Schoeneus

Overview

Schoeneus is a king or nobleman of Greek mythology best known as the father of Atalanta in an important strand of her tradition.

Generation

Heroic Age

Notes

Schoeneus is most familiar through his connection with Atalanta, one of the most famous female heroes of Greek mythology.

Ancient traditions do not give Atalanta one completely uniform genealogy. In an important version, Schoeneus is her father, while other sources connect her with Iasus or Iasius.

Schoeneus therefore belongs to the complicated genealogical background surrounding Atalanta rather than to one universally agreed family tree.

In traditions where he is Atalanta's father, her marriage becomes a major concern. Atalanta is reluctant to marry and challenges potential suitors to defeat her in a footrace.

The eventual race involving Hippomenes or Melanion and the golden apples becomes one of Atalanta's best-known myths.

Schoeneus is consequently important as a dynastic figure behind Atalanta's story, even though he rarely occupies the centre of the narrative himself.

His page is also a useful reminder that Greek myth often preserves several incompatible genealogies for the same famous hero or heroine rather than one fixed canonical version.