The Tales of Atlanta and Bellerophon

Atlanta

Atlanta's parentage is uncertain. Her parents may have been King Iasus and Clymene. Her father had her carried into the woods and left to die. However, a bear found her and adopted her. As she grew older she began to spend time with hunters and was soon the best amongst them. She loved hunting and the outdoors.

She wished to join the Argonauts, but Jason thought it was ill-fated to have a woman among the crew, fearing problems might occur.

Her shooting skills allowed her to draw first blood during the Calydonian Boar Hunt. Her contribution to the hunt was marred when a quarrel over giving her a trophy of the hunt resulted in the death of Meleager and his uncles.

At the funeral games honoring Pelias, Atlanta entered the wrestling contests. There, she gained more fame by scoring a victory over Peleus.

After she had returned home her father went ahead to find her a husband. For her to simply refuse might arouse dangerous resentment. Instead, she proposed a test. The successful suitor would have to beat her in a foot race. Losing suitors would be beheaded by her.

For quite some time this worked. Some say that she evened the odds by wearing armor while she ran. Others say that she gave the suitors a head start of half the distance. In any case the heads stacked up.

Melanion fell in love with her. He knew that he was not fast enough to win the race. So he did what many frustrated lovers had done; he prayed to Aphrodite for help. Aphrodite had a weakness for lovers and concern about those that rejected romance to the degree that Atlanta did. Aphrodite presented Melanion with three golden apples and a plan. In return, Melanion was to sacrifice to Aphrodite.

Melanion then ran his race with Atlanta carrying the apples with him. When Atlanta caught up to him he tossed the first apple at her feet. The sight of the magic golden apple was irresistible to Atlanta. She stopped to pick it up confident that she could make up the time. Soon enough she was once again passing Melanion. He threw the second apple, this time further to the side. Again, she lost time retrieving the apple. As she again caught up the finish line was near and chasing the third thrown apple cost her the race.

Despite her resistance, marriage seemed to suit Atlanta. Melanion's happiness and joy were so great he completely forgot his obligations to sacrifice to Aphrodite. As usual, when messing up with the gods' payback was severe.

Aphrodite waited until Melanion and Atlanta were passing a shrine to a god, possibly Zeus. She then hit them with overwhelming desire. Melanion took Atlanta into the shrine and lay with her. At that point, the infuriated god turned them both into lions. This was regarded by the Greeks as particularly poetic as they believed that lions could mate only with leopards.

Bellerophon

Bellerophon was the son of Poseidon and Eurynome (wife of Glaucus). He was raised by Glaucus who thought Bellerophon was his own son. Considering that both Poseidon and Glaucus were interested in horses, it is not surprising that Bellerophon quested after Pegasus. After many failures, he asked the seer Polyeidus for help.

Following Polyeidus' instructions, he spent the night in a temple of Athena. There, he had a dream that the goddess offered him a magical, golden bridle. He awoke and found the bridle he dreamt about in his hands. He sensibly made a sacrifice to both Athena and Poseidon. Afterward, he went to the meadow Pegasus was gazing at and was able to bridle and tame the horse without difficulty. Triumphant in his success, he went to King Pittheus and received permission to marry his daughter Aethra. However, before the marriage, he accidentally killed a man, possibly one of his brothers, and was banished.

He went to King Proetus to be excused for his crime. The king pardoned him, but during his stay at Proetus's house, the King's wife, Stheneboea, attempted to seduce him. As an honorable man, Bellerophon rejected her advances. This infuriated Stheneboea who then falsely accused him of attempting to seduce her.

Greatly upset, Proetus wanted to be rid of Bellerophon without having to accuse him publicly. He was also concerned about harming a house guest, as this was an offense to the gods. So, he sent Bellerophon to deliver a sealed message to his wife's father, King Iobates.

Arriving on Pegasus, Bellerophon was warmly received and settled in as Iobates' house guest. Iobates unsealed and read the message thus learning of Stheneboea's accusations against Bellerophon. This left Iobates in the same predicament of acting against a guest that had troubled Proetus.

Iobates' solution was to ask Bellerophon to undertake a series of heroic, but deadly tasks. However, Bellerophon's courage and skill as an archer, combined with Pegasus' help, allowed him to prevail. In addition, his parentage, his sacrifices, and his acts of honor gave him the favor of the gods. His first task was to kill the terrible Chimaera. Succeeding, he was sent to conquer the neighboring Solymi tribe, which was Iobates' traditional enemy. When he defeated them, the King sent him to fight the Amazons. He was again victorious. In desperation, Iobates led an ambush against Bellerophon using his entire army; the army was killed to the last man.

At this point, Iobates had the wisdom to notice that something was very wrong. He realized that the gods favored Bellerophon and that this favor would not have been given to a dishonorable house guest. Iobates succeed in making amends by giving Bellerophon half his kingdom, including the best farmlands and his daughter Philonoe in marriage.

There are two stories concerning the fate of Stheneboea. One says that Bellerophon exacted revenge by taking her for a ride on Pegasus, then shoving her off to fall to her death. In the other version, Stheneboea hears that Bellerophon has married her sister. She knows that this means her slander would be revealed and chose to kill herself.

It appeared that Bellerophon would live happily ever after. His glorious deeds were widely sung. He was happily married. Philonoe bore him two sons, Isander and Hippolochus, and two daughters, Laodameia and Deidameia. As a king, his subjects loved and honored him.

However, this was not enough for Bellerophon. In his arrogance, he decided that he could ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus and visit the gods. Zeus quickly put an end to his trip by sending the gadfly to sting Pegasus and dismount Bellerophon. He survived his fall but was crippled. He spent the rest of his life wandering the earth. No man would help him because of his offense to the gods. He died alone with no one to record his fate.