Atalanta

Atalanta was a Greek mortal.

Birth and Upbringing
Atalanta was left in the wildnerness as a child because her father wanted a son, but she was found and fed by a bear and was later found by hunters that raised her and taught her the skills of hunting.

Life
As a young woman, Atalanta swore to remain a virgin in devotion to Artemis, the goddess of hunting. When a pair of centaurs broke into the grove of Artemis, Atalanta killed them with her bow and arrows.

Atalanta was one of the Argonauts and defeated Peleus in a wrestling match at the funeral games of King Pelias.

She also was a member of the part assembled for the Calydonian Boar Hunt. She was the first to draw blood on the beast so when the boar was killed, Meleager gave her the skin of the beast as a prize. When Meleager's uncles tried to forcibly take the skin of the boar from Atalanta, he killed them both.

Atalanta was later reunited with her father, Iasus, and he insisted that she got married. However, she didn't want to marry and, knowing that she was a very fast runner, she said that she would marry the first person to defeat her in a footrace. If Atalanta won the race, the loser would be put to death. She defeated many suitors and many people died but with the help of Aphrodite, Hippomenes beat Atalanta with the use of distracting golden apples which slowed her down.

Death
After getting married, Hippomenes forgot to thank Aphrodite for her help. Aphrodite drove them mad with lust and they coupled in the shrine of Rhea and they were turned into lions (the Ancient Greeks believed that lions were unable to breed with other lions, they thought that lions could only breed with leopards).

Relationships

 * Parents: Iasus and Clymene
 * Spouse(s): Hippomenes
 * Children with Hippomenes: Parthenopeus