page_title: Bears in antiquity
section_title: Myth
hierarchical_section_title: Bears in antiquity / Cultural presence / Myth
context_page_description: Bears in antiquity had natural observations recorded about them from as the early as Classical Greece, and were part of most natural histories that followed. One knows from Pausanias that bears roamed ancient Greece, and archaeological evidence found such as bear teeth attest to his witness. Natural Histories that studied bears were recorded by Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny and Oppian and were probably based on their first hand accounts or the testimony of hunters. Bears came to represent a state between wild and tame, and were represented as such in cultural appropriations. The image of the bear was also commercialised in trade, as were its body parts.
context_section_description: Bears made various appearances in the mythology of the Greeks, and their appearance was often related with their perception of being a good child-bearer.
  Kallisto
  The myth of Kallisto was famous throughout antiquity and retold by many ancient writers. The oldest of these comes from Hesiod. Hesiod wrote that Kallisto was a princess, daughter of the King Lykaon. She roamed the forests with Artemis and swore that she would remain a virgin to the goddess. However, which Artemis discovered that Zeus had indeed seduced Kallisto, she turned her into a bear. Kallisto gave birth to a boy named Arkas who was taken by goat-herds. One day, Kallisto was hunted by her son, who didn't recognise her, when Zeus intervened and placed Kallisto among the stars, and named her Arktos (meaning bear) [Hesiod The Astronomy Fragment 3]. There are various alternate versions. Pausanias states that Hera turned Kallisto into a bear and Artemis shot her, before Hermes rescued Arkas and Zeus placed Kallisto among the stars [Description of Greece 8. 3. 6]. Yet another version is preserved by Pseudo-Apollodorus who wrote that it was Zeus who turned Kallisto into the bear, in order to hide her from Hera [Bibliotheca 3. 100].
  Child-Birth Myth
  The bear is also involved in myths involving the rearing of children. Two very famous gods were recorded in antiquity to have been suckled by a she-bear.
  Atalanta, famous for a favourite of Artemis and a female hero, was abandoned by her father who had hoped for male offspring. Pseudo-Apollodorus recorded that upon being exposed, a she-bear came and gave her suck until hunters found her. [Bibliotheca 3. 9. 2] Aelian describes a very similar tradition, however, gives the bear more humanistic characteristics. Aelian, after establishing that the bear was a mother who had lost her children because of hunters, details the toil and pain of being "weighed down with milk" and the "relief" the bear felt when giving suck to Atalanta. [Historical Miscellany 13. 1].
  Zeus also is recorded to have been suckled by bears when brought to Crete. Aratus wrote that Ursa Major and Ursa Minor suckled the young child. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor were the names given to Kallisto and her child when placed among the starts, and so this myth appears to have a differing chronology to other myths.
  Polyphonte
  Antoninus Liberalis wrote that Polyphonte was from the line of Ares and was a companion of Artemis. Polyphonte had no regard for the activities of Aphrodite. As punishment for scorning her doings, Aphrodite led Polyphonte to fall in love with a bear. Unable to resist the desires instilled within her by Aphrodite, Polyphonte came to sleep with the bear. Disgusted, Artemis had all the beasts attack Polyphonte and drive her out of the mountains wherein they dwelt. Polyphonte took refuge at her father's 
  house and gave birth to two giant, half-bear and half-man creatures. Zeus hated the children so sent Hermes to punish them, however, Ares persuaded Hermes to only turn the creatures and Polyphonte into birds. Polyphonte became a small owl, and her children became an eagle owl and vulture. [Metamorphoses. 21]
  Folktale Myth
  Some folktales were spread about the bear in antiquity. For example, Aristotle records that Kephalos, the great-grandfather of Odysseus, consulted an oracle when he desired a child. Kephalos was instructed that his firstborn's mother would be the first woman he encountered after leaving the shrine of Apollo. The first woman that Kephalos met was a she-bear, and so in accordance with the oracle he had received, he slept with the bear who subsequently was transformed into a women and bore him the child Arkeisios [Aristotle, Frg. 504 (rose)]. Another example comes from Aelian, who recorded a story called "A Lion, a Bear, and a Dog". The story is told about a young man who was a hunter and lived with wild animals. For a while, the hunter managed to tame the animals and live with them in harmony. Then, one day the dog was making fun of the bear when, with no warning, the bear clawed the dog and tore open its stomach. The lion was disgu
caption: Atalanta in her famous race against Hippomemes
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