Μythological Rudiments for                       Arcadia

           According to the myth, the first inhabitants of Arcadia preceded "the time of the moon". It is said that they appeared in Arcadia before starts turned into a moon around the earth. During antiquity Arcadia occupied more land than today. The north side reached to the mountains Killini and Kalavrita. In the west it reached to the mountain Minthi and the river Diagnota (Tsemperoula), while to the northeast it expanded until Feneo. It must also be mentioned that at that time most part of today's Kynouria did not belong to Arcadia. The myth refers as the first king of Arcadia Pelasgos. Arcadians walked naked and stayed in caves. Pelasgos invented the construction of primitive dwellings (of huts), so his subjects won't suffer from cold or very warm weather. He used also sheep leather for the making of clothes.
       He also prohibited to his subjects eating green leafs, raw grasses and dangerous roots. Finally, according to the history of Elianou, he separated the categories of oak trees whose leaves were edible. During the era of Pelasgos, Arcadia (and all Peloponnisos) was called Pelasgia. Mythical son and succesor of Pelasgos was Lycaonas who helped to the development of Arcadia .

       Lycaonas' mother was his father's daughter in law, Killini. Lycaonas founded the town Lucosoura and sanctified the athletic fights in respect to Lyceous Dios. According always to the myth, Lycaonas sacrificed an infant to the altar of Lyceou Dias. Another version refers that Lycaonas when he sacrificed an infant to Dias (Zeus) he offered the baby's fleshes to God instead of animal's fleshes. Zeus then transformed Lycaona to a wolf. According to the myth, the gods were very hospitable and Arcadians could join their feasts.
After the mythical Lycaona, the power was under control of his son, Nyctimios. According to Patis' chronicle, at the era in which Nyctimios was the king of Arcadia, (and Kranaos in Athens), a cataclysm occurred as a sign of the god's disrespect to Lycaona and his children. (The Pario chronicle was found in marble at Paros in 1687 and moved to Oxford. It was written between 267-263 BC when in Athens lord Diognitos ruled) .

             It is said that Lycaonas had 50 children. We have the names of only 27 male ones. Except Nyctimios, who conquered the throne, the other 26 children founded their own towns (sources refer to them in alphabetic order). Lycaonas had two daughters. One of them was Kallisto to whom Zeus fell in love with and started erotic relations with her. When Kallisto got pregnant, Ira (Zeus' wife) was displeased and transformed Kallisto into a bear. Even then, Ira was not fully satisfied and mobilized Artemis to kill the bear with her arrows

        After the killing of the bear-Kallistos, followed the drastic interference of Zeus. He called Ermis (Hermes) to save the child who was in the belly of the dead bear-Kallisto. Then Zeus transformed Kallisto into an asterism, the known asterism of 'Big Bear'. According to Omiros (Homer), this asterism later became Ulleses' guide in the sailing from Kalypsos's island to his home country Ithaki (Ithaca). Zeus' and Kallistos' child who was saved by Ermis was called Arkas and later became the king of Arcadia. He 'perpetuated' his generation into 19 mythical races, all of which are mentioned in the genealogical tree of Arcadia.