MeleagrosMeleager

The son of Oineus and Althaia; the husband of Kleopatra (Cleopatra).

There are several interesting stories that revolve around Meleagros:

1. When Iason (Jason) was organizing the quest for the Golden Fleece, Meleagros was very young but very strong; his father, Oineus, allowed Meleagros to go on the quest on the condition that his half-brother, Laokoon (Laocoon), go along to protect him; thus Laokoon and Meleagros were both Argonauts;
2. When he was a young man and had just married Kleopatra, he refused to help defend his city, Kalydon (Calydon), against an attack by the Kouretes; the elders of the city offered many gifts to Meleagros if he would help defend the city and king Oineus begged for his son to take up the sword and save the city from certain destruction but Meleagros refused to fight; finally, at the pleading of his wife, Kleopatra, Meleagros donned his armor and entered the battle at the last moment; the city was saved but the gifts that had been offered were not given because the people of Kalydon felt that Meleagros had not done his duty in a proper way;
3. Meleagros organized one of the most celebrated events in Greek prehistory, the Kalydonian (Calydonian) Hunt, and succeeded in killing the supernatural boar that Artemis had sent to ravage the countryside around the city of Kalydon; many notable heroes gathered in Kalydon to participate in the Hunt; the marauding boar was wounded by the huntress, Atalanta, and then killed by Meleagros; Meleagros awarded the hide of the boar to Atalanta but his uncle (or uncles) tried to take the boar hide away from Atalanta and Meleagros killed him (or them); Meleagros’ mother, Althaia, never forgave Meleagros for killing her brothers and her vengeance was fatal for Meleagros.

When he was born, Meleagros was destined to die when the wood in the fireplace burned away; as a loving mother, Althaia, had taken the wood from the fireplace and preserved it so that her son might have a long life; when Meleagros killed her brother(s), she took the wood she had hidden at Meleagros’ birth and burned it; Meleagros died.

His name may also be rendered as Meleagrus.

Argonautika, book 1, lines 190-201