Greece
The following is excerpted from “Female Warriors: Memorials of Female Valour and Heroism, from the Mythological Ages to the Present Era,” by Ellen C. Clayton (Mrs. Needham), published in 1879 and shared online by Project Gutenberg.
Atalanta, too, was likewise bereft of a mother’s care. Her father, Jasus or Jasion, unwilling to rear the babe, yet not sufficiently inhuman to see her slaughtered before his eyes, left her to her fate on Mount Parthenius, the highest mountain in Peloponnesus. Close by was the cave of an old she-bear who had been robbed of her cubs. In place of devouring the babe, the savage brute adopted it, and brought up the girl as her own daughter. Orson-like, the girl learned many of the habits of her shaggy nurse. But, she also, through constant exercise, acquired marvellous dexterity in using the bow and arrow; and with this weapon she once slew the Centaurs Rhœcus and Hylæus.
Atalanta was one of those brave warriors who sailed in the Argonautic expedition, B.C. 1263; and throughout the voyage she earned the praises of her comrades by her bravery and military skill. After her return to Greece she assisted in the chase of the Calydonian boar, a savage brute of monster size who was ravaging Ætolia. She was the first to wound this beast; hence Meleager awarded her the first prize. His uncles, jealous of the honour thus conferred upon a woman, endeavoured to wrest the trophies from her, and in the scuffle which ensued, Meleager unfortunately slew both his uncles.
This heroine must not be confounded with another Atalanta, daughter of Schœnus, King of Scyrus, famous for her marvellous skill in running, and for the stratagem of the three golden apples by which she was at last defeated.