A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Καλλιστώ), is sometimes called a daughter of Lycaon in Arcadia and sometimes of Nycteus or Ceteus, and sometimes also she is described as a nymph. (Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 1642; Apollod. 3.8.2; comp. Hygin. Poet. Astr. 2.1.) She was a huntress, and a companion of Artemis. Zeus, however, enjoyed her charms; and, in order that the deed might not become known to Hera, he metamorphosed her into a she-bear. But, notwithstanding this precaution, Callisto was slain by Artemis during the chase, through the contrivance of Hera. Arcas, the son of Callisto, was given by Zeus to Maia to be brought up, and Callisto was placed among the stars under the name of Arctos. (Apollod. l.c.) According to Hyginus, Artemis herself metamorphosed Callisto, as she discovered her pregnancy in the bath. Ovid (Ov. Met. 2.410, &c.) makes Juno (Hera) metamorphose Callisto; and when Arcas during the chase was on the point of killing his mother, Jupiter (Zeus) placed both among the stars. The Arcadians showed the tomb of Callisto thirty stadia from the well Cruni: it was on a hill planted with trees, and on the top of the hill there was a temple of Artemis Calliste or Callisto. (Paus. 8.35.7.) A statue of Callisto was dedicated at Delphi by the citizens of Tegea (10.9.3), and in the Lesche of Delphi Callisto was painted by Polygnotus, wearing the skin of a bear instead of a dress. (10.31.3.) While tradition throughout describes Callisto as a companion of Artemis, Müller (Dor. 2.9.3) endeavours to show that Callisto is only another form of the name of Artemis Calliste, as he infers from the fact, that the tomb of the heroine was connected with the temple of the goddess, and from Callisto being changed into a she-bear, which was the symbol of the Arcadian Artemis. This view has indeed nothing surprising, if we recollect that in many other instances also an attribute of a god was transformed by popular belief into a distinct divinity. Her being mixed up with the Arcadian genealogies is thus explained by Müller: the daughter of Lycaon means the daughter of the Lycaean Zeus; the mother of Arcas is equivalent to the mother of the Arcadian people.

[L.S]