Speaker 1: Hello, this is let's talk about myths Baby. I'm Live,
Speaker 1: your host and the person who can only come up
Speaker 1: with so many clever introductions for herself. I've hit a
Speaker 1: wall today, friends, but that won't stop me from telling
Speaker 1: you one of the most anticipated stories of Greek mythology,
Speaker 1: because today marks the first episode of Women's History. Months
Speaker 1: before we begin, though a quick announcement. As many of
Speaker 1: you know from my various social media's, I've opened a
Speaker 1: new merch store. This one goes through thread lists, which
Speaker 1: is better for you and it's better for me. I'll
Speaker 1: be adding new merch soon. I've got some brilliant designer
Speaker 1: friends on the case. But for now, March eight is
Speaker 1: International Women's Day, and I think that's as good a
Speaker 1: time as any to run my first sale. So starting
Speaker 1: Friday morning Pacific time, because I got to do it manually,
Speaker 1: and ending Monday morning Pacific time, there will be a
Speaker 1: sale on all products on my March store. I'll announce
Speaker 1: on social media too, but now you know, head over
Speaker 1: to Mith's Baby dot threadless dot com to shop the
Speaker 1: sail and so. In honor of Women's History Month and
Speaker 1: International Women's Day this Friday, I give you this not
Speaker 1: so many mini myth heroine of ancient Greece, the o
Speaker 1: g wonder Woman at Atlanta. Atalanta was born to a
Speaker 1: man who wanted a son, because of course all men
Speaker 1: wanted sons. We don't hear much about her mother, which
Speaker 1: is not at all shocking. This is about how her
Speaker 1: father wanted a boy. What was the point of having
Speaker 1: only a daughter. There would be no one to hold
Speaker 1: the family name. There would be no strength or heroism
Speaker 1: in the family. It's desperately depressing if you only have
Speaker 1: a daughter. Atalanta's father felt this deeply. He felt this
Speaker 1: anger and disappointment so deeply that Atalanta's father left her
Speaker 1: out to die when she was only a baby. She
Speaker 1: was exposed, left on the side of a mountain with
Speaker 1: no food or water, destined to die either of the
Speaker 1: elements or wild animals. He was a lovely man, her
Speaker 1: father a family man. But we know better than to
Speaker 1: believe that a child left to die by exposure actually does. Instead,
Speaker 1: this trope serves as the starting point for countless heroes.
Speaker 1: This case is no different. You see a bear, a
Speaker 1: female bear takes pity on Atlanta and nurses her, keeps
Speaker 1: her warm, and allows her to grow into a strong
Speaker 1: and brave girl. When Atalanta had grown into a young girl,
Speaker 1: one raised by a bear and so fearless and strong
Speaker 1: and straight badass, she was found by some hunters. I'm
Speaker 1: going to distrust and assume this isn't because they hundered
Speaker 1: her mother bear and simply they'd come across her one
Speaker 1: day in the forest, But either way, Atlanta was found
Speaker 1: by hunters and was brought to live with them. She
Speaker 1: would once again be living with humans. Atlanta learned more
Speaker 1: from these men than anyone imagined, eventually surpassing them in
Speaker 1: her skill. It's told that one day she was out
Speaker 1: in the woods and she was spotted by two centaurs. Normally,
Speaker 1: being pursued by centaurs would lead only to the humans death.
Speaker 1: You must remember that Chiron is the exception to the rule.
Speaker 1: Chiron is not a true centaur. Most centaurs are vicious
Speaker 1: monsters who want only to cause death and destruction, but
Speaker 1: also their half horse, so at least they look cool
Speaker 1: but badass female Atalanta had no issue with these centaurs. No,
Speaker 1: she knew how to handle the situation. Instead of running
Speaker 1: from them, as almost anyone else would, she stood her ground.
Speaker 1: She turned to face the centaurs pursuing her. She put
Speaker 1: an arrow in her bow, she aimed, and she shot.
Speaker 1: She killed both the centaurs before they could even reach her. Seriously,
Speaker 1: she's a fucking badass, and she's a she. You may
Speaker 1: remember Atalanta's name because I've spoken of her once before.
Speaker 1: She's the only woman to have joined one of the
Speaker 1: more famous heroes on his heroic journeys. You see, there
Speaker 1: was a terrifying and just crazy dangerous boar terrorizing the
Speaker 1: country of Caladon. This was a curse placed by Artemis,
Speaker 1: who had been overlooked by the king Eneus during a
Speaker 1: sacrifice to the other gods. How could you possibly do that,
Speaker 1: knowing the stakes of angering the gods is beyond me.
Speaker 1: But he did, and so Artemis is fucking piste. She
Speaker 1: sends this boar to just devastate the area. It kills
Speaker 1: livestock and people and man, it's just a real troublemaker,
Speaker 1: that boar. It also becomes known as the Caledonian boar
Speaker 1: due to the area it was fucking up. King Aenias
Speaker 1: and this is Eneas with an oh, it's a totally
Speaker 1: different spelling. This is not a Eneas who founded Rome,
Speaker 1: just to clarify that he had to put together a
Speaker 1: team of heroes to kill the Caledonian boar. Already, so
Speaker 1: many of his men had failed, and he really needed
Speaker 1: someone to succeed. A team, and a team of the
Speaker 1: best of the best seems his only option. They assembled
Speaker 1: a group of some of the bravest men of Greece,
Speaker 1: and of course, one woman. Many of them would later
Speaker 1: sail with Jason on his ship the Argo, becoming the Argonauts.
Speaker 1: Atalanta joins this group as the only woman, but the
Speaker 1: woman who is matched in skill and strength and heroism
Speaker 1: with the men. Fuck yeah. When Atalanta walks into the room,
Speaker 1: joining the men who have all gathered to go after
Speaker 1: the Caledonian boar, she turns heads. Not only is she
Speaker 1: a woman amongst these heroes, but she looks awesome. She
Speaker 1: has on a nice robe with a sparkly buckle, She
Speaker 1: has her hair up in a feminine but tough sort
Speaker 1: of style, and she has an ivory bow hung by
Speaker 1: her side. She looks the part, but you know, men
Speaker 1: of this time are quite obviously confused by her. She's
Speaker 1: a woman, and a beautiful one at that, but here
Speaker 1: she is acting like a man. They're left quite perplexed,
Speaker 1: debating whether they are attracted to her or see her
Speaker 1: as boyish. I imagine this is quite a confusing time,
Speaker 1: but nevertheless she persisted. One of the men, though, had
Speaker 1: no trouble admitting that he is very much taken with her.
Speaker 1: Moleaguer falls in love with Atalanta right there. She's strong
Speaker 1: and beautiful, and she knows how to handle her bow.
Speaker 1: He was in even though he was very eager to
Speaker 1: accept her for who she is, Atalanta isn't having it.
Speaker 1: She doesn't care for men and has vowed never to marry.
Speaker 1: I wish I could say whether this is because she
Speaker 1: preferred women, but that's not clear, nor would it be
Speaker 1: since that aspect of the story would likely never get
Speaker 1: passed down. In any event, Moleigher has left, loving Atlanta
Speaker 1: from Afar and being her constant defender against the shittier
Speaker 1: of the men in the group. For instance, many of
Speaker 1: the men assembled have no desire to go after the
Speaker 1: boar with Atlanta with them. They feel it's beneath them
Speaker 1: to have a woman and that she'll only cause trouble. Yes,
Speaker 1: but lovely times these were, But Maliager defends her, and
Speaker 1: finally he's convinced the more fragile men that she'll be
Speaker 1: an asset and they must go after the boar. And
Speaker 1: this was the right fucking decision, because when they finally
Speaker 1: do come upon the boar, two of the group die
Speaker 1: before they can even figure out what's happening. Many of
Speaker 1: the men panic, swinging and throwing their weapons madly. Another
Speaker 1: man dies from this, not even from the fucking boar,
Speaker 1: just from spears flying. But Atalanta knows what the funck
Speaker 1: is up. She keeps her cool, and she wounds the
Speaker 1: boar so badly that it lays still long enough for
Speaker 1: mo leaguer to come in and stab it. Today's episode
Speaker 1: is brought to you by Audible. Could listening make you
Speaker 1: a better student, a better leader, even a better person?
Speaker 1: Could listening to mythological nonfiction or fiction make you an
Speaker 1: even more fervent lover of the ancient Greeks? Could sending
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Speaker 1: to five five hundred and listen for a change for
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Speaker 1: myths baby m y t h s b A b
Speaker 1: y or text myths baby to five zero zero five
Speaker 1: zero zero and listen for a change. And so the
Speaker 1: boar is dead, and technically speaking, it's death is caused
Speaker 1: by Moliger, but he wasn't kidding himself. He knows it's
Speaker 1: Atalanta who defeated the Caledonian boar. He insists she gets
Speaker 1: the honor of keeping the skin of the boar, that
Speaker 1: she was the one who killed it. Maliager is a
Speaker 1: fucking ally if I've ever seen one. But the power
Speaker 1: of the patriarchy runs deep. You see, when Maliagher was
Speaker 1: a baby, he was cursed by the fates. They had
Speaker 1: come to his mother, Althea, as she held her newborn
Speaker 1: son and thrown a log on the fire. They told
Speaker 1: her that the baby would die when the log had
Speaker 1: turned to ash. As soon as the fates were gone,
Speaker 1: Althea grabs the log from the fire and hides the
Speaker 1: charred piece away where it can't be burned any further.
Speaker 1: And so because of this action, Maliager is able to
Speaker 1: grow up and be a fucking awesome ally to Atlanta.
Speaker 1: But as I said, it runs deep. Althea's brothers. Laguer's
Speaker 1: uncles have also been part of this hunting trip, and
Speaker 1: they are particularly pissed that Atlanta, a woman, has been
Speaker 1: given the skin of the boar, and holds the title
Speaker 1: for having killed it. This cannot stand. She's a woman,
Speaker 1: damn it. They announced that they won't let it happen.
Speaker 1: They won't let Atlanta keep the skin, and they accused
Speaker 1: Maleaguer of deciding the whole thing on his own. So
Speaker 1: Maliager kills them. He's that devoted to Atalanta althea though,
Speaker 1: here's about what her son has done to her brothers.
Speaker 1: And in her anger, she takes out the charred log.
Speaker 1: She throws it back on the fire. It burns and
Speaker 1: burns until it turns to ash, and when it does,
Speaker 1: Leaguer simply drops dead. Moleager died because you have the
Speaker 1: gall to support a woman. Though Maliager is tragically killed
Speaker 1: for being on her side, this is not the end
Speaker 1: of Atlanta's story. Yes, this woman has more than one story.
Speaker 1: Can you even imagine? But well, again, the patriarchy runs deep,
Speaker 1: so don't get too excited. Atlanta has so many men
Speaker 1: wanting to marry her, it seems there are indeed men
Speaker 1: in Greek mythology who could appreciate a strong woman. Reassuring,
Speaker 1: isn't it. But again, even though there were so many
Speaker 1: men who wanted to marry Atlanta, she had no desire
Speaker 1: to ever marry. It just wasn't for her as a woman. Though.
Speaker 1: It's very hard to keep this going. Everyone around you
Speaker 1: will tell you you need to marry. It's what you do.
Speaker 1: So Atlanta has to come up with a reason why
Speaker 1: she can't. She announces that she'll only marry a man
Speaker 1: who can beat her in a foot race. She knows
Speaker 1: no one can. That she's the fastest, so it seems
Speaker 1: a safe enough way to handle the constant onslaught of dudes.
Speaker 1: But there's always an asshole who cheats, right, Milannion is
Speaker 1: the asshole who cheats. Milannion decides he simply must have Attlanta,
Speaker 1: but he knows he's never going to beat her in
Speaker 1: a foot race she's so fucking fast, so instead he
Speaker 1: uses Aphrodite. Aphroditie, you see, has a thing for fucking
Speaker 1: with people who don't appreciate love. Because Atlanta doesn't want
Speaker 1: to marry, she's an easy target for Alfhrodite. Aphrodite gives
Speaker 1: Milannion three golden apples, and he plans to race at Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and they do. The race starts, and of course Atalanta
Speaker 1: is immediately ahead. She's beating Millannion quite amazingly, just zipping along,
Speaker 1: that is, until he throws one of those fucking golden
Speaker 1: apples out in front of her. It's shiny and it's beautiful,
Speaker 1: and Atalanta slows down long enough to examine it and
Speaker 1: bring it with her. Still, though even with this delay,
Speaker 1: she is certainly faster and Millennion, and they keep going.
Speaker 1: But then he throws another fucking apple. Once again, Atlanta
Speaker 1: slows enough to grab it, and Millennion gets ahead of her. Atlanta,
Speaker 1: though as I've mentioned endlessly, now is sucking fast. She
Speaker 1: quickly gets back in the lead and the finish line
Speaker 1: is nearing, so Millennion throws his third apple and that's it.
Speaker 1: They're too close to the finish line. Atlanta stops for
Speaker 1: the apple, and that's all it takes. Millennion reaches the
Speaker 1: Finnish line and has officially beaten her in the foot race.
Speaker 1: It's over. She's forced to marry him, and that, quite
Speaker 1: unsurprisingly is the end to Atlanta stories. She's a wife
Speaker 1: now how can she continue on with her heroic ways?
Speaker 1: This story hurts me. It hurts, but I still love it.
Speaker 1: There's a woman who's strong and heroic and amazing, and
Speaker 1: she's a woman. The story of Atlanta and the Caledonian
Speaker 1: Boar and Moliger is just wonderful. I love her, I
Speaker 1: love Moleaguer. It's great and then it's ruined. Is Atlanta's
Speaker 1: fate something that came naturally in the progression of this story?
Speaker 1: I would say no. Is it instead based on some
Speaker 1: nonsensical notion of women thought up by men, that women
Speaker 1: can't resist something shiny, even if it causes their own demise.
Speaker 1: What a dark fucking thought. Based on the character of
Speaker 1: Atlanta that we're actually given, it doesn't seem reasonable that
Speaker 1: she would be stupid enough to let herself lose the
Speaker 1: race just because there's a fucking shiny apple on the ground, honestly.
Speaker 1: But then it's difficult to parse details like this because
Speaker 1: it's not as though the women were telling the stories.
Speaker 1: The men told the stories. They told the story of
Speaker 1: a strong, independent woman who was enough by herself and
Speaker 1: didn't need a man, and then they told the story
Speaker 1: of her being forced to marry a man because she
Speaker 1: saw something shiny. It's gross, So let's all make a
Speaker 1: point of remembering Atlanta and Moliger and the Caledonian Boar
Speaker 1: and fuck Millennion and the foot race. Thank you all
Speaker 1: for listening. I'm so glad I finally told the story.
Speaker 1: Even if it ends stupidly, it's still a badass woman
Speaker 1: doing badass things. That's a rare thing in these stories,
Speaker 1: especially if we're talking mortal women. So we've got to
Speaker 1: hold onto what we've got. This version I've told comes
Speaker 1: from quite appropriately, the queen of Greek mythology, Edith Hamilton's.
Speaker 1: Her version is in the form of a chapter in
Speaker 1: the hero section that is devoted to Atlanta entirely. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Robert Graves has another version with many differences, that sets
Speaker 1: Atalanta as a kind of side character who doesn't do much.
Speaker 1: But Edith Hamilton's is derived from Apollodorus, so we're trusting
Speaker 1: her because that's a sound source, and also because I
Speaker 1: want a version where the woman is the hero. God
Speaker 1: damn it. Happy Women's History Month. I'm so glad I
Speaker 1: get to talk about this ship all year round, but
Speaker 1: I feel particularly grateful for it right now. I'm liv
Speaker 1: I love about us Woman and this ship.