CALLISTO, in Greek Mythology, an Arcadian nymph, who was transformed into a bear as a penalty for having born to Zeus a son, Areas, from whom the Arcadians, or bear-people, derived their name (Ovid, Metam., ii. 468, fol.) Areas, when hunting, encountered the bear Callisto, and would have shot her, had not Zeus with swift wind carried up both to the skies, where he placed them as a constellation. Artemis, as goddess of hunting, was styled Callisto in Arcadia, and had the symbol of a bear.