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The Myth of Meleager

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The Myth of Meleager The Myth Of Meleager By Monty C Meleager was a Greek hero who, as well as being the man who famously led an expedition to kill the Calydonian boar, went on the expedition of the Argonauts. His father was King Oeneus of Calydon and his mother Althaea. He was a very skilled fighter, but he came to be regarded as second only to Heracles in his abilities. He was the youngest of the Argonauts, and was said to kill the Argonauts' biggest enemy, King Aeetes of Colchis. After his mission, he married Cleopatra and had a daughter, Polydora. He did not die on this quest, but he came home from his mission to a terrible thing. Artemis (the Olympian goddess of the hunt, the moon, chastity, childbirth and nature) had unleashed a fearsome boar in his homeland. He took a leading role in killing the boar - since he was very successful in the Argonaut mission, and his confidence had grew over the course of the mission - during what became known as the Calydonian Boar Hunt which lead to his death. There were two versions of Meleager’s death, but both started with a quarrel between his uncles over the prized boar skin. Althaea was mainly married to Oeneus to help settle a blood feud that may have gone on for generations, and while Meleager’s uncles came to help with the capture or killing of the boar, there would have been a lot of tension among them, between the Calydonians and Althaea's brothers (the Curetes). The first version consists of the quarrel over the prized boar skin leading to a new war between the Curetes and the Calydonians. This put Meleager in a bad position since he had relatives on both sides, so if he supported one side then he would be known as a family traitor to the other side. But without his leadership, the Calydonians were on the verge of losing. As so, his wife Cleopatra appealed him to saving the city, however, he then killed both his uncles. As a result, his mother cursed him and possibly cursed him so that he would be killed. In any case, the Erinyes then killed him as revenge for him killing of his blood relatives. TPO (turn page over) The different and most believed version, starts with Meleager awarding the prize of the boar skin to Atlanta because she drew first blood of the beast. Awarding the prize to a woman angered the rest of the hunting party, annoying most men.. However, his uncles felt that their position let them to give orders to Meleager. An argument quickly followed between them and Meleager then killed both his uncles. When his mother heard of her Meleager killing her brothers,, she burned the stick the Fates had spoken of, and - as a result - Meleager died. Althaea then killed herself in remorse, whilst Cleopatra (Meleager’s wife) then also committed suicide, driven by the grief of Meleager’s death. This myth went on to be a famous Greek story told in person by generations to generations, being written down along the way. Meleager was probably a person, with the fate of being killed by his mother, but with doubt had the whole story, as being called a myth it wasn’t all true. Thank you for reading or listening. - Researched and Written by Monty Callaghan..
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