Meleager

In Greek mythology, Meleager (/ˌmɛliˈeɪɡər/,Greek: Μελέαγρος Meléagros) was a hero venerated in his temenos at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Homer.

Mythology

Early life

Meleager was the son of Althaea and the vintner Oeneus and, according to some accounts father of Parthenopeus and Polydora. When Meleager was born, the Moirai (the Fates) predicted he would only live until a brand, burning in the family hearth, was consumed by fire. Overhearing them, Althaea immediately doused and hid the brand .

Atalanta

Oeneus sent Meleager to gather up heroes from all over Greece to hunt the Calydonian Boar that had been terrorizing the area, rooting up the vines, Oeneus having omitted Artemis at a festival in which he honored the other gods. In addition to the heroes he required, he chose Atalanta, a fierce huntress, whom he loved. According to one account of the hunt, when Hylaeus and Rhaecus, two centaurs, tried to rape Atalanta, Meleager killed them. Then Atalanta wounded the boar and Meleager killed it. He awarded her the hide since she had drawn the first drop of blood.

Meleager (general)

Meleager (Greek: Mελέαγρος Meleagros; died 323 BC) was a Macedonian officer who served Alexander the Great with distinction.

Meleager, son of Neoptolemus, is first mentioned in the war against the Getae (335 BC). At the Battle of the Granicus in the following year (334 BC), he commanded one of the divisions (ταξεις) of the phalanx, a post which he afterwards continued to hold apparently throughout the campaigns in Asia. He was appointed, together with Coenus and Ptolemy, the son of Seleucus, to command the newly married troops which were sent home from Caria to spend the winter in Macedon, and rejoined Alexander at Gordium in the following summer (333 BC).

He was present at the battles of Issus and Gaugamela, and was associated with Craterus in the task of dislodging the enemy who guarded the passes into Persia. He took part in the passage of the Hydaspes and in various other operations in India.

Despite a long series of services, Alexander did not promote him to any higher or more confidential position, nor does Meleager take part in any separate command of importance.

Meleager (king)

Meleager of Macedon (Greek: Μελέαγρος) was the brother of Ptolemy Ceraunus and son of Ptolemy I Soter and Eurydice. Meleager ruled in 279 BC for two months until he was compelled by his Macedonian troops to resign his crown.

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