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Asteria
Goddess of Delos
Asteria seated on a rock with a lyre and laurel wreath at her side
Abode	Delos
Genealogy
Parents	Coeus and Phoebe
Siblings	Leto
Consort	Perses
Children	Hecate

In Greek mythology, Asteria or Asterie (/əˈstɪəriə/ as-TEAR-ee-ə; Ancient Greek: Ἀστερία or Ἀστερίη, romanized: Astería, Asteríē, lit. 'of the stars, starry one') is a daughter of the Titans Coeus (Polus) and Phoebe and the sister of Leto. According to Hesiod, by the Titan Perses she had a single child, a daughter named Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft. Other authors made Asteria the mother of the fourth Heracles and Hecate by Zeus.

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, defying Hera's orders that forbade Leto any shelter. After Apollo and Artemis were born on her, the island received the name of Delos, and Apollo fixed it in place, making it his sacred land.

Etymology

The goddess's name "Asteria" (Ancient Greek Ἀστερία, translit. Astería) is derived from the Greek word ἀστήρ (astḗr) meaning "star". Ἀστήρ itself is inherited from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂ster- (“star”), from *h₂eh₁s-, "to burn". Asteria's name shares an etymology with the names of Astraeus, Asteria's first cousin, and his daughter Astraea.

Family

All surviving sources make Asteria the daughter of the original Titans Phoebe and Coeus, and the younger sister of Leto. Before Cronus was dethroned and cast down by his six children, Asteria married Perses, one of her first cousins, and gave birth to their only child, a daughter named Hecate. In one account attributed to Musaeus, Asteria is the mother of Hecate not by Perses but by Zeus. In this version Zeus kept Asteria as his paramour for some time before handing her over to Perses.

Mythology

Zeus and Delos

Asteria was an inhabitant of Olympus following the Titanomachy in which the Olympians prevailed over the Titans, and like her sister Leto before her she was beloved by Zeus. After Zeus had impregnated Leto, his attention was next captured by her sister Asteria. Asteria rejected the enamoured Zeus, but he pursued her nonetheless. In order to escape the amorous advances of the god, who in the form of an eagle chased her down, she transformed herself into a quail (Ancient Greek: ὄρτυξ, órtux) and flung herself into the Aegean 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. The island was described in ancient sources as both floating or hidden under the sea. It was small and barren.

This then became identified with the island of Delos, which was the only place on earth to give refuge to the fugitive Leto when, pregnant with Zeus's children, she was pursued by vengeful Hera, the wife of Zeus. Hera had forbidden all places on earth to allow Leto to give birth on them, and sent Ares and Iris to enforce her command, but Delos defied Hera and invited Leto in. According to Hyginus, Leto was borne by the north wind Boreas at 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 to Apollo and Artemis. Delos was named so because after the birth of Apollo it became visible and apparent to the world, as before it was hidden beneath the waves, and fixed to the sea bed, so it was no longer floating. Cynthus and Cynthia, two common epithets for the twin gods in antiquity, were derived from Mt Cynthus, a mountain on the island.

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. Asteria's power to withstand Hera's threats seems to stem from her parentage as the daughter of two Titans.

Other myths

A different version was added by the poet Nonnus who recounted that, after Asteria was pursued by Zeus but turned herself into a quail and leapt into the sea, Poseidon instead 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. The narrative with Poseidon only appears in Nonnus's work, and was likely invented by him.

Asteria evidently joined the other gods during the Gigantomachy, as evidenced in the Gigantomachy frieze on the Pergamon Altar, where Asteria is seen fighting against the Giants next to her mother Phoebe.

In a rare and non-standard account, Asteria was made the mother of Heracles by Zeus, to whom the Phoenicians sacrificed quails because when he went into Libya and was killed by Typhon, Iolaus brought a quail to him, and having put it close to him, he smelt it and came to life again.

Origins

Family and connections

The goddess Asteria is attested as early as the eighth century BC, appearing in Hesiod's Theogony, a work documenting the genealogical lines of the gods, where she is listed in relation to her parents, sister and daughter. However Hesiod makes no mention of Asteria becoming Delos; in fact Hesiod does not seem to have known about the tale of Hera pursuing Leto at all, as he lists Leto's liaison with Zeus before his marriage to Hera. Asteria as the origin of Delos seems to have been introduced by Pindar, who in one of his fragmentary paeans writes that Zeus pursued Asteria, presumably for amorous purposes (although this is unverifiable due to the missing text), and she was flung into the sea, becoming the floating island Ortygia which Pindar in other hymns identifies as Delos. Confusingly, elsewhere he calls Ortygia the sister of Delos, and in that case he might have meant a nearby islet called Rhenia to be Ortygia.

Later the Hellenistic poet Callimachus used Pindar as his source for the more coherent Hymn to Delos, in which focus is shifted from Apollo to the island itself and the story of how Asteria threw herself into the sea in order to avoid mating with Zeus. A major difference is the level of agency the two poets give Asteria; in Pindar she is passively flung, perhaps even as a punishment, while Callimachus has her actively choose the sea over Zeus, and then later to ignore Hera's orders; on the other hand, neither Pindar nor Callimachus mention the quail metamorphosis, which is first alluded to later still. The earlier work Homeric Hymn to Apollo meanwhile, which relates the story of Leto's troubled travels and Apollo's birth, predates both Pindar and Callimachus, but nothing in the conversation between Leto and Delos in it indicates such a past for the island, let alone that they are sisters. Additionally, the Hymn does not explicitly make Hera the reason why Leto is having so much trouble finding a suitable place to give birth, an element which is more pronounced in later versions. Like the Hymn, however, Callimachus also does not allude to the kinship between Leto and Asteria either, in contrast to Hesiod, who recorded that they are sisters but did not make Asteria the origin of Delos.

In Greek mythology, while transformation into a rock is usually a barren fate, a pattern emerges in which the heroines who were transformed into islands are lovers of the gods; samewise, islands like cities were usually personified as minor goddesses or heroes.

Delos and Ortygia

Although the island in which the twins were born after Asteria was transformed into it is mostly treated as a single place, variously referred to as Delos or Ortygia, several traditions make a distinction between the two islands, having Delos as the birthplace of Apollo and Ortygia of Artemis. Ortygia was a title of Artemis, signifying her connection to quails. Traditionally, it was said that Ortygia eventually was renamed to Delos after Apollo was born on it in order to connect two names to the same place. When not conflated with Delos as it was most common in later times, Ortygia could be variably identified with the small island off Sicily, or the one next to Asia Minor, or Rhenia next to Delos.

Genealogy

See also

• Nemesis
• Astraeus
• Calliste
• Aea
• Pitys
• Daphne

Notes

1. Liddell & Scott 1940, s.v. ἀστήρ.
2. Beekes 2009, pp. 156–57.
3. Hesiod, Theogony 404 ff.; Apollodorus, 1.2.2; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
4. Murray & Klapp 2005, p. 76.
5. Hesiod, Theogony 409–11; Apollodorus, 1.2.4
6. ^ Roman, Luke; Roman, Monica (2010). Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology. Infobase Publishing. pp. 88. ISBN 9781438126395.
7. According to Musaeus as cited by a scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius's Argonautica 3.467
8. ^ Fowler 2000, pp. 32–33.
9. ^ Caldwell 1987, p. 52, note 409.
10. Gantz 1993, p. 26.
11. Diels 1907, p. 487.
12. ^ Kerenyi 1951, p. 132–133.
13. Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 3.73
14. ^ Grant & Hazel 2004, pp. 80, 313.
15. Ovid, Metamorphoses 6.108
16. ^ Bell 1991, s.v. Asteria (1).
17. ^ Smith 1873, s.v. Asteria.
18. Graf, Fritz (October 1, 2006). "Asteria". In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.). Brill's New Pauly. Columbus, OH: Brill Reference Online. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e204450. ISSN 1574-9347. Retrieved December 23, 2024.
19. Apollodorus, 1.4.1
20. ^ Grimal 1987, pp. 48, 244.
21. Comte 1991, p. 46.
22. Callimachus, Hymn to Delos 37
23. ^ Hard 2004, pp. 188–189.
24. Keightley 1838, pp. 81, 115.
25. Hyginus, Fabulae 53
26. March 2014, p. 84.
27. Callimachus, Hymn to Delos 240–248
28. ^ Mineur 2018, p. 75.
29. Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2.125 ff, 33.336 ff & 42.410 ff
30. LIMC 617 (Asteria 1)
31. Honan 1904, p. 21.
32. Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.16; Athenaeus, 9.47
33. Pindar, Paeans 5.40-42, 7b.43-52
34. Gantz 1993, p. 40.
35. Pindar, Nemean Odes 1.1-4
36. ^ Shelmerdine 1995, p. 63.
37. ^ van Tress 2017, pp. 126-134.
38. ^ Mineur 2018, p. 83.
39. Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo 4.50-81
40. Forbes Irving 1990, p. 307.
41. Seyffert 1901, p. 71.
42. ^ Rose 2004, pp. 106, note 50.
43. Seyffert 1901, pp. 76–77.
44. Rose 2004, pp. 27, 93.
45. Hesiod, Theogony 132–138, 337–411, 453–520, 901–906, 915–920; Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.
46. Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, Theogony 371–374, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), 99–100, Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.
47. According to Hesiod, Theogony 507–511, Clymene, one of the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, Theogony 351, was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according to Apollodorus, 1.2.3, another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.
48. According to Plato, Critias, 113d–114a, Atlas was the son of Poseidon and the mortal Cleito.
49. In Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 18, 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

Primary sources

• Athenaeus of Naucratis, The Deipnosophists or Banquet of the Learned. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1854. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae. Kaibel. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Lipsiae. 1887. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Callimachus, Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet Archive
• Callimachus, Works. A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Marcus Tullius Cicero, Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891), Bohn edition of 1878. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Natura Deorum. O. Plasberg. Leipzig. Teubner. 1917. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, volume I Books I-XV. Loeb Classical Library No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, volume II Books XVI-XXXV. Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, volume III Books XXXVI-XLVIII. Loeb Classical Library No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive.
• Ovid, Metamorphoses, Volume I: Books 1-8. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library No. 42. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1977, first published 1916. ISBN 978-0-674-99046-3.
• Pindar, Nemean Odes, Isthmian Odes, Fragments. Edited and translated by William H. Race. Loeb Classical Library 485. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. Text available online on Loeb Classical Library.
• Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.

Secondary sources

• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2009). Lucien van Beek (ed.). Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series. Vol. 1. Leiden, the Netherlands: BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-17420-7. ISSN 1574-3586.
• Bell, Robert E. (1991). Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-Clio. ISBN 9780874365818.
• Caldwell, Richard S. (June 1, 1987). Hesiod's Theogony. Cambridge, MA: Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company. ISBN 978-0-941051-00-2.
• Comte, Fernand (1991). Mythology. Translated by W & R Chambers. London, NYC, Toronto: Chambers Ltd. ISBN 0-550-17000-6.
• Diels, Hermann (1907). Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker: griechisch und deutsch. Vol. 2. Berlin, Germany: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung.
• Forbes Irving, Paul M. C. (1990). Metamorphosis in Greek Myths. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814730-9.
• Fowler, Robert L. (2000). Early Greek Mythography. Vol. 2: Commentary. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-814741-1.
• Gantz, Timothy (1993). Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources. Vol. 1. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9.
• Grant, Michael; Hazel, John (August 2, 2004). Who's Who in Classical Mythology. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26041-8.
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• Keightley, Thomas (1838). The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy (2nd ed.). London, UK: Whittaker and Co.
• Kerenyi, Karl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. Thames & Hudson.
• Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Online version at Perseus.tufts project.
• March, Jennifer R. (May 31, 2014). Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-78297-635-6.
• Mineur, W. H. (2018). Hymn to Delos: Introduction and commentary by W.H. Mineur. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-07230-5.
• Murray, Alexander Stuart; Klapp, William H. (2005). Handbook of World Mythology. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-486-44374-4.
• Rose, Herbert J. (2004). A Handbook of Greek Mythology (6th ed.). London, New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-04601-7.
• Seyffert, Oskar (1901). Nettleship, Henry; Sandys, J. E. (eds.). A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Mythology, Religion, Literature and Art. S. Sonnenschein.
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External links

• ASTERIA from The Theoi Project
• ASTERIA from Mythopedia
• ASTERIA from greekmythology.com

v t e Metamorphoses in Greek mythology
Animals	Avian Abas Acanthis Acanthus Acmon Aëdon Aegolius Aegypius Aëtos Aesacus Agrius and Oreius Agron Alcander Alcyone Alcyone and Ceyx Alcyonides Alectryon Anthus Antigone Argus Arne Sithonis Artemiche Ascalaphus Asteria Autonous Botres Bulis Byssa Caeneus Celeus Cerberus Chelidon Cinyras Clinis Combe Corone Ctesylla Cycnus of Aetolia Cycnus of Ares Cycnus of Colonae Cycnus of Liguria Daedalion Erinoma Erodius Eumelus Gerana Harmothoë Harpalyce Harpasus Harpe Hierax Hippodamia Hyperippe Hyria Ictinus Idas Ino Itys Iynx Laius Lelante Lycius Lycus Megaletor Meleagrids Memnonides Meropis Merops Minyades Munichus Neophron Nisus Nyctaea Nyctimene Oenoe Oenotropae Ortygius Pandareus Pelia Perdix Periphas Peristera Picus Pierides Phene Philaeus Philomela Pleiades Polyphonte Polytechnus Procne Rhexenor Schoeneus Scylla Tereus Timandra Non-avian Abas Actaeon Arachne Arcas Arge Aristaeus Ascalabus Atalanta Cadmus Calchus Callisto Cephissus Cerambus Cercopes Chelone Circe Curetes Cynosura Galanthis Gale Harmonia Hecuba Helice Hippomenes Io Lycaon Lycian peasants Lyncus Megisto Melanippe Melian nymphs Melissa Minyades Myia Myrmex Naïs Nerites Ocyrhoe Odysseus Pentheus Phalanx Phineus Phoenice Pompilus Taygete Theophane Tiresias Titanis Tithonus Tyrrhenian pirates Aethalides Alcimedon Dictys Epopeus Melas Medon Opheltes
Base appearance	Achilles Antigone Charybdis Lamia Medusa Midas Mulberry fruit Phaon Scylla Sirens White raven
Humanoids	Arne Calliste Cymodoce Cephalus' wife Galatea Leleges Myrmidons Nephele Spartoi Weasel
Inanimate objects	Aconteus Aglaurus Alcmene Anaxarete Ariadne Arsinoë Aspalis Battus Britomartis Calydon Cercopes Cragaleus Daphnis Iodame Laelaps Lethaea Lyco and Orphe Olenus Pallas Pandareus Phineus Polydectes Proetus Propoetides Pyrrhus Teumessian fox Wolf
Landforms	Achelous Acheron Acis Aea Alope Alpheus Arethusa (Boeotia) Arethusa (Elis) Asteria Atlas Aura Byblis Calliste Castalia Chione Cleite Comaetho Cyane Dirce Haemus Lichas Lilaeus Manto Marsyas Menippe and Metioche Niobe Perimele Pirene Pyramus and Thisbe Rhodope Rhodopis Sangas Selemnus Sybaris
Opposite sex	Caeneus Hermaphroditus Iphis Leucippus Salmacis Siproites Sithon Tiresias
Plants	Adonis Agdistis Ajax Amaracus Ambrosia Ampelus Anethus Attis Baucis and Philemon Calamus Carpus Carya Cissus Clytie Crocus Cyparissus Daphne Diopatra Dryope Elaea Elate Eteocleides Heliades Aegle Dioxippe Lampetia Merope Phaethusa Phoebe Hesperides Aegle Erytheia Hyacinthus Leuce Leucothoe Libanus Lotis Lycurgus Mecon Melos Messapians Milk Minthe Myrice Myrina Myrsine Narcissus Oechalides Philyra Phyllis Picolous Pitys Platanus Psalacantha Saliva Side Smilax Smyrna Spear Syceus Syrinx
Voluntary	Greek gods Kobalos Mestra Periclymenus
Other	Cumaean Sibyl Echo Hyades Hylas Milk of Hera Pleiades
False myths	Acantha Amethyste Orchis Rhodanthe
Metamorphoses

• Greek goddesses
• Titans (mythology)
• Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology
• Divine women of Zeus
• Olympian deities
• Deeds of Zeus
• Deeds of Poseidon
• Delian mythology
• Metamorphoses characters
• Leto
• Deeds of Apollo
• Metamorphoses into terrain in Greek mythology
• Shapeshifters in Greek mythology