Callisto (mythology) Callisto (mythology) In Greek mythology, Callisto or Kallisto (; ) was a nymph, or the daughter of King Lycaon; the myth varies in such details. She was one of the followers of Artemis, or Diana for the Romans, who attracted Zeus (Jupiter). He transformed himself into the figure of Artemis and seduced her in this disguise. She became pregnant and when this was eventually discovered, she was expelled from Artemis's group, after which a furious Hera (Juno, wife of her seducer) transformed her into a bear. Later, just as she was about to be killed by her son when he
Grünes Gewölbe is suspended in place of the shaft, while the bowl seems to float on the tips of the stag's antlers. This masterpiece depicts the mythological scene in which the unapproachable Diana changes the hunter Actaeon into a deer and has him torn to pieces by his own dogs for having watched her bathing. The base of the piece presents the forest floor, upon which lies the head of the stag Actaeon, with the dogs falling ravenously upon it. The inscription picked out in diamonds on the rim of the base reads, "DISCRETION SERT EFFRONTERIE PERD" ("Discretion is laudable, indiscretion unwise").