Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 1 (Greek and Roman).djvu/127

 MYTHS OF THE PELOPONNESOS 21 his father on the throne and during his reign came the great flood which Zeus sent to destroy mankind. In this story Lykaon may represent an old Pelasgic god or king whom immigrating Greeks found estabhshed in the land. The resemblance between the Greek word Xv/co?, "wolf," and the initial syllable of the name Lykaon may perhaps in part have given rise to the myth of Lykaon's change into a wolf, while in the impious offering to Zeus one can see a record of human sacrifice^ in an ancient Zeus-ritual. Kallisto. — In addition to his fifty wicked sons Lykaon had another child, a daughter named Kallisto ("Fairest"), who was sometimes spoken of simply as a nymph, a circumstance which probably points to her original independence of Lykaon. She was a companion of Artemis, the "huntress-goddess chaste and fair," who exacted of her followers a purity equal to her own. But Zeus deceived Kallisto and took advantage of her. When she was about to bear a child to him, Hera discovered her con- dition, and, turning her into a bear, persuaded Artemis to kill her with an arrow as she would any other beast of the wood- land. At the behest of Zeus, Hermes took her unborn child to his mother Maia on Mount Kyllene, where he was reared under the name of Arkas, but the slain Kallisto Zeus placed among the constellations as the Bear, which, never setting, ceaselessly revolves about the pole-star, for Tethys, obeying the command of Hera, will not allow the evil thing to bathe in the pure waters of Okeanos. This myth, too, can be traced to a religious origin. In Ar- kadia the bear was an animal sacred to Artemis, one of whose cult-titles was Kalliste, a name which could readily be worked over into Kallisto. Kallisto, then, both maiden and bear, was none other than Artemis herself. Moreover, the similarity in sound between Arkas and "A/o/cro? ("bear") was a great aid to the development of the story without being its cause. Arkas, Aleos, Auge. — Arkas, though generally considered to be the son of Kallisto and Zeus, was sometimes designated