Her complex legend includes the following incidents: At her father's instance she was left to die at birth but was suckled by a she-bear. She took part in the Calydonian boar hunt; Atalanta drew first blood and was awarded the boar's head and hide by the boar's slayer, Meleager, who was in love with her. When his uncles took away the spoils from her, Meleager killed them and was in turn killed by their sister, his own mother. In the most famous story, one popular with ancient and modern artists, Atalanta offered to marry anyone who could outrun her—but those whom she overtook she speared.

In one race Hippomenes (or Milanion) was given three of the golden apples of the Hesperides (q.v.) by the goddess Aphrodite; when he dropped them, Atalanta stopped to pick them up and so lost the race. Their son was Parthenopaeus, who later was one of the Seven who fought against Thebes after the death of King Oedipus. Atalanta and her husband, overcome with passion, made love in a shrine of the goddess Cybele (or of Zeus), for which they were turned into lions.