There is a piechart infographic from Photos of Classical Wisdom Weekly making its way around Facebook entitled "What causes most problems in Greek mythology". Before I provide the answers (items that take slices out of the pie), see if you can come up with your own ideas.
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Ready for the answers?
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- Hubris,
- Fate or prophecy that couldn't be avoided,
- Some god threw a hissyfit because a human was better than them,
- and -- making up the bulk of the pie -- Zeus couldn't keep it in his pants.
That this article is about myth is given in the title, that it is about versions of the transformation of someone should tell you that there was a problem of basically the third infographic variety, and my choice of infographic, with its focus on the fourth answer, plus the caption on the painting I've selected to accompany this article should provide you with just about all you need to know about the basic story.
In case it's not, the basic story is that Diana or Artemis, the virgin hunter goddess, sister of the god Apollo (sometimes counted as the one who couldn't keep it in his pants), prized her band of followers, all of whom had sworn to her vows of chastity. Any infringement on their chastity or her own modesty drove her to murderous or transforming rage.
There was another female in the Greek and Roman pantheon who had her own reasons for wanting Diana's band of followers to remain chaste. This was the queen of gods, Juno or Hera, who was married to the most notorious philanderer, Jupiter or Zeus. When her husband strayed, his eyes often wandered to virgins and what better group to find one in than among his daughter Diana's attendants. And so, Callisto was seduced.
Now who exactly Callisto was and who changed the poor young woman and whether it was for her own protection or as a punishment varies with the source. The most popular version of the transformation seems to be that when Diana found out about Callisto's pregnancy -- as in the accompanying painting -- she was the one to punish her attendant, but whether by shooting her or by turning her into a bear is less clear.
There are other versions and even more about Callisto's parents and murderer. Here is a sample of the transformation stories about Callisto:
Diana
Hesiod, The Astronomy Fragment 3 (from Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 1.2) (trans. Evelyn-White):"She chose to occupy herself with wild-beasts in the mountains together with Artemis, and, when she was seduced by Zeus, continued some time undetected by the goddess, but afterwards, when she was already with child, was seen by her bathing and so discovered. Upon this, the goddess was enraged and changed her into a beast. Thus she became a bear and gave birth to a son called Arcas."
Also see Ovid, Metamorphoses 2. 409 - 531.
Juno or Jupiter
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 25. 1 (trans. Jones):"On the Athenian Akropolis ... Deinomenes made the two female figures which stand near [the statue of Anakreon], Io, the daughter of Inakhos, and Kallisto, the daughter of Lykaon, of both of whom exactly the same story is told, to wit, love of Zeus, wrath of Hera, and metamorphosis, Io becoming a cow and Kallisto a bear."
Jupiter
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 100 (trans. Aldrich):"She was a hunting companion of Artemis, imitating her dress and remaining under oath a virgin for the goddess. But Zeus fell in love with her and forced her into bed, taking the likeness, some say, or Artemis, others, of Apollon. Because he wanted to escape the attention of Hera, Zeus changed Kallisto into a bear."
