Ursa Major

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Ursa Major The Big Bear
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Circumpolar Stars
are stars that never set.
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The Great BearThe Big Dipper
The great she-bear is the 3rd largest circumpolar
constellation in the Northern Sky.
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The Big Dipper or Plough
is called an asterism a pattern or grouping of
stars within a constellation.
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Ursa Minor The Lesser Bear
The 7 stars of the Lesser Bear are much fainter
than the 7 stars of the Great Bear.
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Can you find the North Star? How did you do it?
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The Many Stories of the Bears

• Iroquois Indians
• Zuni Indians
• Housatonic Indians
• Basque
• Chinese
• Arabian
• German
• English

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And of courseGreek
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"This is the one insult that was lacking, you
shameless woman, that you should bear a son. Now
the wrong done to me has been made public by the
birth of your child and there is proof of my
husbands misdemeanor. But you will not escape
unpunished! For I shall rob you of that beauty,
in which both you and my husband took such
delight, you minx!"
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The myths Ursa Major, the Great Bear and Ursa
Minor, the Little Bear, are usually paired
together in mythology. King Lycaon of Arcadia
possessed a beautiful daughter named Callisto
("Most Fair"). Callisto was very fond of hunting
and worshipped Artemis (the Latin equivalent of
Diana), the Goddess of the Hunt. "Not one who
spent her time in spinning soft fibers of wool,
or in arranging her hair in different styles. She
was one of Diana's warriors, wearing her tunic
pinned together with a brooch, her tresses
carelessly caught back by a white ribbon, and
carrying in her hand a light javelin or her bow".
(Metamorphoses II 412-415). One day Callisto
promised Artemis that she would devote her entire
life to the goddess, which meant among other
things that Callisto had to remain a virgin. All
this happened not very long after the fatal ride
of the Phaethon (Eridanus) myth. The Earth had
been scorched and everything badly damaged.
Jupiter descended from Olympus to see for himself
what he could do to restore the Earth to its
former condition. Seeing that every living thing
had been scorched and that the rivers and the
lakes were dry, Jupiter applied his godly power
to restore the Earth to productive
condition. Gradually, the rivers began to fill
with water again, the grass stood green once
more, and the forest came back to life. Once
again, the Earth could pride herself on all her
finery and foliage. Jupiter rambled around the
woods of Arcadia, a district of Peloponnesus, at
that time and looked approvingly at all that he
had done. As he was hurrying busily to and fro,
he stopped short at the sight of an Arcadian
maiden, who was none other than Callisto, resting
in the afternoon warmth in a shady part of the
forest. The fire of passion kindled the marrow of
his bones. She had removed her bow and quiver
and, slumbering amidst the heavy scent of the
herbs of the forest, did not notice Jupiter's
presence. Jupiter, seeing a good opportunity for
another of his many secret love affairs, said to
himself, "This secret love, my spouse will not
know about, and even if she should find out it
would be worth her quarrelling". With that he
changed himself into the guise of Artemis and
spoke to Callisto. "Well, beautiful young woman
of my hunting retinue, in what mountains have you
been hunting?" Dumbfounded, Callisto jumped up
and greeted the goddess. "Greetings, O goddess,
whom I put higher in esteem than Jupiter".
Jupiter was amused to hear himself being put
above himself by the girl.  However, unable to
restrain himself any longer, he embraced and
kissed her, but not in a moderate way as a
goddess should kiss a member of her own sex. And
so Jupiter gave away his real identity. Callisto
resisted him with all her might, but who could
resist Jupiter, the highest of all the gods? And
so it happened that he lay with Callisto. After
he had enjoyed the delights of love, Jupiter
returned to Olympus and left Callisto behind in
the forest, the only witness to her disgrace.
"She resisted him as far as a woman could - had
Juno seen her she would have been less cruel, but
how could a girl overcome a man, and who could
defeat Jupiter? He had his way, and returned to
the upper air". (Metamorphoses II).
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Callisto was sad because she had broken her vow
to Artemis. As Callisto was pondering her sin,
Artemis and some of her followers happened to
pass where Callisto was sitting. Hearing her name
being called, Callisto took fright lest it was
Jupiter again. First of all she tried to flee
but, seeing that they were really her hunting
companions, she joined them. Callisto, however,
was no longer the same girl. Usually she was
cheerful and sprightly, always had a lot to say,
and was ever first in the group. Now she was
quiet and distraught, and she could hardly hide
the shame in her eyes. Then came the time, after
the Moon had been full nine times, that all the
nymphs gathered by a spring to refresh themselves
with a bath. Callisto tried to stay behind, but
the nymphs pulled her playfully with them, undid
her garments and, of course, thereby discovered
her sin. The nymphs were horrified and spoke to
her, "Go far from here and do not pollute the
waters of this spring". And so Callisto was
driven from the retinue of Artemis.  This
punishment, however, was not enough for the
quarrelsome spouse of Jupiter, who found out that
deep in the forest of Arcadia a little boy had
been born, named Arcas after his birthplace. Juno
reproached Callisto in no uncertain manner and
uttered an awful threat, which she carried out
instantly as she said, "This is the one insult
that was lacking, you shameless woman, that you
should bear a son. Now the wrong done to me has
been made public by the birth of your child and
there is proof of my husbands misdemeanor. But
you will not escape unpunished! For I shall rob
you of that beauty, in which both you and my
husband took such delight, you minx!" With these
words, Juno grasped the poor girl by her locks
and threw her face downwards.  Suddenly her arms
became shaggy with hair, her pleading voice
faltered and changed into an awful roaring sound,
while her erect gait became a prone walk on four
legs. So the beautiful Callisto was changed into
a bear, her face, which Jupiter had once praised,
was disfigured by wide gaping jaws. She fled into
the woods to look for refuge from the hunters to
whom she had once belonged. To make matters even
worse Juno left Callisto with her human feelings
rather than those of a bear. She declared grief
with continual lamentations, raising to the stars
in heaven such hands as she had and feeling
Jupiters ingratitude. For many years Callisto
lived in the forest, frightened by the bark of
the hunting dogs who once were her companions.
Many a time, not daring to rest in the lonely
woods, she wandered before the home and in the
fields that once were hers. Often she forgot what
she was and hid when she saw wild beasts though
a bear herself, she shuddered at the sight of
bears in their mountain haunts.
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Meanwhile, Callistos son, Arcas had reached the
age of fifteen and also had taken up hunting. He
was quite unaware of what happened to his
mother. One day Arcas encountered a bear, which
was in fact his mother. Forgetting that she
looked like a bear, Callisto rushed forward as
soon as she recognized her son whom, of course,
she wished to embrace. Arcas, however, thought
that he was being attacked and ordered out his
dogs while he drew his bow and leveled an
arrow. He would have shot with a deadly result
had not Jupiter intervened, driven by pity for
Callisto. Changing Arcas into a bear too and with
a vigorous sweep he grasped each bear by its tail
and tugged and tugged until he had managed to
swing them both into the heavens, where they
landed amongst the stars as neighboring
constellations, Callisto as Ursa Major and her
son Arcas as Ursa Minor. The ferocious tug at
their tails, as they were slung over such a long
journey through the sky, caused their normally
bushy, stumpy tails to stretch and explains why
our celestial bears, unlike earthly ones, have
long tails. In time, the tail of Arcas became
even longer, we are told, as he was continuously
swung around the sky by the end-star in his tail,
Polaris. Today we know Callisto and Arcas as the
Great Bear and the Little Bear, and in such a way
did Jupiter compensate Callisto and Arcas for all
the agony he had caused them on Earth. On
discovering that her husband had given Callisto
and Arcas honored places in heaven, Junos wrath
knew no bounds, furious at what she perceived to
be a circumvention of her punishment for
Callisto. She swore at him, "Sure enough! I
prevented Callisto from being a human being, but
you of course have to make a goddess of her. So
this then is the strength of my divine power. Why
don't you take Callisto as your wife. Now I have
to live with an adulteress in the same
Heaven". Deeply hurt, Juno thought of revenge and
carried it out without delay.  She went down to
Earth to visit her friends the Ocean god,
Oceanus, and his wife, Tethys, and rages to
them  "How dare Jupiter give those two and
honored place in heaven? They have now displaced
me Queen of Heaven, from my place in the sky, I
forbade her to wear human form, she and her
hateful son are placed among the stars....
Perhaps my husband means to take her to wife, and
put me away!   But you, my foster parents, if you
feel for me, ... show it, I beseech you, by
forbidding this guilty couple from coming into
your waters. I ask that you forever keep these
two in a pen so that they may never wander
far". Naturally, the ancient ones obliged her and
so the two bears, the great one and the little
one, move around the pole but never sink beneath
the ocean. They would see to it that "the couple
never would be permitted to enter our waters in
their wandering", in other words, that the bears
forever would be forbidden to set below the
horizon of the sea as other constellations do. To
this day both the Lesser Bear and the Great Bear
are held high in the sky near the Pole Star,
never permitted to sink beneath the sea horizon.
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Ovid described Juno's actions beautifully in
Book II of the Metamorphoses "When she beheld
Jove's mistress in the skies. Glittering against
the night, pale Juno's rage swelled hot and like
a meteor in flight, she dropped to Tethys and to
ancient Oceanus, two elders of the sea, to whom
the Gods gave reverence and awe. They asked her
why she came and she replied, 'you ask me why I,
the queen of the gods, have left my heavenly
abode to come here? It is because another, in my
place, holds sway in the sky! Unless I am
mistaken, when night darkens the world, you will
see two constellations newly raised to the honor
of a place in highest heaven, expressly to insult
me! Look for them where the last narrowest circle
surrounds the tip of the pole. And do you suppose
that anyone will hesitate to wrong Juno, or fear
to offend her, when I alone actually do good to
those I try to harm? Great indeed are my
achievements, and mighty my strength I denied
her the rights of a human being, and she has
become a goddess! So much for the punishment I
inflict on the guilty! So much for my tremendous
power! Let Jupiter now restore her former shape,
and rid her of her bestial appearance, as he did
before in the case of the Argive Io (Taurus
myth). Why does he not go so far as to divorce
me, and marry this new love, - set her in my
wedding chamber and take Lycaon as a
father-in-law? 'I implore you, if this
contemptuous treatment of one who was your
nursling distresses you, prevent the Bear from
entering your dark blue waters repulse those
stars which have been received into heaven as a
reward for shameless conduct, and do not let my
rival bathe in your pure tide'. "The gods of the
sea nodded in consent. Then Saturns daughter
drove off through the clear air in her light
chariot, drawn by gaily-colored peacocks".  And
so it is that of all the constellations, only the
Bears never bathe in the ocean-never cool their
tired paws in the soothing waters of the
sea. "The Metamorphoses of Ovid", translated by
Mary M. Innes, 1955, Penguin. Ovid was born in
Rome in 43 BC. , "The New Patterns in the Sky"
Julius D.W. Staal 1988, The Macdonald and
Woodward publishing Company.