Callisto (mythology)

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In Jupiter and Callisto by François Boucher, Jupiter/Zeus takes the form of Diana/Artemis (Pushkin Museum, Moscow)

This article is about the mythological figure. For other meanings, see Callisto.

In Greek mythology, Callisto ("most beautiful") was a nymph of Artemis.

1 Myth
2 Origin of the myth
3 Popular culture
4 External links

[edit] Myth

As a follower of Artemis, Callisto, whom Hesiod said^[1] was the daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, took a vow to remain a virgin, as did all the nymphs of Artemis. But to have her, Zeus disguised himself, some say as Apollo some as Artemis herself, in order to lure her into his embrace. Callisto was then turned into a bear, as Hesiod had told it:

"but afterwards, when she was already with child, was seen by her bathing and so discovered. Upon this, the goddess was enraged and changed her into a beast. Thus she became a bear and gave birth to a son called Arcas." . Later, Arcas, the eponym of Arcadia, nearly killed his mother in a hunt but Zeus placed them both in the sky as the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

Zeus took the form of Artemis, according to Ovid's telling.^[2] her pregnant condition was detected while bathing with Artemis and the other nymphs. Upon this, the goddess was enraged and changed her into a bear, in which form she whelped Arcas. Some goat-herds captured her and the cub and presented them to Lycaon. "Some while after, she thought fit to go into the forbidden precinct of Zeus, not knowing the law, and being pursued by her own son and the Arcadians, was about to be killed... but Zeus delivered her because of her connection with him and put her among the stars."^[3] In another variant, Callisto's son, Arcas, nearly killed his mother while hunting, but Zeus or Artemis stopped him and placed them both in the sky as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

Juno, the wife of Jupiter, does not see Callisto's vain attempts to reject Jupiter's advances. Out of revenge, Juno turns Callisto into a bear. Later, when Arcas unknowingly meets his mother Callisto in the forest, Jupiter prevents Arcas from spearing Callisto and brings both of them into the stars for Callisto to become Ursa Major or the Great Bear and Arcas to become Arcas the Bear Warden, Little Bear, or Ursa Minor.

Hera was not pleased with the placement of Callisto and Arcas in the sky, so she asked her nurse, Tethys, to help. Tethys, a marine goddess, cursed the constellations to forever circle the sky and never drop below the horizon, hence explaining why they are circumpolar.

Titian (1559) has taken the moment when Callisto's pregnancy is discovered (National Gallery of Scotland).

[edit] Origin of the myth

The myth may be derived from the fact that a set of constellations appear close together in the sky, in and near the Zodiac sign of Libra, namely Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, Boötes, and Virgo.

Boötes, since it resembles a male stick-figure, is in some versions of the myth explicitly identified as Arcas (untransformed), and was in myths elsewhere said represents a male god. Virgo, since it resembles a female, was usually considered to be a significant female goddess, though not identified as to whom.

The combination of a god and goddess and two bears in the same area of sky may have led to a transformation myth, associating the bears either as the god and goddess transformed, or as some thing they have cast out. The circumpolarity of the bears adding an extra detail to the myth.