A: Aalu to Aztlan 33
in her desire for the fruit, she stopped to pick up, thereby forfeiting her victory
and virginity. Almost immediately after this contest, however, she and Hippomenes
incurred the wrath of Zeus by copulating in the god’s sacred precinct. He turned
the couple into a lioness and a lion. Their son, Pathenopaeus, grew up to become
a leader of the Argives (one of the Seven Against Thebes).
While outwardly the story of Atalanta appears to have nothing to do with
Atlantis, Rene Guenon wrote that the three golden apples dropped by Hippomenes
were from the Hesperides, the three daughters of Atlas (that is, Atlantids or
“Atlantises”). Guenon also concludes that Atalanta’s role as heroine of the
Caledonian bear hunt signified change from a solstitial to an equinoctial method
of measuring time; from reckoning the starting point of the annual cycle with the
appearance of the Pleiades (Hesperides), instead of the Great Bear, thus imply-
ing the ascendancy of Atlantean civilization over a former culture.
The Atlantean character of Atalanta’s name and her punishment at the hands
of Zeus (who likewise condemned the Atlanteans in Plato’s version for their im-
morality) parallel Atlantis in a garbled mythic tradition. Her husband, Hippomenes,
is likely Atlantean as well, because at least some names in Plato’s account are
similarly equine: Elasippos (“Knightly Horse-Rider,” one of the original 10
Atlantean kings), Leukippe (“White Mare,” the first lady of Atlantis), and so on.
Like all the other daughters of Atlas, Atalanta gave birth to a foremost culture-
bearer, signifying the Atlanteans who voyaged to other lands, where they became
the progenitors of new societies.Atalanta: A Story of Atlantis
A 1940s musical by British composer Sir Gerald Hargreaves, who also wrote
the libretto and designed its lavish sets. The story is set in the Atlantean court,
where two factions of aristocrats argue for and against war. At the height of their
debate, the Greek hero, Achilles, fresh from his triumph over the Trojans, arrives
to plea for peace. But a warlike faction carries the day, and he flees with his lover,
the princess Atalanta, as Atlantis sinks beneath the sea, as punishment by the gods.Atali
In Cherokee tradition, the place from which their ancestors disbursed
throughout the world immediately after the Great Flood that brought a former
age to a close.Atalya
An important proof for Atlantis found in various parts of the world, specifically
and appropriately, within the Atlantean sphere of influence. “Italy” is a derivation
of its more ancient name, used even in late Roman times, “Italia”—a corruption