Meleager

 In Greek mythology, Meleager (/;m;li;e;;;r/,[1] Greek: ;;;;;;;;;, translit. Mel;agros) 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.[2] Meleager is also mentioned as one of the Argonauts. (/;m;li;e;;;r/,[1] Greek: ;;;;;;;;;, translit. Mel;agros) 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.[2] Meleager is also mentioned as one of the Argonauts.
Meleager was a Calydonian prince as the son of Althaea and the vintner King Oeneus or according to some, of the god Ares.[3][4] He was the brother of Deianeira, Toxeus, Clymenus, Periphas, Agelaus (or Ageleus), Thyreus (or Phereus or Pheres), Gorge, Eurymede and Melanippe.[5][6]

Meleager was the father of Parthenopeus by Atalanta but he married Cleopatra, daughter of Idas and Marpessa.[7] They had a daughter, Polydora, who became the bride of Protesilaus, who left her bed on their wedding-night to join the expedition to Troy.

Mythology
Calydonian boar hunt

Meleager (sitting on a rock, with 2 spears) and Atalanta (standing) reposing after the Calydonian boar-hunt. Antique fresco from Pompeii.
When Meleager was born, the Moirai (the Fates) predicted he would only live until a piece of wood, then burning in the family hearth, was consumed by fire. Overhearing them, Althaea immediately doused and hid it.[8]

Oeneus sent Meleager to gather up heroes from all over Greece[9] to hunt the Calydonian boar that had been terrorizing the area and rooting up the vines, as Oeneus had 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.[10] 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's uncles Toxeus, the "archer",[11] and Plexippus grew enraged that the prize was given to a woman. Meleager killed them in the following argument. He also killed Iphicles and Eurypylus for insulting Atalanta. When Althaea found out that Meleager had killed her brothers, she placed the piece of wood that she had stolen from the Fates (the one that the Fates predicted, once engulfed with fire, would kill Meleager) upon the fire, thus fulfilling the prophecy and killing Meleager, her own son. Meleager's sisters who mourned his death excessively were turned into guineafowl (meleagrides).


Meleager

With a long list of young sisters,
He used to hunt for boars
And he used to have an enormous speed.
Moving around, he would risk his life
And he was drawn to a priceless and excellent Atalanta.
Their love would swirl in the depth of the woods,
He killed Iphicles and Eurypylus,
Then turning himself
Into a victime killed by his mother Athaea.
His life was a fast track
Of an immense adventure.