Aristaeus, in Greek mythology, son of Apollo and Cyrene, and father of Actaeon. He fell in love with Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, whom he pursued into the fields, where she was bitten by a serpent. For this he incurred the anger of the gods. He taught men the culture of the olive and the management of bees, and was extensively worshipped in Greece and the Grecian islands as protector of pastoral life and husbandry.