Asteria was the daughter

of the Titans Polus

and Pheobe and sister
of Leto According to
Hesoid, by the
Titan Perses she had a
daughter Hecate , goddess
of witchcraft.Other
authors made Asteria the
mother of the
fourth Heracles and
Hecate by Zeus.
AsteriA’s husband was Perses, the Destroyer. He was
associated with the constellation Perseus and also the dog
star, Sirius. (Appropriate for the father of dog-headed
Hecate.) His brother Pallas had the goat-star Capella,
bringing storms in its wake, and the third, Asterios brought
the cooling western wind that eased the heat of the dog-
days.
Asteria fled from the
thunderer’s advances,
becoming a quail to evade him.
Finally, she fled into the sea,
but that only called
Poseidon’s Attention, And she
finally transformed into the
island Ortygia (Quail), better
known as Delos.
Later, when Leto was about to
deliver Zeus’ twin children, she
took refuge from herA’s
Persecution on her sister’s
island. She often appears in
art alongside her sister, niece
and nephew: the Delians.
Asteria was the second generation of Titan gods and was
revered as the dark goddess of necromancy, nocturnal oracles
& prophecies and the goddess of the falling stars and
necromancy. She was one of the extraordinary number of gods
and goddesses worshipped by the Ancient Greeks. The Titans
were the descendents of the first gods or divinities, called the
primordial or primeval gods, who were born out of Chaos. The
children of the Titans included the famous Olympian gods
who included Zeus, Hera, Hestia, Hades and Poseidon and are
shown on the Titans Family tree. The legend and myth about
Asteria, the goddess of necromancy, nocturnal oracles and
falling stars, and the Titans has been passed down through
the ages and plays an important role in the history of the
Ancient World of Greece and the study of the Greek classics.
Asteria was adept
at the reading of
the stars and
prophecy but she
was also strongly
associated with
necromancy, the
practice of
witchcraft by
communicating with
the dead,
especially in order
to predict the
future.
Asteria features in the Creation
myth of the ancient Greeks which
are based on the idea that these
supernatural beings resembled
mortals but possessed great
magical and mystic powers.
Asteria Profile & Fact File
Name: Asteria
Role & Function: The function of Asteria is
described as being the goddess of nocturnal oracles
and falling stars
Status: A goddess in the second dynasty of Titans
Gender: Female
Name of Husband / Consort: Perses, the Titan god of
destruction
Name of Father: Coeus
Name of Mother: Phoebe
Names of Brothers: None
Names of Sisters: Leto
The union between the Asteria
and Perses produced their only
child, Hecate, the goddess of
magic, witchcraft, spectres, the
night and the moon and the the
‘Queen of Ghosts’. The domains
of Hecate extended over earth,
the sky and hell and for this she
is represented in works of art as
a triple divinity, as shown in the
picture of Hecate.
ASTERIA EVADES ZEUS AND POSEIDON
The rule of the Titans would end with the
Titanomachy, but this would not greatly
impact on the female Titans, for indeed
Hecate, the daughter of Asteria, would
remain widely revered. Asteria herself was
given an honoured position upon Mount
Olympus.

Being on Mount Olympus though brought

the goddess into the close company
of sZeus, and Zeus was always on the look
out for beautiful women.

To escape the unwanted attentions of Zeus,

Asteria transformed herself into a quail, and
flew from Mount Olympus, before plunging
into the sea.
Some say at this point Asteria was
transformed again into a floating
island, whilst others say that with
Asteria now being in the domain of
Poseidon, that the Greek sea god
took up the chase of Asteria, and
so she was transformed into a
floating island so that she could
move away from the advances of
Poseidon.

The floating island would be

known as Ortygia (the Greek for
quail); and a number of places in
antiquity would claim to be
Ortygia, but to reconcile the
myths, the island of Ortygia would
at some point be renamed Delos.