The Calydonian Hunt

The statue of Meleager, the hero of the Calydonian Boar Hunt, is one of the gems of the Vatican. It was found outside of the Porta Portese, near the Tiber, at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Works of ancient sculpture have suffered from restoration, but this statue would have gained had the missing hand been replaced. It evidently held the spear upon which the hero is represented as leaning, and which would have restored the proper balance of the figure. The name of the sculptor is unknown, but the boar's head and the dog leave no question as to the subject.

Meleager was prince of Calydon, a city of AEtolia, over which his father, AEneus, ruled as king.

To punish AEneus for having neglected to sacrifice at her altar, Artemis (Diana) sent a wild boar into Calydonia to devastate the land and to destroy the inhabitants. The prince Meleager, who had taken part in the Argonautic expedition, sent messengers to invite the bravest heroes of Calydonia to join him in a hunt for the wild boar. They quickly assembled, and after enjoying for nine days the hospitality of Meleager, prepared on the tenth for the chase, which, with few accidents, resulted in the killing of the boar by Meleager. The trophy, the monster's head and skin, was awarded to the hero.

In art, Meleager is represented as standing by an altar with the boar's head upon it, with two spears in his hand, and his dog looking up at him. In the Vatican statue, the right hand and the spears are missing.

The beautiful Atalanta of Arcadia, who had also joined in the hunt, had been the first to wound the Boar, so Meleager presented the skin to her. This enraged the other heroes so much that, on her way home to Arcadia, she was met and forcibly robbed of it by the two brothers of the mother of Meleager. A quarrel arose in which the hero killed his uncles. Althea, his mother, in a moment of resentment, then threw into the fire "the fatal" brand which, the Fates had foretold at his birth, when consumed, would cause his death. Her brave son, Meleager, was seized with pain and died. His mother, overcome with remorse, then killed herself.

Homer does not mention the firebrand, hence some place this fable posterior to the death of the poet; but he does say that the death of her brothers, Toxeus and Plexippus, so irritated Althea that she uttered such curses and imprecations upon her son that he died.