Calydonian Boar- Greek CreatureCreature · Beast

The Wrath of Artemis

Artemis sent the boar to punish King Oeneus of Calydon. When Oeneus made his annual harvest sacrifices, he honored each deity in turn but neglected Artemis. The goddess loosed upon his lands a boar of supernatural size and ferocity — eyes that flashed with blood and fire, bristles standing rigid as spear-shafts, tusks rivaling those of Indian elephants. It tore through Calydon's fields, uprooting vines and goring any farmer or herdsman who tried to stop it.

The Hunt

Oeneus's son Meleager sent word across Greece, and heroes came from every corner — Peleus and Theseus among them — to join the hunt. Meleager also invited Atalanta, the virgin huntress, a choice that enraged several of the men. The hunt was chaotic and deadly. Ancaeus, who had mocked Atalanta's presence and boasted he would show her how a man fights, was among the first killed — the boar opened his belly with a single sweep of its tusks. It was Atalanta who drew first blood, her arrow wounding the beast and slowing it enough for the others to close in. After a fierce struggle, Meleager drove his spear into the boar's side and killed it.

The Fatal Prize

Meleager awarded the hide and tusks to Atalanta — she had drawn first blood, and he loved her. His uncles, brothers of his mother Althaea, were outraged that a woman should receive the prize ahead of them. They seized the hide, and in the quarrel Meleager killed them both.

When Althaea learned her brothers were dead at her son's hands, she took the fateful brand from where she had hidden it — the log that the Fates had declared would measure Meleager's life — and cast it into the fire. As it burned, Meleager felt the fire inside his own body. When the log was ash, he was dead.