CallistoANCIENT_Hyginus
Mythological texts treating Greek mythology in Latin were composed by an author (or more than one author) named Hyginus. The Fabulae and the Astronomia contain a large amount of mythological information, sometimes rather quirky information. The translations below are by RTM.
Hyginus Fabulae 177, Callisto (followed by other Hyginus texts)
Callisto the daughter of Lycaon is said to have been made a bear on account of Juno’s wrath because she slept with Jupiter. Later she was put into the collection of Jupiter’s constellations, and is called the Septentrio, a constellation that does not move from its part of the sky and never sets. This because Tethys, who is Ocean’s wife and Juno’s nurse, forbids Callisto from setting into the ocean. This is, thus, the greater Septentrio, concerning which is said in a Cretan poem:
[I also greet] You, silent offspring of nymph, Lycaon’s daughter,
Who was taken from the icy Nonacrine summit,
Whom Tethys always keeps from dipping herself in Oceanus
Because she once dared to usurp the bed of Juno, Tethys’ ward.
This she-bear, therefore, is called Helice by the Greeks. She has seven non-conspicuous stars in her head, two in either ear, one in her shoulder, one conspicuous star on her breast, one in either foot, one conspicuous star in the point of her hip, two in her female haunches, two in her rear foot, three in her tail — twenty one stars in total.
Hyginus Mythographus, 177 edited to P.K. Marshall after E. Courtney FLP
CLXXVII: Callisto.
Callisto Lycaonis filia ursa dicitur facta esse ob iram Iunonis quod cum Ioue concubuit. postea Iouis in stellarum numerum retulit, quae Septentrio appellatur, quod signum loco non mouetur neque occidit. Tethys enim Oceani uxor nutrix Iunonis prohibet eam in oceanum occidere. hic ergo Septentrio maior, de qua in Creticis uersibus:
tuque Lycaoniae mutate e semine nymphae,
quam gelido raptam de uertice Nonacrino
Oceano prohibet semper se tinguere Tethys,
ausa suae quia sit quondam succumbere alumnae. [ ed. Courtney]
haec igitur ursa a Graecis Helice appellatur. haec habet stellas in capite septem non claras, in utraque aure duas, in armo unam, in pectore claram unam, in pede priore unam, in extrema coxa claram unam, in femine posteriori duas, in pede extremo duas, in caude tres, omnis numero uiginti.
Hyginus Astronomus, De astronomia 2.1 and 2.4
And so, to resume, as we stated above, we will start with the greatest Bear. Hesiod says that this is named Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon, who was the king of Arcadia. The myth is that she was raised with a passion for hunting and thus had attached herself to Diana. Diana’s fondness for her was no less strong because they had similar backgrounds. However, after Callisto had been bedded by Jupiter, she was afraid to tell Diana about the fact. She was unable to hide it very long, for her belly was already growing heavy and the day of birth was drawing nigh, when she was refreshing in the river her body, weary from the hunt, and Diana noticed that she had not retained her virginity. The goddess exacted no small punishment from the girl for the enormity of the crime. Callisto’s girlish visage was taken away and altered into the face of a bear, which in Greek is called ἄρκτος. In this bodily form she gave birth to Arcas. However, as the comic poet Amphis says, Jupiter took as a disguise the appearance of Diana so that he could pretend to help and then seduce the girl while hunting; Jupiter then bedded her when they were out of view of all the others. When she was questioned by Diana what had happened, because she seemed to have a large belly, she explained that it had happened by Jupiter’s deception. And thus, due to her response, Diana changed her into the form that we recounted above. While she was wandering in the woods like a wild beast, she and her son were captured by a few Aetolian hunters and taken to Lycaon as a gift for Arcadia. There it is said that she threw herself into the temple of Jupiter Lycaeus, unaware of the law [that any who entered were to be put to death]. Her son followed immediately on her heels. And so, when the Arcadians who had tracked them down were trying kill them, Jupiter became mindful of his crime and took Callisto and her son to the sky and placed them among the stars. He named her Arctus, but her son he named Arctophylax, of whom we shall discourse below. Many mythographers report that because Callisto had been bedded by Jupiter Juno was enraged and changed her into a bear; and, when she encountered Diana on a hunt, she was killed by Diana and later recognized for her placement among the stars. Still others say that when Jupiter was chasing her into the woods, Juno suspected what was happening and strove say that she had caught him in the act; Jupiter, however, left her appearance transformed into a bear so that he might the more easily conceal his crime. But, they continue, Juno had discovered that the bear had come in the girl’s place; and she led her to Diana during the hunt so that the goddess might kill her. Jupiter was angry that his deed was found out and placed her picture, shaped with stars, in the sky. This constellation, as most have said, does not set below the horizon. And those who want that to happen for a some reason say that Tethys, the wife of Oceanus, does not welcome her — whereas all other constellations do set — for the reason that Tethys was the nurse of Juno, whose bed Callisto usurped as some whore. But Araethus Tegeates the historian says that she was not called Callisto, but rather Megisto and that she was not the daughter of Lycaon but of Ceteus and the granddaughter of Lycaon. Moreover, that famous Ceteus is called Engonasin. In other details they agree with their forebears. The whole story is shown to have occurred on Mt Nonacris in Arcadia.
Hyginus Astr. 2.1
Igitur, ut supra diximus, initium est nobis Arctos maxima. Hanc autem Hesiodus ait esse Callisto nomine, Lycaonis filiam, eius qui in Arcadia regnauit; eamque studio uenationis inductam, ad Dianam se adplicuisse, a qua non mediocriter esse dilectam propter utriusque consimilem naturam. Postea autem ab Ioue conpressam, ueritam Dianae suum dicere euentum. Quod diutius celare non potuit; nam iam utero ingrauescente, prope diem partus in flumine corpus exercitatione defessum cum recrearet, a Diana cognita est non conseruasse uirginitatem. Cui dea pro magnitudine suspicionis non minorem retribuit poenam. Erepta enim facie uirginali, in ursae speciem est conuersa, quae Graece ἄρκτος appellata. In ea figura corporis Arcada procreauit. Sed, ut ait Amphis comoediarum scriptor, Iuppiter simulatus effigiem Dianae, cum uirginem uenantem ut adiutans persequeretur, amotam a conspectus ceterorum conpressit. Quae rogata a Diana quid ei accidisset, quod tam grandi utero uideretur, illius peccato id euenisse dixit. Itaque propter eius responsum, in quam figuram supra diximus, eam Diana conuertit. Quae cum in silua ut fera uagaretur, a quibusdam Aetolorum capta, ad Lycaonem pro munere in Arcadiam cum filio est deducta. Ibi dicitur inscia legis in Iouis Lycaei templum se coniecisse; quam confestim filius est secutus. Itaque cum eos Arcades insecuti interficere conarentur, Iuppiter memor peccati ereptam Callisto cum filio inter sidera conlocauit, eamque Arctum, filium autem Arctophylaca nominauit, de quo posterius dicemus. Nonnulli etiam dixerunt, cum Callisto ab Ioue esset conpressa, Iunonem indignatam in ursam eam conuertisse; quam Dianae uenanti obuiam factam, ab ea interfectam, et postea cognitam inter sidera conlocatam. Sed alii dicunt, cum Callisto Iuppiter esset in siluam persecutus, Iunonem suspicatam id quod euenit, contendisse ut eum manifesto diceret deprehendisse. Iouem autem, quo facilius suum peccatum tegeretur, in ursae speciem conuersam reliquisse. Iunonem autem in eo loco pro uirgine ursam inuenisse; quam Dianae uenanti, ut eam interficeret, demonstrasse. Quod factum ut perspiceretur Iouem aegre tulisse, effigiem ursae stellis figuratam constituisse. Hoc signum, ut complures dixerunt, non occidit; et qui uolunt aliqua de causa esse institutum, negant Tethyn Oceani uxorem id recipere, cum reliqua sidera eo perueniant in occasum, quod Tethys Iunonis sit nutrix, cui Callisto succubuerit ut paelex. Araethus autem Tegeates historiarum scriptor non Callisto, sed Megisto dicit appellatam, et non Lycaonis, sed Cetei filiam, Lycaonis neptem; praeterea Cetea ipsum Engonasin nominari. Reliqua autem superioribus conueniunt. Quae res in Nonacri monte Arcadiae gesta demonstratur.
Hyginus De astr. 2.4
Arctophylax.—— About this constellation it is reported that it is named Arcas, the son of Callisto and Jupiter. It is said that when Jupiter had come to dine with Lycaon, the latter cut up the son with other victuals and served that for the meal. He did this because he wanted to know whether the visitor who desired to dine with him was a god. When this occurred, Lycaon was punished with no small punishment. For immediately Jupiter overturned the table and blasted the home with his lighting bolt, and he turned Lycaon into the form of a wolf. But caused the bodyparts of the boy to be gathered and put into one body and then gave him to be reared by a certain man of the Aetolii. When the boy had become a youth and was hunting in the woods, he saw his mother without knowing that he had been turned into a bear. He chased her in order to kill her, right into the temple of Jupiter Lycaeus, a sanctuary where by Arcadian law the penalty for those who entered was death. Since it was required that each of them be executed, Jupiter took pity upon them and took them to the sky and placed them among the constellations. We wrote about this above. Arctophylax, because of the fact that he watches her, following and protecting Arctus, he is called Arctophylax.
Hyg. Astr. 2.4.1-2
Arctophylax.—— De hoc fertur ut sit Arcas nomine, Callistus et Iouis filius, quem dicitur Lycaon, cum Iuppiter ad eum in hospitium uenisset, cum alia carne concisum pro epulis adposuisse. Studebat enim scire si deus esset, qui suum hospitium desideraret. Quo facto, non minore poena est adfectus. Nam statim Iuppiter, mensa proiecta, domum eius fulmine incendit; ipsum autem in lupi figuram conuertit. At pueri membra collecta et composita in unum dedit cuidam Aetolorum alendum. Qui adulescens factus in siluis cum uenaretur, inscius uidit matrem in ursae speciem conuersam; quam interficere cogitans persecutus est in Iouis Lycaei templum, quo ei qui accessisset, mors poena erat Arcadum lege. Itaque cum utrumque necesse esset interfici, Iuppiter eorum misertus ereptos inter sidera conlocauit, ut ante diximus. Hic autem e facto sequens Vrsam perspicitur et Arctum seruans, Arctophylax est appellatus.