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Callisto or Kallisto was a nymph of Artemis. Transformed into a bear and set among the stars, she was the bear-mother of the Arcadians, through her son Arcas.
Callisto, "most beautiful", may be recognized as an epithet of the goddess herself. Callisto was the daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia,[8] took a vow to remain a virgin, as did all the nymphs of Artemis. But to have her, Zeus disguised himself, Ovid says, as Artemis (Diana) herself, in order to lure her into his embrace. Callisto was then turned into a bear, as Hesiod had told it: Either Artemis "slew Kallisto with a shot of her silver bow,"[9] perhaps urged by the wrath of Juno (Hera)[10] or later Arcas, the eponym of Arcadia, nearly killed his bear-mother, when she had wandered into the forbidden precinct of Zeus. In every case, Zeus placed them both in the sky as the constellations Ursa Major, called Arktos (αρκτος), the "Bear".''
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Callisto Arktos
