Acrylic on Paper Atalanta was a beautiful maiden, a skilled huntress and a good runner, who challenged her suitors to be swifter than her if they wished to win her hand. The penalty for loosing was death. Hippomenes went to one of these challenges and, before the race, invoked the goddess of love. Aphrodite listened to his pleas and gave him three golden apples form Cyprus. Hippomenes put into practice the goddess\'es advice and threw the apples one by one during the race. Atalanta, filled with curiosity, stopped to pick them, losing valuable time. Her rival took advantage of it and won the race.