TW: sexual assault
There are many versions of the Ancient Greek myth behind Ursa Major, but my favorite is primarily based on elements from De Astronomica, an astronomical storybook attributed to the Roman historian Hyginus. The story begins with Zeus’ infidelity, as many do. The King of the Gods lusted over the nymph Callisto, daughter of King Lycaon of Arcadia. She was a follower of Artemis, and as such, she had taken a strict vow of chastity. After Zeus raped and impregnated her, one of three things happened, but the result was the same. One story tells that Zeus, ever fearful of the wrath of his wife Hera, transformed Callisto into a bear to cover his tracks. Another tells that Hera herself, in an act of misdirected spite, transformed the nymph into a bear after learning of her husband’s disloyalty. A third tells that Artemis cruelly expelled Callisto from her hunting party upon discovering she was pregnant and, truly adding insult to injury, transformed her into a bear. Her mind was entirely intact, the nymph was left to wander the forest as a wild beast, suffering in her new form.
Callisto bore a son named Arcas, from the Greek “arktos” for “bear.” Interestingly, this is also the origin of the word "arctic," which originally comes from the Greek "arktikos" literally for "of the bear" (1). Zeus had Hermes hide Arcas away in Arcadia, where the boy was either raised by Maia, one of the Pleiades and mother of Hermes (2), or by his maternal grandfather Lycaon. In the latter case, Lycaon was overcome by hubris, the downfall of many Ancient Greeks, and sought to test the omniscience of the gods. The king invited Zeus to a banquet and secretly served the god his own chopped-up infant grandson, not to mention Zeus’ own son. The wholly omniscient god was not fooled, and in his rage, he destroyed Lycaon’s home and turned the monstrous king into a wolf, the origin of the word “lycanthropy.” Zeus reassembled Arcas and gave him new life. Arcas became the new King of Arcadia, and he grew up to become a great ruler and an even greater hunter. You might see where this is going.
On one of his hunts, Arcas came across a great she-bear. This was his mother Callisto, who recognized her son immediately and was overjoyed. She ran at her son, forgetting her own form in her excitement. Arcas did not recognize his mother, and he readied an arrow to kill her. Zeus, despite his being the ultimate cause of this tragedy, watched in horror. To prevent the accidental matricide, Zeus transformed Arcas into a bear. He then grabbed both by their stubby tails and, like an Olympic hammer thrower, spun them around and threw them into the night sky. Callisto became Ursa Major, while her son became Ursa Minor. The spinning elongated the bears’ tales, which explains their odd depictions in most astronomical art. To this day, the two dance around each other every night, finally reunited. Hera, however, was outraged to see the two bears immortalized in the cosmos. Tethys, the Titaness wife of Oceanus and former nurse of Hera, was said to have refused to let Callisto or Arcas ever come down for water, hence why for much of the Northern Hemisphere the constellations never set.
While this version of the story is my favorite of the Greek canon, other versions tell that while Callisto became Ursa Major, Arcas was not transformed into a bear and instead became the constellation we call Boötes under the Greek name “Arctophylax” for “bear-watcher.” Indeed, as the night sky rotates above us, Boötes follows Ursa Major. It is heartening to know that Arcas is keeping an ever-watchful eye over his mother as if vowing to keep her safe from all the harm she faced on Earth. (3)
References
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.8.2.
Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.1.1-4.1.
Figures
Comments