Callisto
Family: mythological · Role: daughter of Lycaon · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 25
In Book 1, Callisto is identified as the daughter of Lycaon and is named alongside Io as sharing “the love of Zeus and the hatred of Hera.” In Book 8, she is described as Nyctimus’s only sister among Lycaon’s many sons, and as having had an intrigue with Zeus. When Hera detected it, she turned Callisto into a she-bear; Artemis then shot her to please Hera.
Callisto was the mother of Arcas, who succeeded Lycaon in the kingdom. In Book 8, Chapter 36, the Mantineans removed Arcas’s remains at Three Roads, following the oracle at Delphi. Later accounts mention a statue of Callisto by Pausanias of Apollonia and depict her with a bear-skin coverlet, her feet on Nomia’s knees.
Relationship record
Life events
- Hera transformed Callisto into a she-bear.(Book 8 · Chapter 3)
- With: Hera
- “And when Hera detected it she turned Callisto into a she-bear”
- Artemis shot Callisto in her she-bear form to please Hera.(Book 8 · Chapter 3)
- The Mantineans removed the remains of Arcas, son of Callisto, following Delphi’s oracle.(Book 8 · Chapter 36 · 📍 Three Roads)
- With: Arcas
- “whence the Mantineans, according to the bidding of the oracle at Delphi, removed the remains of Arcas the son of Callisto”
Book 1 · Chapter 25
- parent: Lycaon (Lycaon is Callisto's father.) “Callisto the daughter of Lycaon”
- admirer: Zeus (Zeus loved Callisto.) “both of whom had precisely similar fates, the love of Zeus and the hatred of Hera”
- with Hera (Hera hated Callisto.) “both of whom had precisely similar fates, the love of Zeus and the hatred of Hera”
- with Io (They shared similar fates.) “both of whom had precisely similar fates, the love of Zeus and the hatred of Hera”
- with Dinomenes (sculptor) (Dinomenes made a statue of Callisto.) “statues by Dinomenes of Io the daughter of Inachus, and Callisto the daughter of Lycaon”
- enemies with Hera “the love of Zeus and the hatred of Hera, Io being changed into a cow, and Callisto into a she-bear”
Book 8 · Chapter 3
- parent: Lycaon “With so many sons Lycaon had only one daughter Callisto”
- siblings with Nyctimus “With so many sons Lycaon had only one daughter Callisto”
- with Zeus (Zeus had an intrigue with Callisto.) “According to the tradition of the Greeks Zeus had an intrigue with her”
- with Hera (interaction) “And when Hera detected it she turned Callisto into a she-bear”
- with Artemis (interaction) “whom Artemis shot to please Hera”
Book 8 · Chapter 4
- child: Arcas “Arcas the son of Callisto succeeded him in the kingdom.”
Book 8 · Chapter 9
- child: Arcas (Callisto is Arcas's mother.) “near the altar of Hera is the tomb of Arcas, the son of Callisto”
Book 8 · Chapter 22
- child: Arcas “Arcas, the son of Callisto”
Book 8 · Chapter 35
- with Artemis (A temple of Artemis stood atop Callisto's tomb.) “And on the top of this mound is a temple of Artemis called The Most Beautiful,”
Book 8 · Chapter 36
- child: Arcas “whence the Mantineans, according to the bidding of the oracle at Delphi, removed the remains of Arcas the son of Callisto.”
Book 8 · Chapter 37
- child: Arcas “It is said that in ancient times Pan gave oracular responses, and that his interpreter was the Nymph Erato, who married Arcas the son of Callisto.”
Book 10 · Chapter 9
- parent: Lycaon “Callisto the daughter of Lycaon”
- with Pausanias of Apollonia (interaction) “Pausanias of Apollonia made the Apollo and Callisto”
Book 10 · Chapter 31
- parent: Lycaon “Callisto the daughter of Lycaon”
- with Nomia (Callisto's feet rest on Nomia's knees.) “Callisto has a bear-skin for her coverlet, and her feet are on the knees of Nomia.”
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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.