A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1016 MELEAGER. MELEAGER.
afterwards to disguise the violent change of dy- 45. ~ 4), went out to hunt the boar, which was
nasty; and Melanthus undertook it on condition killed by Meleager. Artemis, however, created a
of being rewarded with the throne in the event of dispute about the animal's head and skin among
success. He slew Xanthus, and became king, to the Calydonians and Curetes. Late writers rethe exclusion of the line of Theseus. According present Atalante as taking part in this famous
to Pausanias, the conqueror of Xanthus was An- hunt; but the huntsmen refused to go out with
dropompus, the father of Melanthus; according to her, until Meleager, who loved her, prevailed upon
Aristotle, it was Codrus, his son. To the period them. According to Ovid (Met. viii.' 380), Ataof the reign of Melanthus Pausanias refers the ex- lante inflicted the first wound upon the animal;.pulsion of the Ionians from Aegialus by the while, according to others, Meleager first struck
Achaeans, and their settlement at Athens as a and killed it. He gave his prize, the boar's skin,
place of refuge. (Her. i. 147, v. 65; Paus. ii. 18, to Atalante, who was deprived of it by the sons of
iv. 5, vii. 1, 2; Strab. viii. p. 359, ix. p. 393, xiv. Thestius; but Meleager slew them. (Apollod. Ov.
p. 633; Con. Narr. 39; Aristot. Pol. v. 10, ed. II. cc.; Diod. iv. 34.) During the war between
lBekk..; Schol. ad.Aristoph. Aclh. 146, Pac. 855; the Calydonians and Curetes, the former were
Suid. s. v.'A7raro0pLa; Diet. of A4at. s. v.'Ara- always victorious, so long as Meleager went out'roepLa.) [E. E.] with them. But on one occasion he killed his
MELAS (MEAas.) 1. A son of Poseidon by a mother's brothers; and his mother pronounced a
nymph of Chios, and brother of Angelus. (Paus. curse upon him, in consequence of which he bevii. 4. ~ 6.) came indignant, and stayed at home, so that the
2. One of the Tyrrhenian pirates mentioned victorious Curetes began to press Calydons very
under MELANTHUS No. 1. hard. It was in vain that the old men of the town
3. A son of Phrixus and Chalciope, was married made him the most brilliant promises if he would
to Eurycleia, by whom he became the father of again join in the fight, and also the entreaties of
Hyperes. (Apollod. i. 9. ~ 1; Apollon. Rhod. ii. his own friends remained without effect. At
*1158; Schol. ad Pind. Pythl. iv. 221.) length, however, he yielded to the prayers of his
4. A son of Porthaon and Euryte, and brother wife, Cleopatra: he put the Curetes to flight, but
of Oeneus. (Hom. II. xiv. 117; Apollod. i. 7. ~ never returned home, for the Erinnys, who had
10; comp. OENEU8 and TYDEUS.) heard the curse of his mother, overtook him. (Hom.
5. A son of Antassus, at Gonusa, near Sicyon. II. ix. 527-600; comp. ii. 641.) The postHe joined the Dorians on their march against Homeric account gives a different cause of his
Corinth. His services were at first declined, but death. When Meleager was seven days old, it is
he was afterwards allowed to fight in the ranks of said, the Moerae appeared, declaring that the boy
the Dorians. He was the ancestor of the family would die as soon as the piece of wood that was
of Cypselus. (Paus. ii. 4. ~ 4, v. 18. ~ 7, 20, in burning on the hearth should be consumed. When
fin.) Althaea heard this, she extinguished the firebrand,
There are three other mythical personages of and concealed it in a chest. Meleager himself bethis name. (Pans. vii. 4. ~ 6, viii. 28. ~ 3; came invulnerable; but after he had killed the
Apollod. ii. 7. ~ 7.) [L. S.] brothers of his mother, she lighted the piece of
MELEA'GER (MeAypos), a son of Oeneus wood, and Meleager died, whereupon Althaea and
(whence he is called Oisv't3s), and Althaea, the Cleopatra hung themselves. (Apollod. i. 8. 5 2,
daughter of Thestius, and was married to Cleopatra, &c.; Hygin. PFb. 171; Diod. iv. 34; Ov. Met.
by whom he became the father of Polydora. viii. 450, &c., 531.) The sisters of Meleager
(Apollod. i. 8. ~ 2; Paus. iv. 2 in fin.; Orph. wept unceasingly after his death, until Artemis
Argon. 157.) Other accounts call Meleager a son changed them into guinea-hens (Aeheasypi1es),
of Ares, by Althaea (Plut. Parall. Min. 26; Ov. who were transferred to the island of Leros. Even
~Aet. viii. 437; Hygin. Fab. 171); and Hyginus in this condition they mourned during a certain
calls Parthenopaeus a son of Meleager. (Fab. 99, part of the year for their brother. Two of them,
270.) His brothers and sisters were Phereus or Gorge and Deianeira, through the mediation of
Thyreus, Agelaus, Toxeus, Periphas, Gorge, Eury- Dionysus, were not metamorphosed. (Anton. Lib..mede, Deianeira, Melanippe. Meleager is one of 2; Ov. Met. viii. 532, &c.; Apollod. i. 8. ~ 3.)
the most famous Aetolian heroes of Calydon, and The story of Meleager, his hunt of the Calydonian
distinguished himself by his skill in throwing the boar, his contest with the sons of Thestius, and
javelin, as one of the Argonauts, and in the Caly- other scenes of his life, were frequently represented
donian hunt. Thus he gained the victory at the by ancient artists. (Paus. iii. 18. ~ 9, viii. 45, ~
funeral games of Acastus (Hygin. Fab. 273; 4.) He usually appears as a robust hunter, with
Athen. iv. p. 172); and the spear with which he curly hair, the Aetolian chlamys, and a boar's head.
had slain the Calydonian boar he dedicated in the (Philostr. Icon. 15; comp. Welcker, Zeitschri/t
temple of Apollo at Sicyon. (Paus. ii. 7. ~ 8.) fur die alte Kunst, p. 123, &c.) [L. S.]
In the expedition of the Argonauts he was said in MELEA'GER (MeAe'aypos). I. Son of Neoptolesome legends to have slain Aeetes in the contest for mus, a Macedonian officer of distinction in the service
the golden fleece. (Diod. iv. 48.) While Mele- of Alexander the Great. He is first mentioned in
ager was at Calydon, Oeneus, the king of the the war against the Getae'(B. c. 335); and at the
place, once neglected to offer up a sacrifice to Ar- passage of the Granicus in the following year, we
temis, whereupon the angry goddess sent a mon- find him commanding one of the divisions ('aciels)
strous boar into the fields of Calydon, which were of the phalanx, a post which he afterwards held apravaged by the beast, while no one had the courage parently throughout the campaigns in Asia. He
to. hunt it. At length Meleager, with a band of was appointed, together with Coenus and Ptolemy
other heroes, whose number and names are different the son of Seleucus, to command the newly-married
in the different accounts (Apollod. i. 8. ~ 2; Ov. troops which were sent home from Caria to spend
Alet. viii. 300, &c.; Hygin. Feb. 174; Paus. viii. the winter in Macedonia, and rejoined Alexander at