In Greek mythology, Arcas (Ἀρκάς) was the son of Zeus and Callisto. Callisto was a nymph in the retinue of the goddess Artemis. Zeus, being a flirtatious god, wanted Callisto for a lover. As she would not be with anyone but Artemis, Zeus cunningly disguised himself as Artemis and seduced Callisto. The child resulting from their union was called Arcas.

Hera became jealous, and in anger, transformed Callisto into a bear. She would have done the same or worse to her son, had Zeus not hidden Arcas in an area of Greece that would come to be called Arcadia, in his honor. There Arcas safely lived until one day, during one of the court feasts held by king Lycaon (Arcas' maternal grandfather), Arcas was placed upon the burning altar as a sacrifice to the gods. He then said to Zeus "If you think that you are so clever, make your son whole and un-harmed." At this Zeus became enraged. He made Arcas whole and then directed his anger toward Lycaon, turning him into the first werewolf.

After this occurrence, Arcas became the new king of Arcadia, and the country's greatest hunter. One day when Arcas went hunting in the woods, he came across his mother. Seeing her son after so long, she went forth to embrace him. Not knowing that the bear was his mother, he went to kill her with an arrow. Zeus, taking pity upon the two, decided to avert the tragedy and put them both up in the heavens, and their constellations are now referred to as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the big and little bears. When Hera heard of this, she became so angry that she asked Tethys to keep them in a certain place, so that the constellations would never sink below the horizon and receive water.

Julián Arcas (1832 – 16 February 1882) was a Spanish classical guitarist and composer. He was born in Almería and died in Malaga Spain.

During the decade 1860–70 he performed all over Europe. He even performed for the Duke of Wellington and the Duke of Cambridge in 1862. The young Francisco Tárrega listened to him in 1863 in Castellón and played for him after the performance, on the request of Tárrega’s father. Arcas then invited Tárrega to study with him in Barcelona. Tarrega plagiarized, deliberately or not, a number of Arcas's pieces including Fantasia sobre los Motivos de La Traviata. Arcas wrote fifty two original works and transcriptioned thirty pieces for the guitar, including waltzes, variations, preludes and dances. Thirty were published in Barcelona by Vidal y Roger and fifty in Madrid by Unión Musical Española.

Interest in Arcas was sparked by his teaching of Tarrega and the discovery of Tarrega's plagiarism. Recently, Arcas has become more well known due to the beauty of his music and the release of his complete works.

Stefano Grondona is an Italian classical guitarist born in 1958. In 2002 he formed the guitar ensemble Nova Lira Orfeo XXI, based on Lira Orfeo - a Barcelona music society of which Miguel Llobet was founder and director.

He has collaborated with Luca Waldner in writing the book La Chitarra di Liuteria - Masterpieces of Guitar Making.

He is Professor of Guitar at the State Conservatory of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy.

Ruggero Chiesa, Guitar Gradus (Grondona plays Sor & Walton) (Suvini-Zerboni ESZ.10224)