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Asteria (Titaness)

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For other uses, seeAsteria (mythology).
Asteria
Goddess of Delos
Asteria seated on a rock with alyreandlaurel wreathat her side
AbodeDelos
Genealogy
ParentsCoeusandPhoebe
SiblingsLeto
ConsortPerses
ChildrenHecate

InGreek mythology,AsteriaorAsterie(/əˈstɪəriə/;Ancient Greek:Ἀστερία or Ἀστερίη,romanized:Astería, Asteríē,lit. 'of thestars,starry one') is a daughter of the TitansCoeus(Polus) andPhoebeand the sister ofLeto.[1]According toHesiod,by the TitanPersesshe had a single child, a daughter namedHecate,the goddess ofwitchcraft.[2]Other authors made Asteria the mother of the fourthHeracles[3]and Hecate[4]byZeus.

Asteria is notable for her pursuit by the amorous god Zeus, who desired her. In order to escape him and his advances, she transformed herself into a bird and then a wandering island. When her sister Leto, impregnated by Zeus, went into labour, Asteria was the only place on earth willing to receive her, defyingHera's orders that forbade Leto any shelter. AfterApolloandArtemiswere born on her, the island received the name ofDelos,and Apollo fixed it in place, making it his sacred land.

Etymology[edit]

The goddess's name "Asteria" (Ancient GreekἈστερία,translit.Astería) is derived from the Greek wordἀστήρ(astḗr) meaning "star".Ἀστήρitself is inherited from theProto-Indo-Europeanroot*h₂ster-( “star” ), from*h₂eh₁s-,"to burn".[5]Asteria's name shares an etymology with the names ofAstraeus,Asteria's first cousin, and his daughterAstraea.

Mythology[edit]

Asteria and Phoebe on thePergamon Altar.

Asteria marriedPerses,her first cousin, and gave birth to their only childHecate.[6][2]In one account attributed toMusaeus,Asteria is the mother of Hecate not by Perses but byZeus.[4]She evidently joined the other gods during theGigantomachy,as in the Gigantomachy frieze on thePergamon Altar,Asteria is seen fighting against the Giants next to her mother Phoebe.[7]

Asteria was an inhabitant of Olympus, and like her sister Leto was beloved by Zeus. After Zeus had impregnated Leto, his attention was next captured by her sister Asteria.[8]In order to escape the amorous advances of the god, who in the form of an eagle pursued her,[9]she transformed herself into a quail (ortux) and flung herself into theAegean Sea.It was there that Asteria metamorphosed into the island Asteria (the island which had fallen from heaven like a star) or the "quail island"Ortygia.[10][6]This then became identified with the island ofDelos,which was the only place on earth to give refuge to the fugitive Leto when, pregnant with Zeus's children, she was pursued by vengefulHera.[11]According to Hyginus, Leto was borne by the north windBoreasat the command of Zeus to the floating island, at the time when Python was pursuing her, and there clinging to an olive, she gave birth toApolloandArtemis.[12][6]

Asteria pursued by Zeus in the form of an eaglebyMarco Liberi

Hera, despite being enraged that Asteria had defied her and allowed Leto to give birth to the products of Zeus' liaison, did no harm to Asteria, out of respect for her for not sleeping with Zeus when he chased her, and instead preferring the sea over him, thus not further defiling Hera's marriage.[13]Asteria's power to withstand Hera's threats seems to stem from her parentage as the daughter of two Titans.[14]

A different version was added by the poetNonnuswho recounted that, after Asteria was pursued by Zeus but turned herself into a quail and leapt into the sea,Poseidoninstead took up the chase. In the madness of his passion, he hunted the chaste goddess to and fro in the sea, riding restless before the changing wind and thus she transformed herself into the desert island of Delos with the help of her nephew Apollo who rooted her in the waves immovable.[15]The narrative with Poseidon only appears in Nonnus's work.

The element of Asteria fleeing from Zeus as the origin of Delos was probably introduced byCallimachus,as in theHomeric Hymnto Apollo,nothing in the conversation between Leto and Delos indicates of such a past for Delos, let alone that they are sisters.[14]Like theHymn,however, Callimachus does not allude to the kinship between Leto and Asteria either, in contrast toHesiod,who recorded that they are sisters but did not make Asteria the origin of Delos.[16]Asteria as Delos is already known sincePindar,but whether he would have known of the story of her trying to avoid Zeus is not clear.[14]

In the rare account where Asteria was the mother of Heracles by Zeus, the Phoenicians sacrifice quails to the hero because when he went intoLibyaand was killed byTyphon,Iolausbrought a quail to him, and having put it close to him, he smelt it and came to life again.[17]

Genealogy[edit]

Asteria's family tree[18]
UranusGaiaPontus
OceanusTethysHyperionTheiaCriusEurybia
TheRiversTheOceanidsHeliosSelene[19]EosAstraeusPallasPerses
CronusRheaCoeusPhoebe
HestiaHeraPoseidonZeusLetoASTERIA
DemeterHadesApolloArtemisHecate
IapetusClymene(orAsia)[20]Themis(Zeus)Mnemosyne
Atlas[21]MenoetiusPrometheus[22]EpimetheusTheHoraeTheMuses

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Hesiod,Theogony404 ff.;Apollodorus,1.2.2;Hyginus,FabulaePreface
  2. ^abHesiod,Theogony409–11;Apollodorus,1.2.4
  3. ^Cicero,De Natura Deorum3.16;Athenaeus,9.47
  4. ^abAccording toMusaeusas cited by ascholiastonApollonius Rhodius'sArgonautica3.467
  5. ^Beekes, R. S. P.,Etymological Dictionary of Greek(Leiden: Brill, 2009), 1:156–57.
  6. ^abcRoman, Luke; Roman, Monica (2010).Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology.Infobase Publishing. p. 88.ISBN9781438126395.
  7. ^LIMC617 (Asteria 1);Honan, p.21
  8. ^Servius,Commentary onVirgil'sAeneid3.73
  9. ^Ovid,Metamorphoses6.108
  10. ^Apollodorus,1.4.1
  11. ^Callimachus,Hymns in Delos37
  12. ^Hyginus,Fabulae53.
  13. ^Callimachus,Hymn to Delos240–248
  14. ^abcMineur 2018,p.75.
  15. ^Nonnus,Dionysiaca2.125 ff, 33.336 ff & 42.410 ff
  16. ^Mineur 2018,p.83.
  17. ^Athenaeus,9.47
  18. ^Hesiod,Theogony132–138,337–411,453–520,901–906, 915–920;Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.
  19. ^Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as inHesiod,Theogony371–374,in theHomeric Hymnto Hermes(4),99–100,Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.
  20. ^According toHesiod,Theogony507–511,Clymene, one of theOceanids,the daughters ofOceanusand Tethys, atHesiod,Theogony351,was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according toApollodorus,1.2.3,another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.
  21. ^According toPlato,Critias,113d–114a,Atlas was the son ofPoseidonand the mortalCleito.
  22. ^InAeschylus,Prometheus Bound18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp.444, 445 n. 2,446, 447 n. 24,538, 539 n. 113) Prometheus is made to be the son of Themis.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Look upἈστερἰαin Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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