Meleager kills a boar at the Louvre museum, Paris

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Meleager joined forces with the Argonauts hunters and set sail from Hellas to Colchis in Caucasus to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Upon their return, many of those involved participated in what became known as the Calydonian Boar Hunt. The hunt was sparked by Meleager's father, King Oeneus 2 of Calydon, who had forgotten Artemis during a ritual sacrifice to all the gods. To punish his negligence, the goddess sent a massive and powerful boar that ravaged the land, preventing crops from being sown and destroying both livestock and people. Determined to rid their land of the beast, King Oeneus 2 assembled the most noble men of Hellas—the Calydonian hunters—promising to award the Boar's skin as a prize to whoever could kill it. Led by Meleager, they hunted down the boar, which was initially shot by Atalanta. Amphiaraus then struck it in the eye, and Meleager finished it off with a fatal stab in the flank. However, upon receiving the prize, Meleager gave the Boar's skin to Atalanta as a token of his affection for her. But the sons of Thestius 1, who represented the Curetes—an Aetolian people—did not approve of Meleager's gesture, believing that a woman should not receive a prize in front of men. They argued that if Meleager did not accept the prize, it rightfully belonged to them by birthright. Meleager refused to listen to their demands and, in the ensuing dispute, slew the sons of Thestius 1 before presenting the Boar's skin to Atalanta once again.