Asterius (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Asterion /əˈstɪəriən/ (Greek: Ἀστερίων, gen.: Ἀστερίωνος, literally "starry") or Asterius /əˈstɪəriəs/ (Ἀστέριος) may refer to the following figures:

• Asterion, one of the Potamoi.[1]
• Asterius, one of the Giants.[2]
• Asterion, an attendant of the starry-god Astraeus.[3]
• Asterion or Asterius, king of Crete.[4]
• Asterion or Asterius, name of the Minotaur.[5]
• Asterion, son of Zeus and Idaea, the real name of Minos.[6]
• Asterius, son of Minos and Androgenia, a girl from the Cretan city of Phaestus. He was the commander of Cretans who joined the god Dionysus in his Indian War. Asterius never returned to his homeland but instead settled among the Colchians and named them Asterians. There Asterius fathered Miletus, Caunus, and Byblis.[7]
• Asterius, a king of Anactoria (Miletus) and son of Anax, son of Gaia.[8] He was a slain by the hero Miletus who named after himself the newly conquered lands.[9]
• Asterius, according to Hyginus one of the Sons of Aegyptus, who married Cleo, daughter of Danaus.[10]
• Asterius, a prince of Pylos and son of King Neleus by Chloris, daughter of Amphion of Orchomenus.[11] He was the brother to Pero, Asterius, Pylaon, Deimachus, Eurybius, Epilaus, Evagoras, Phrasius, Eurymenes, Alastor, Nestor and Periclymenus.[12] Asterius was slain along with his brothers, except Nestor, by Heracles when the hero took revenge to Neleus who refused to cleanse him from blood-debt.[13]
• Asterion or Asterius, an Argonaut from Peirasia in Thessaly.
• Asterius or Asterion, an Argonaut from the Achaean city of Pellene.[14] He was the son of Hyperasius, descendant of Pelles, son of King Phorbas of Argos.[15] In two separate accounts, Asterius and his brother Amphion were called the children of Hypso[16] while Hippasus was said to be their father.[17]

Notes

1. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 2.15.5
2. Barber 1991 p. 381.
3. Nonnus, Dionysiaca 6.66
4. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.1.2–4
5. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.1.4
6. Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10.21-23
7. Nonnus, Dionysiaca 13.223, 13.245 & 13.546 ff
8. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.35.6
9. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 7.2.5
10. Hyginus, Fabulae 170
11. Homer, Odyssey 11.284
12. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.9.9
13. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.7.3
14. Argonautica Orphica, 163
15. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 7.26.12
16. Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1.367
17. Hyginus, Fabulae 14

References

• 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.
• Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Online version at theio.com.
• Gaius Valerius Flaccus, Argonauticon. Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940–1942. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital 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. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• The Orphic Argonautica, translated by Jason Colavito. © Copyright 2011. Online version at the Topos Text Project.