Asterion (king of Crete)
In Greek mythology, Asterion or Asterius was a King of Crete and the foster-father of Minos.
Mythology
Asterion was the son of Tectamus and the unnamed daughter of Cretheus. His father sailed to Crete with some Aeolians and Pelasgians and became the ruler of the island. Asterion inherited the throne from his father and he was the king of Crete 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, who assumed the form of a bull to accomplish his role. Asterion brought up his stepsons: Minos, the just king in Crete who judged the Underworld; Rhadamanthus, presiding over the Blessed Island or in the Underworld; and Sarpedon, king in Lycia. When he died without male heirs, Asterion gave his kingdom to Minos, who promptly "banished" his brothers after quarreling with them. Crete, daughter of Asterion, was a possible wife of Minos.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. . .
- Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8.
- Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. .
- Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse, from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. .
- Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. Three vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940–1942. .
- 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..
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. Three vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. .
Secondary sources
- A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.543ff.
- Karl Kerenyi. The Gods of the Greeks. London: Thames & Hudson, 1951.
- Karl Kerenyi. Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life, 1976.
- Sara Douglass, 2002–6. The Troy Game Series.
Category:Kings in Greek mythology
Category:Mythological Cretans