Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

, Asterion (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

: , gen.: , literally "starry") or Asterius (; ) was a

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...

and the foster-father of

Minos In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eat ...

Mythology

Asterion was the son of

Tectamus Tectamus (Ancient Greek: Τέκταμος "craftsman", derived from ''tectainomai "''to build", "plan", from ''tecton'', "carpenter", "builder") was a king of Crete and hero of ancient Hellenic mythology. He was also called Tectaphus (), Teutamu ...

(son of

Dorus In Greek mythology, Dorus ( grc, Δῶρος probably derived from ''doron'' "gift") was the eponymous founder of the Dorians. Family Each of Hellen's sons founded a primary tribe of Greece: Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus the Dorians Pseudo-Scymnos ...

) and an unnamed daughter of

Cretheus In Greek mythology, Cretheus (; Ancient Greek: Κρηθεύς ''Krētheus'') may refer to the following characters: * Cretheus, king and founder of Iolcus, the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia (son of Hellen) by either Enarete or Laodice. He was the ...

. His father sailed to

with some

Aeolians The Aeolians (; el, Αἰολεῖς) were one of the four major tribes in which Greeks divided themselves in the ancient period (along with the Achaeans, Dorians and Ionians).. Name Their name mythologically derives from Aeolus, the mythical ...

and

Pelasgians The name Pelasgians ( grc, Πελασγοί, ''Pelasgoí'', singular: Πελασγός, ''Pelasgós'') was used by classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergen ...

and became the ruler of the island. Asterion inherited the throne from his father and he was the king of

at the time when Europa was abducted by Zeus and brought to his kingdom. He married Europa and became the stepfather of her sons by

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, ...

, who assumed the form of a bull (not to be confused with the Cretan Bull that was sire to the minotaur) to accomplish his role. Asterion brought up his stepsons:

, the just king in Crete who judged the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld ...

;

Rhadamanthus In Greek mythology, Rhadamanthus () or Rhadamanthys ( grc, Ῥαδάμανθυς) was a wise king of Crete. As the son of Zeus and Europa he was considered a demigod. His name means "showing stern and inflexible judgement". He later became one ...

, presiding over the Blessed Island or in the Underworld; and

Sarpedon Sarpedon (; grc, Σαρπηδών) is the name of several figures in Greek mythology * Sarpedon, a son of Zeus, who fought on the side of Troy in the Trojan War. Although in the ''Iliad'', he was the son of Zeus and Laodamia, the daughter of Be ...

, king in

Lycia Lycia ( Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is t ...

. When he died without male heirs, Asterion gave his kingdom to Minos, who promptly "banished" his brothers after quarreling with them.

, daughter of Asterion, was a possible wife of Minos.

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...

, 4.60.3, give ''Asterius''; Pausanias, 2.31.1, gives ''Asterion''

Citations

Sources

Primary sources

* 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 LibraryGreek text available from the same website
*

, ''The Library of History'' translated by

Charles Henry Oldfather Charles Henry Oldfather (13 June 1887 – 20 August 1954) was an American professor of history of the ancient world, specifically at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was born in Tabriz, Persia. Parentage Oldfather's parents, Jeremiah and Fe ...

. Twelve volumes.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann_(publisher), Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works ...

. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8
Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
* Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2''. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Nonnus of Panopolis Nonnus of Panopolis ( grc-gre, Νόννος ὁ Πανοπολίτης, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century CE) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian The ...

, ''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''. Three 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''. Three vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library

Secondary sources

A. B. Cook Arthur Bernard Cook (22 October 1868 in Hampstead – 26 April 1952 in Cambridge) was a British archeologist and classical scholar, best known for his three-part work, ''Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion''. Early life and education Arthur B ...

, ''Zeus'', i.543ff. *

Karl Kerenyi Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austri ...

. ''The Gods of the Greeks''. London: Thames & Hudson, 1951. * Karl Kerenyi. ''Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life'', 1976. *

Sara Douglass Sara Warneke (2 June 1957 – 27 September 2011), better known by her pen name Sara Douglass, was an Australian fantasy writer who lived in Hobart, Tasmania. She was a recipient of the Aurealis Award for best fantasy novel. Biography A ...

, 2002–6. '' The Troy Game'' Series. (Asterion referred to as the name of the

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( , ;. grc, ; in Latin as ''Minotaurus'' ) is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "pa ...

) Kings of Crete Kings in Greek mythology Cretan characters in Greek mythology Characters in Greek mythology Cretan mythology