Meleager
Meleager's life was bound to a burning log.
The Legend of Meleager
Son of Oeneus of Calydon, Meleager was marked at birth by the Fates, who declared he would live only as long as a certain log remained unburned. His mother Althaea hid it. When Artemis sent a monstrous boar to ravage Calydon — punishment for Oeneus neglecting her sacrifice — Meleager led the hunt. Atalanta drew first blood, and Meleager awarded her the hide. His uncles objected; he killed them. Althaea, torn between son and brothers, threw the log into the fire. Meleager died, and his sisters' grief moved Zeus to transform them into birds.
Parents
Oeneus and Althaea
Children
Parthenopaeus
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Calydonian Hunt was the Greek Round Table.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Meleager
🗡 heroHero whose life was bound to a burning log
The leader of the Calydonian Boar Hunt whose fate was tied to a charred brand — when it burned out, he died.
Althaea
🗡 heroNone recorded
Queen of Calydon and mother of Meleager who killed her own son by burning the magical brand that the Fates had tied to his life at birth
Aetolia
🏛 placegeography
A region of northwestern Greece associated with the Calydonian Boar Hunt and the hero Meleager.
Eurytion
🗡 heroHunting, archery
Argonaut and skilled hunter who later participated in the Calydonian Boar Hunt
Parthenopaeus
🗡 heroSeven Against Thebes, Youth, Arcadia
Young Arcadian hero, one of the Seven Against Thebes, who died at the city walls before seeing his homeland again.
Meleager and the Brand
💭 conceptfate, maternal love
The hero whose life was tied to a burning log by the Fates, extinguished by his mother Althaea and eventually relit in an act of matricidal vengeance.
Arcas
🗡 heroKingship, hunting, Arcadia
Eponymous founder and king of Arcadia who was nearly tricked into eating his own transformed mother
Bellerophon
🗡 heroThe hero who tamed Pegasus
The Corinthian hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and slew the Chimera, but fell from heaven when he tried to reach Olympus.
Phaea
🗡 heroNone recorded
Monstrous sow of Crommyon that terrorised the countryside until slain by Theseus
Actaeon
🗡 heropunishment
Hunter who accidentally saw Artemis bathing and was transformed into a stag, then torn apart by his own hunting dogs.
Iphigenia
🗡 heroPrincess sacrificed for the Trojan War
Iphigenia was Agamemnon's eldest daughter, sacrificed at Aulis to gain winds for Troy — or rescued at the last moment by Artemis and whisked to Tauris.
Iphitus
🗡 heroNone recorded
Son of Eurytus who gave Odysseus the great bow and was later murdered by Heracles