Asteria



In Greek mythology, Asteria (Greek: Αστερία, "of the stars, starry one") was a name attributed to the following individuals:

Amazon
Asteria was the sixth Amazon killed by Heracles when he came for Hippolyte's girdle.

Daughter of Coeus
Asteria was the daughter of the titans Coeus and Phoebe and sister of Leto. According to Hesiod, by Perses she had a daughter Hecate. The Titan goddess of oracles, prophetic dreams, astrology and necromancy, Asteria flung herself into the Aegean Sea in the form of a quail in order to escape the advances of Zeus. She became the island of the same name. Later, the island Asteria was identified with Delos, which was the only piece of earth to give refuge to the fugitive Leto when, pregnant with Zeus's children, she was pursued by vengeful Hera.

According to a lost poem of Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 355 BCE) by Zeus she became the mother of the Heracles in the form in which Hellenes thought they recognized him (by interpretatio graeca) as he was worshipped among Phoenicians at Tyre.

Heliad
Asteria was an alternate name for the daughter of Helios and Clymene or Ceto, also known as Astris.

Danaid
Asteria was one of the Danaids, daughters of Danaus who, with one exception, murdered their husbands on their weddings nights. She was, briefly, the bride of Chaetus.

Alkyonides
Asteria was one of the Alkyonides. Along with her sisters, she flung herself into the sea and was transformed into a kingfisher.