Arcas

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Arcas

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Arcas is the son of Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
and Callisto

Callisto (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Callisto was a nymph of Artemis. Transformed into a bear and Catasterism, she was the bear-mother of the Arcadians, through her son Arcas....
. Callisto was a nymph of the goddess Artemis

Artemis

In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. She was the Hellenic goddess of forests and hills, child birth/virginity/fertility, the hunt and was often depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows.....
. Zeus, being a flirtatious god, wanted Callisto for a lover. As she would not be with anyone but Artemis, Zeus cunningly disguised himself into Artemis and seduced Callisto. The child resulting from their union was called Arcas.

Hera

Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
(Zeus' wife), became jealous, and in anger, transformed Callisto into a bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives....
.

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In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Zeus

Callisto (mythology)

Artemis

Hera

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives....
. She would have done the same or worse to her son, had Zeus not hid Arcas in an area of Greece

Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
that would come to be called Arcadia

Arcadia

Arcadia, Arkad?a , or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas....
, in his honor. There Arcas safely lived until one day, during one of the court feasts held by King Lycaon

Lycaon (mythology)

Lycaon was the son of Pelasgus and Mece in the form of a wolf was the origin of the myth that Lycaon, the founder of his cult, became a wolf, i.e....
, Arcas was placed upon the burning altar as a sacrifice to the gods. He then said to Zeus "If you think that you are so clever, make your son whole and un-harmed." At this Zeus became enraged. He made Arcas whole and then directed his anger toward Lycaon, turning him into the first werewolf

Werewolf

Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes from the Greek ????????p??, ????? and ?????p?? , are Mythology or folklore humans with the ability to shape shifting into Gray Wolf or anthropomorphism wolf-like creatures, either purposely, by being bitten by another werewolf, or after being placed under a curse....
.

After this occurrence, Arcas became the new king of Arcadia, and the country's greatest hunter. One day when Arcas went hunting in the woods, he came across his mother. Seeing her son after so long, she went forth to give him a hug. Not knowing that the bear was his mother, he went to kill her with an arrow

Arrow

An arrow is a pointed projectile that is shot with a bow . It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures....
. Zeus, taking pity upon the two, decided to avert the tragedy and put them both up in the heavens, and their constellation

Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars that appear to have a physical proximity in the sky. The stars in a constellation are often vastly distant from each other, but they appear close to each other from the perspective of Earth....
s are now referred to as Ursa Major

Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. Its name means the Great Bear in Latin. It is dominated by the widely recognized asterism known as the Big Dipper or Plough, which is a useful pointer toward north, and which has mythological significance in numerous world cultures....
and Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for 'little bear', contrasting with Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 1st century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 List of constellations....
, the big and little bears (also known as the Big and Little Dipper). When Artemis heard of this, she became so angry that she asked Tethys

Tethys (mythology)

File:Tethys mosaic 83d40m Phillopolis mid4th century -p2fx.2.jpgIn Greek mythology, Tethys , daughter of Uranus and Gaia was an archaic Titan ess and Greek sea gods sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry but no longer venerated in cult....
to keep them in a certain place, so that the constellations would never sink below the horizon and receive water.

Sources

: The son of Zeus and the nymph Callisto, who was turned into a bear by Hera out of envy. When Arcas during a hunt attempted to kill the bear, Zeus intervened and put them both in the sky as constellations (Ursa Major and Minor, Great Bear and Little Bear).

Arcas

Sources

External links