Jupiter and Callisto: Beautiful Paintings for a Horrible Act

Disguise, shame, and punishment. The heart-breaking myth of Callisto.

Oh, such beautiful paintings, longing moments. I initially saw one of the many visualizations of the myth and thought not much (for a second) of the title. All I could see was the faces and bodies of two youthful women, one especially giving in, lovingly leaning towards her lover. It was beautiful, sentimental, and made me reflect on same-sex love across centuries and mythology…until wait. Jupiter?

Callisto was a follower of, and in l0ve with Artemis. Zeus disguised himself as Artemis and r@p3d her. When Callisto became pr3gn@nt, she was expelled from Artemis’s group as a result. Hera (Zeus’s w!fe) then decided to pun!sh Callisto by turning her into a bear. — Pinterest User.

The Myth

Raised in a house with a brute and unkind father, Callisto (Kallisto in Greek mythology) runs to the woods and joins the family of nymphs devoted to Diana (Artemis), promising to be in nature and remain forever a virgin. As Madeline Miller notices, forced virginity is seen now as being not-feminist and quite strict as a rule, but at the time of the ancient Greeks, it meant freedom — not being tied to a man and forced to live as the woman of the house.