Tradition: Greek Mythology
Alternative Names: Aetolian Boar, Calydonian Wild Boar
Category: Pig
The Myth
The Calydonian Boar was a monstrous wild boar sent by the goddess Artemis to ravage the countryside around Calydon in Aetolia. King Oeneus had neglected to include Artemis in his annual harvest sacrifices to the gods, angering the goddess. In retaliation, she unleashed an enormous and ferocious beast upon his kingdom, where it destroyed vineyards and crops, devastated the countryside, and forced the inhabitants to seek refuge behind the city’s walls.
The boar was described as an extraordinarily terrifying creature, with bloodshot eyes that burned like fire, a thick neck covered in stiff, spike-like bristles, enormous tusks, and jaws that produced deafening roars. According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, its breath scorched the green fields as it rampaged through the land. Strabo records a tradition identifying the beast as the offspring of the Crommyonian Sow, another monstrous pig defeated by the hero Theseus.
To save Calydon, Meleager led a company of Greece’s greatest heroes on a hunt to kill the beast. The hunters included numerous legendary figures, and in most accounts the hunt also featured the huntress Atalanta, who was the first to wound the boar with an arrow. After the animal was killed, Meleager awarded its hide to Atalanta, provoking a dispute among the hunters that contributed to the tragedy surrounding the expedition.
The Calydonian Boar Hunt became one of the major heroic adventures of Greek mythology, bringing together heroes whose stories were connected to other famous events, including the voyage of the Argonauts and the Trojan War generation. The hunt was frequently depicted in ancient Greek and Roman art. Although Homer and Hesiod were familiar with the legend, no complete surviving account from either poet remains; important versions are preserved in fragments attributed to Stesichorus, the Bibliotheca, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
Sources
“Kalydonian Boar.” Theoi Greek Mythology. https://www.theoi.com/Ther/HusKalydonios.html