She was the daughter of Lycaon, a king of Arcadia
who been changed into a wolf because of his wickedness. He set human flesh on the table
for Zeus when the god was guest. His punishment was deserved, but his daughter suffered as
terribly as he and she was innocent of all wrong.
Zeus saw her hunting in the train of Artemis and
fell in love with her. Hera, furiously angry, turned the maiden into a bear after her son
was born. When the boy was grown and out hunting, the goddess brought Callisto before him,
intending to have him shoot his mother, in ignorance, of course. But Zeus snatched the
bear away and placed her among the stars, where she is called the Great Bear. Later, her
son Arcas was placed beside her and called the Lesser Bear. Hera, enraged at this honor to
her rival, persuaded the God of the Sea to forbid the Bears to descend into the ocean like
the other stars. They alone of the constellations never set below the horizon.
