The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. It occurred in the generation prior to that of the Trojan War, and stands alongside the other great heroic adventure of that generation, the voyage of the Argonauts, which preceded it. The purpose of the hunt was to kill the Calydonian boar, which had been sent by Artemis to ravage the region of Calydon in Aetolia, because its king Oeneus had failed to honour her in his rites to the gods. The hunters, led by the hero Meleager, included many of the foremost heroes of Greece. In most accounts it is also concluded that a great heroine, Atalanta, won its hide by first wounding it with an arrow. This outraged many of the men, leading to a tragic dispute.
Meleager (sitting on a rock, with two spears) and Atalanta (standing) reposing after the Calydonian boar-hunt. Antique fresco from Pompeii.
The Calydonian boar hunt shown on a Roman frieze (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
Tondo of a Laconian black-figure cup by the Naucratis Painter, c. 555 BCE (Louvre)
The Calydonian boar, metope fragment from the Sicyonian Treasury, Delphi Archaeological Museum, Delphi, Greece.
Calydon was a Greek city in ancient Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus, 7.5 Roman miles from the sea.
Its name is most famous today for the Calydonian boar that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age.
The Laphrion sanctuary plateau of Calydon with Varasova mountain on the background.
Ancient theater of Calydon
