Atalanta's Loyal Companion, [from Andrea Navagero]

 Author: Andrea Navagero

Region: [modern Italy]

Date: 16th century CE

Citation: [Picta Poesis Ovidiana [1580], p. 89

Often Atalanta would travel through the quiet glades

Safely, with her trusty dog at her side.

Whether she routed her prey through the hills

Or if she wanted to tackle the savage beasts head-on

Her pup companion was always by her side,

And never more than an inch away from her at all times.

 

 

Saepe pererrabat tacitos Atalanta recessus:

tuta tamen fido Menalione fuit.

Cingeret obsessos seu curva indagine colles:

seu cuperet saevas cominus ire feras.

Haerebat lateri semper comes ille: nec umquam,

a domina lato longius ungue fuit.

Women Are Capable of Achieving Perfection: Clement of Alexandria, Misc. 4.19

That Both Women and Men are Capable of Achieving Perfection, Which Is Also Seen In Examples from Non-Christian Sources

…Didn’t the Athenian woman Leaena bravely endure torment? She revealed nothing at all about the plot of Harmodius & Aristogiton had planned against Hipparchus, even when she was brutally tortured.

They say that the Argive women, under the poet Telesilla’s leadership, were the only ones who were able to rout the excessively warlike Spartans who had leveled their spears against them? Telesilla was able to make them fearless; they were not even afraid of death. 

The author of the Danai says something similar: “Rapidly, the Danai girls took up arms / upon the banks of the beautiful Nile,” etc.

Other poets sing of Atalanta’s speed in hunting, and Anticlea’s outstanding friendship, Alcestis’ love for her husband, the bravery of Maeaeria and Hyacinthides.

  

 --Clement of Alexandria, Stromatum lib.4 cap.19 translated into Latin by D. Nicolae le Nourry (1856)

Tam mulieres quam viros esse perfectionis obtinendae capaces, quod et heroinarum apud exemplis confirmat

...Annon enim tormenta quoque tulit fortiter Leaena Attica, quae cum esset conscia insidiarum quae ab Harmodio et Aristogitone parabantur in Hipparchum, nihil omnino est elocuta, etsi valde cruciaretur? Aiunt autem Argolicas quoque, Telesilla poetria duce, Spartanos, qui magna erant virtute in rebus bellicis, solo instituito prodeuntes fugasse, et effecisse ut illae mortem nihil extimescerent. De filiabus quoque Danai dicit similia Danaidis auctor: "Tumque cito Danai sumpserunt arma puellae / in ripis pulchro labentis flumine Nili;" et quae sequuntur. Canunt autem reliqui poetae velocitatem Atalantae in venatione, et egregiam Anticleae amicitiam ,et Alcestidis in maritum amorem, et Maeaeriae et Hyacinthidum fortitudinem...

 

Ace Champion Atalanta: Hyginus, Fab. 185

Name: Hyginus   Date:  64 BCE – 17 CE Region:  Hispania [modern Spain] / Alexandria [modern Egypt]; Rome [modern Italy] Citation:  Fables 185

It is said that Schoeneus had a beautiful daughter named Atalanta who surpassed men on the racetrack with her own athletic ability. She asked her father to remain unmarried, so whenever one of her many suitors asked for her hand in marriage, her father would set up a contest. A suitor who wanted to marry his daughter had to first run a race with Atalanta, but he would run the track unarmed, while she pursued him with a spear. After she hunted him down and killed him, she would put his head on display on the racetrack. After Atalanta had defeated and killed many suitors this way, she was finally defeated by Hippomenes [the son of Megareus and Merope]. Venus gave Hippomenes three special apples, and told him how to use them. During the race, he tossed the apples to the girl to slow down the race. She slowed down while she collected them and marveled at their golden appearance, and so the youth ended up winning the race. Schoeneus was impressed by the trick and happily married off his daughter to Hippomenes. But while he led her back to his homeland, Hippomenes forgot that he only won the race by Venus’ help, and did not thank her. Venus grew angry at that, and while Hippomenes was sacrificing to Jupiter the Winner on Mount Parnassus, he became overcome with lust and slept with Atalanta in the god’s sacred shrine. Because of this act, Jupiter turned them into lions, so they could no longer sleep together again*.

* According to ancient superstition, lions and lionesses could not mate with each other.

Schoeneus filiam Atalantam virginem formosissimam dicitur habuisse, quae virtute sua cursu viros superabat. ea petiit a patre ut se virginem servaret. itaque cum a pluribus in coniugium peteretur, pater eius simultatem constituit, qui eam ducere vellet prius in certamine cursu cum ea contenderet, termino constituto, ut ille inermis fugeret haec cum telo insequeretur; quem intra finem termini constituta fuisset interficeret, cuius caput in stadio figeret. plerosque cum superasset et ocidisset novissime ab Hippomene Megarei et Meropes filio victa est. hic enim a Venere mala tria insignis formae acceperat, edoctus quis usus in eis esset. qui in ipso certamine iactando puellae impetum alligavit. illa enim dum colligit et ammiratur aurum, declinavit et iuveni victoriam tradidit. cui Schoeneus ob industriam libens filiam suam dedit uxorem. Hanc cum in patriam duceret, oblitus beneficio Veneris se vicisse, grates ei non egit. irata Venere in monte Parnasso cum sacrificaret Iovi Victori, cupiditate incensus cum ea in fano concubuit. quos Iupiter ob id factum in leonem et leam convertit,  quibus dii concubitum Veneris denegant.

Hyginus [Caius Julius Hyginus; 64 BCE – 17 CE, modern Spain or Egypt] was one of Augustus’ freedmen and a famous mythographer. He was originally from Hispania [modern Spain].  Some think that he was actually from Alexandria [modern Egypt], and brought to Rome as a boy by Caesar after the fall of Alexandria. He studied under the Greek scholar Cornelius Alexander, then followed in his footsteps. He was in charge of the Palatine library, and despite this, still had the time to teach many people. He was very close friends with the poet Ovid and Clodius Licinius, the former consul and historian who, after Hyginus fell into poverty, supported him financially for as long as he lived.

Atalanta's End: Lactantius Placidius 10.11

Ace Champion Atalanta

Name: Lactantius Placidus Date:  5th or 6th century CE Region:    Unknown Citation:  Plots of Ovid’s Myths, Book 10, Story 11

When Atalanta learned about marriage and was warned to never marry, she set up a test for all of her suitors. Since she was the fastest woman alive, she said that she would marry anyone who won a race against her, but would kill anyone she outran.

Ace Chamption Atalanta

Atalanta, Schoenei filia, cum de coniugio sciscitata esset et monita nulli iungeretur, quia omnium virginum pernicissima erat, petentibus procris legem posuit, eius coniugem futuram, qui se cursu pedum antecessisset, victo autem necem statuit.

Lactantius Placidus [5^th or 6^th century CE] is the name of the author attributed to a prose summary of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but little is known about the author or his time period.

Challenging Gender Roles: The Philosopher Hipparchia, Greek Anthology 7.413

Hipparchia, The Cynic Philosopher

Name:  Antipater of Sidon Date:    2nd – 1st century BCE Region:     Sidon [modern Lebanon] Citation:     Greek Anthology  7.413

 Hipparchia was a famous Cynic philosopher who lived during the late 4th or early 3rd century BCE. According to tradition, Hipparchia rejected her role as an Athenian noblewoman to marry the famous Cynic philosopher Crates, and spent the remainder of her life following the ascetic lifestyle of a Cynic. Although she was a prolific author, only fragments of her writing remain.

 

No longer dwelling in the lifestyle of the wide-belted ladies,

I, Hipparchia, have chosen the manly life of a Cynic.

Pretty robes and stylish shoes no longer work for me;

Neither do pretty hair-nets.

A rugged staff is my companion, as well as a double-layered cloak, and

The rough ground is my home.

To me, my life is better than Atalanta’s,

Since wisdom is so much better than jogging.

οὐχὶ βαθυστόλμων Ἱππαρχία ἔργα γυναικῶν, τῶν δὲ Κυνῶν ἑλόμαν ῥωμαλέον βίοτον οὐδέ μοι ἀμπεχόναι περονήτιδες, οὐ βαθύπελμος εὔμαρὶς, οὐ λιπόων εὔαδε κεκρύφαλος: οὐλὰς δὲ σκίπωνι συνέμπορος, ἅ τε συνῳδὸς δίπλαξ, καὶ κοίτας βλῆμα χαμαιλεχέος. ἄμμι δὲ Μαιναλίας κάρ’ῥων μνάμα Ἀταλάντας τόσσον, ὅσον σοφία κρέσσον ὀριδρομίας.

Non ego feminei mores Hipparchia sexus, sed mare sum forte corde secuta canes. Non placuit pallam substringens fibula, non pes vinctus, et unguentis oblita vitta mihi: sed baculus nudique pedes, quaeque artubus haeret Diplois, inque locum dura cubilis humus. Maenaliae tantum potior mea vita puellae, quanto venari quam sapuisse minus. Translated into Latin by Hugo Grotius

 

 Antipater of Sidon [2nd – 1st century BCE, modern Lebanon] was a Greek poet who lived under Roman rule during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. Dozens of his poems were preserved in the Greek Anthology.

The Funerary Inscription of Allia Potestas, CIL 6.37965

Here Lies Allia Potestas

Name: Unknown Date:  3rd century CE Region:  Perusia [modern Italy] Citation:  CIL 6.37965

To the Shade of Allia Potestas, freed slave of Allius:

Here lies the lady of Perusia.

No other woman is as precious as this one is.

Out of the multitude of women,

Maybe one or two could be better than her.

Such a busy lady held in such a tiny urn!

Persephone, cruel and harsh mistress of fate,

Why do you take away good people and leave the bad ones alone?

Everybody asks about her, and

I’m tired of telling them of her death;

Their tears are evidence of her good heart.

She was strong.

She was pious.

She was courageous.

She was faultless.

She was the most faithful housewife,

Efficient at home,

Efficient enough in public,

Well loved by everybody.

She was the only one who could meet any challenge.

She kept her mouth shut and stayed blameless.

She was the first one out of bed;

She was the last one to go to bed;

And only when everything was done.

She kept her hands busy with her wool-working,

Never putting it off with an excuse.

No one surpassed her in character and work ethic.

She never got cocky, never took time for herself to relax.

She was pretty—so pretty to look at—with golden hair,

The ivory-smoothness of her face remained ‘till the end,

The kind that they say doesn’t happen among mortal women…

What about her legs?

She looked like an actor playing Atalanta [1]

She didn’t worry about her beauty,

But Mother Nature was kind to her body.

Perhaps you could criticize her rough hands,

But she wasn’t satisfied unless she did the work herself.

She wasn’t an extrovert,

But thought her own company was enough.

No one really talked about her, because

She didn’t do anything to bring attention to herself.

As long as she lived,

She lived with her two lovers in such a way

That they were like the relationship of Pylades and Orestes [2]

They shared a single home

And a single heart.

But after her death,

They have grown apart,

And now they grow old apart.

What one woman has built, was destroyed in a brief moment.

Look at the example of Troy [3], to see what a woman can do!

Let this big example showcase a smaller one.

Your patron, who has ever kept you in his heart,

Gives this poem in never-ending tears

As a gift to the deceased woman,

Who will appreciate this gift.

Now that you’re gone,

Your patron will never find another woman pleasing;

He lives without you, and now suffers a living death.

He carries your name, carved in gold,

And looks to it often, as much as he can,

Preserving Ability[4] in gold.

As long as my influence lasts,

You will live on in my words.

I hold your image as a comfort for my grief,

Which I treasure, and adorn it with wreaths,

And whenever I visit your tomb, I will bring it with me.

But, overcome in such misery,

Can I properly grieve you with the proper ceremony?

If I can find another to entrust this ceremony,

Perhaps I can be happy in this one thing after losing you.

Oh no! You have won! My fate has become yours.

If someone is capable of harming this memorial, 

They are also capable of harming holy ground.

Believe that this tomb also contains a god.

[1] According to Greek myth, Atalanta was the fastest runner of her generation.

[2] Pylades and Orestes shared a deep and loving bond that some authors saw as friendship and others saw as a romantic relationship.

[3] This is a reference to the role of Helen of Troy in the Trojan War.

[4] A pun on her name, Potestas

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Here Lies Allia Potestas

DM

Alliae A. L. Potestatis

Hic Perusina sita est, qua non pretiosior ulla

femina de multis vix una aut altera, visa.

Sedula seriola parva tam magna teneris.

Crudelis fati rector duraque Persiphone,

quid bona diripitis exuperantque mala?

Quaeritur a cunctis, iam respondere fatigor:

dant lacrimas animi signa benigna sui.

Prima toro delapsa fuit, eadem ultima lecto

se tulit ad quietem positis ex ordine rebus,

lana cui manibus numquam sine causa recessit,

opsequioque prior nulla moresque salubres. 

Haec sibi non placuit, numquam sibi libera visa.

Candida, luminibus pulchris, aurata capillis,

Fortis sancta, tenax, insons, fidissima custos,

munda domi, sat munda foras, notissima volgo,

sola erat ut posset factis occurrere cunctis.

Exiguo sermone inreprehensa manebat.

et nitor in facie permansit eburneus illae,

qualem mortalem nullam habuisse ferunt...[1]

Quid crura? Atalantes status illi comicus ipse.

Anxia non mansit, sed corpore pulchra benigno

levia membra tulit…Quod manibus duris fuerit, culpabere forsan;

nil illi placuit nisi quod per se sibi fecerat ipsa. 

Nosse fuit nullum studium, sibi se satis esse putabat.

Mansit et infamis, quia nil admiserat umquam.

Haec duo dum vixit iuvenes ita rexit amantes,

exemplo ut fierent similes Pyladisque et Orestae;

una domus capiebat eos unusque et spiritus illis. 

Post hanc nunc idem diversi sibi quisq. senescunt;

femina quod struxit talis, nunc puncta lacessunt.

Aspicite ad Troiam, quid femina fecerit olim!

Sit precor hoc iustum, exemplis in parvo grandibus uti.

Hos tibi dat versus lacrimans sine fine patronus 

muneris amissae,  cui nuncquam es pectore adempta,

quae putat amissis munera grata dari,

nulla cui post te femina visa proba est:

qui sine te vivit, cernit sua funera vivos.

Auro tuum nomen fert ille refertque lacerto 

qua retinere potest: auro conlata potestas.

Quantumcumque tamen praeconia nostra valebunt,

versiculis vives quandiucuque meis.

Effigiem pro te teneo solacia nostri,

qua colimus sancte sertaque ulta datur, 

cumque at te veniam, mecum comitata sequetur.

Sed tamen infelix cui tam sollemnia mandem?

Si tamen extiterit, cui tantum credere possim,

hoc unum felix amissa te mihi forsan ero.

Ei Mihi! Vicisti: sors mea facta tua est. 

Laedere qui hoc poterit, ausus quoque laedere divos.

Haec titulo insignis credite numen habet.

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[1] The description of her chest will not be published here.