. 450-440 B.C., now in the Louvre (CA2259; fig. 27).16 Atalanta, whose name is inscribed above, wears a brassiere and perizoma, and carries an athletic pick. The implements on the back wall, together with Atalanta's attire, indicate the realm of the palaestra, the training ground of the ephebe. 112. ARV2 1512, 23; Addenda2 384. Boardman (supra, n. 10) 949 and (supra, n. 56) 16. Roller (supra, n. 94) 112 argues that the change in Atalanta's costume from chiton to perizoma suggests a change in interpretation of the myth: vase painters began to associate the wrestling match less and less with the funeral games for Pelias and more and more with activities of the palaestra. In other words, Roller's argument supports the hypothesis presented here that Atalanta is regarded as an ephebe. 113. An Attic red-figure hydria by Psiax of ca. 520-510 B.C. in a private collection in Tessin bears Atalanta wrestling Peleus on the body and satyrs and Dionysos on the shoul der. See Bettina Jeske and Claudia Stein in "Eine frUlhrotfigurige Hydria des Psiax," Hefte des archiologischen Seminars der Universitdt Bern 8 (1982) 5-20 (with illustrations). Again, the two images may be complementary: the Dionysiac thiasos is typically associated with (frustrated) sexual activities and may underscore an erotic element in the wrestling match between Peleus and Atalanta. Maenads, however, are not present in this vase painting, so such a suggestion is tentative. 114. Supra, n. 96. 115. See Boardman (supra, n. 10) 947 nos. 85-89. 116. ARV2 797, 137. This content downloaded from 71.172.230.227 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 17:02:27 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
BARRINGER: Atalanta as Model 71 THE FOOTRACE The earliest account of the famous footrace of Atalanta is in a few fragments of Hesiod,"7 and the myth is later told by Apollodorus 3.9.2; Theocritus 3.40-42; Hyginus, Fabulae 185; Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.560-680; Libanius, Progym nasmata 33, 34; and Servius, In Vergilii carmina commentarii 3.113. The main lines of the myth run as follows. Atalanta has sworn off men, but finally agrees to marry the suitor who can defeat her or catch her in a footrace; sometimes the race is instigated by Atalanta (Apollod. 3.9.2; Ov., Met. 10.560-72), sometimes by her father (Hyg., Fab. 185). The race is characterized as a chase: Atalanta, armed, chases an unarmed opponent; if he eludes her, he wins her, but if she catches him, he loses his head (Hyg., Fab. 185). The suitor is named Hippomenes or Melanion,18 and he receives help from Aphrodite. She provides three golden apples, sometimes said to be from Cyprus (Ov., Met. 10.644-50),19 which the suitor drops and Atalanta retrieves one by one so that she is slowed down and is overtaken by her athletic competitor and suitor.'20 Theocritus 3.40-42 adds that Atalanta fell madly in love with Hippomenes after her defeat, and Ovid, Meta morphoses 10.609-37 also adds this "romantic" element of Atalanta's falling for Hippomenes, though in Ovid Atalanta begins to soften toward Hippomenes before the race. They were married afterwards.2' There is only one extant vase painting that is firmly connected with this myth, and it does not show the race itself: an Attic red-figure calyx krater from Bologna of ca. 420 B.C. by the Dinos Painter (Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico 300; fig. 28a-c).'22 The depiction is of the preparations for the race. In the central image 117. Merkelbach and West (supra, n. 3) frags. 72-76. See also Jacques Schwartz, Pseudo Hesiodeia (Paris, 1960) 361-66, who discusses the fragments of Hesiod as well as the other ancient sources for this myth. 118. Hippomenes: Merkelbach and West (supra, n. 3) frag. 74; Euripides, according to Apol lod. 3.9.2; schol. at Eur., Ph. 150; Theoc. 3.40-41; Ov., Met. 10.575-680; Hyg., Fab. 185; Lib., Progymnasmata 33, 34; Serv., In Verg. Aen. 3.113.14-22; Nonn., D. 48.180-182; Eust., Commen tarii ad Homeri Iliadem 4.814.13-14; Myth. Vat. 1.39; schol. at Hom., I/. 23.683bl.6-7; schol. at Ap. Rhod. 1.769-773; schol. at Theoc. 3.40-42b-d, 2.120b. Melanion: Apollod. 3.9.2. Xenophon, Cyn. 1.7 reports that Meilanion (sic) won Atalanta, but makes no mention of the footrace. Cf. schol. at Eur., Ph. 150; schol. at Ap. Rhod. 1.769. 119. Nonn., D. 48.180-82 calls them "gold-shining wedding gifts" (Xpuaoopaxq yac1iXoa Bpa). Cf. Nonn., D. 12.87-89. The schol. at Theocritus 2.120b says that the apples were from Dionysos' wreath and the Mythographi Vaticani 139 records that the apples came from the garden of the Hesperides. 120. Merkelbach and West (supra, n. 3) frag. 76; Theoc. 3.40-41; Apollod. 3.9.2; Ov., Met. 10.638-80; Hyg., Fab. 185; schol. at Theoc. 3.40-42b, which says that the apples were from the garden of the Hesperides. See also Eust., Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem 4.331.9-10. 121. Cf. Scholia to Ar., Lys. 785, which says that Atalanta did not flee from Meilanion (sic). Ovid, Ars Amatoria 2.185-92 and Propertius 1.9-16 say that Milanion (sic) performed many labors (all related to hunting, according to Ovid) out of love for Atalanta, and Propertius reports that he eventually won her. 122. ARV2 1152, 7; Paralipomena 457; Addenda2 336. One vase may show the race, but it is fragmentary. See Emil Htbner, Die antiken Bildwerke in Madrid (Berlin, 1862) 264 no. 632. This content downloaded from 71.172.230.227 on Thu, 25 Jul 2013 17:02:27 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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