Callisto

Callisto was the daughter of Lycaon (Λυκάων), an early king of Arcadia. One writer claimed she was the daughter of Nycteus (Νυκεύς) or of Ceteus, but normally it was Lycaon who was named as her father.

Callisto was a companion of Artemis and wanted to remain a virgin like her goddess. At that time, Callisto was Artemis' favourite companion and huntress.

However, Zeus saw and fell in love with the goddess. Despite her wish to remain a virgin, Zeus ravished her. Callisto could not fight off the mighty god. It was usually said that Zeus had assumed the form of the goddess Artemis (or sometimes in the form of Apollo, Artemis' brother), in the hope of hiding his infidelity from his jealous consort, Hera, when he raped the maiden Callisto. So Callisto fell pregnant.

There are many versions of what happened after Zeus seduced Callisto. The Roman writer named Ovid gave the fullest and most coherent account.

Callisto was distraught about what had happened to her. At first she tried to avoid her goddess and her companions. Later, she rejoined Artemis, and managed to hide her condition for almost nine months.

One day, while out hunting, Artemis decided to bathe in the brook at the grove. Artemis invited all of her companions to join her in the gentle stream. Reluctantly, Callisto removed her tunic, revealing her pregnancy. Artemis was outraged at the sight, and ordered the innocent huntress to leave. Callisto fled from her goddess. In the forest, she gave birth to a son who was named Arcas (Ἀρκάς).

Hera knew that Callisto was carrying Zeus' unborn child, and decided to punish the poor huntress by transforming her into a bear.

Fifteen years later, Arcas grew up to become a great hunter like his mother. Arcas was hunting in the forest with his companions when he encountered the bear. Callisto immediately recognised her son, but Arcas did not recognise her mother in the form of the bear. At first, Arcas was frightened by the bear, as well as puzzled over the bear's strange behaviour. When Callisto approached her son with intention of embracing him, Arcas thought the bear was about to attack him. Arcas would have killed his mother with his spear, when it dawned on her that he didn't recognise her in this form. Callisto fled from her son.

Arcas and his companions immediately set out on the chase for the unfortunate bear. Arcas managed to trap the bear and would have hurled his javelin at his mother, had Zeus not intervened. Zeus deflected the deadly spear. The god sent a whirlwind that spirited the mother and son into the heaven, where Zeus placed them in the night sky as the constellations of the "Great Bear" (Arctos in Greek; the modern name is Ursa Major) and the "Bear-warden" (Arctophylax in Greek; the modern name is Boötes (Wagon-driver)).

This greatly offended Hera, because her husband had given her rival and his offspring such a high honour. Hera went to the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, her foster-parents, asking that the constellations shall never bathe in Oceanus' water. Oceanus agreed. So the constellation of the Great Bear never sets with the other stars.

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According to Hesiod in The Astronomy, Artemis discovered Callisto while they bathed together, in very much the same way as the tale was told by Ovid. Here, it was Artemis who turned Callisto into a bear when she saw that the huntress was pregnant. Callisto gave birth to Arcas while still in the form of a bear. A goatherd found the infant, and gave Arcas to Lycaon, Callisto's father. Like in Ovid's version, Arcas was out bear hunting and unknowingly pursued his mother. Before he could kill his mother, Zeus rescued her and placed her in the sky as a constellation.

Also according to Apollodorus, it was Zeus who turned Callisto into a bear, in order to hide his infidelity from his wife Hera. Hera persuaded Artemis to shoot down Callisto, or Artemis killed Callisto, because the unfortunate maiden had failed to keep her virginity. Callisto was killed shortly after she gave birth to Arcas. The nymph Maia raised Zeus' son; it was Maia who named the son of Callisto as Arcas. Maia was the daughter of Atlas and mother of the messenger god Hermes. Zeus placed Callisto in the heavens as the constellation of the Great Bear.

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As for Arcas, his fate was different. His grandfather Lycaon wanted to test the omniscience of the god, when Zeus came to visit the king in Lycaeum. Lycaon murdered Arcas and tried to serve the boy's flesh to Zeus. Zeus punished Lycaon by turning the king into a wolf. Zeus placed his son Arcas in the sky near his mother (Great Bear), as the constellation called Bear-warden (Boötes). According to Apollodorus, Arcas became the king of Arcadia, a region that was named after him. He married Leaneira, the daughter of Amyclas, and had two sons: Elatus and Apheidas.

Ovid's version of the tale was slightly different about Lycaon to Hesiod. It was not Arcas whom he killed, but some unnamed hostage of Lycaon (in Apollodorus' version, it was Lycaon's equally impious fifty sons who killed some unknown child). When the impious king served human flesh before Zeus, the god used his thunderbolts to destroy Lycaon's home. In Apollodorus' version, he killed all of Lycaon's sons (except the youngest, Nyctimus). Lycaon fled to the woods nearby, where Zeus changed him into a wolf.

From several different sources (including Ovid's), it was said that Zeus brought the great flood to destroy mankind because of Lycaon's crime (see Deluge in the Creation page about the flood).

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Hyginus give several different versions of who transformed Callisto. Hyginus give the same details as from Hesiod and Ovid, regarding how Artemis found out about Callisto's pregnancy while bathing. As I said earlier, Ovid said that Artemis only banished Callisto from her sight, while Hesiod said that it was Artemis who transformed Callisto into a bear.

Hyginus then claimed that he had another source that added a slight twist to Hesiod's version. When they were bathing, Artemis questioned her huntress about how she became pregnant. Since Zeus had raped her while he was in the form of Artemis, Callisto blamed the goddess for her condition. Callisto's reply and accusation angered and humiliated Artemis, so the goddess transformed the girl into a bear. Again, it was Zeus who placed the mother and son in the heavens as constellations.

In still another version, Hygninus said that it was Hera who turned her into a bear, and Artemis who unwittingly killed Callisto. When Artemis recognised whom she had killed, it was actually she who put her in heaven as a constellation.

As you can see, there are many variations of this myth about Callisto. The only constant thing about the tale is that Zeus made her pregnant and she had a son named Arcas, and also that she was transformed into a bear and that she later became a constellation. Who had transformed her into a bear or a constellation varied from one writer to another.