Asterion
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Wetman
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River Asterion, plant Asterion, Dioscurides, Pausanias
:''"Asterius" redirects here. See also [[Asterius the Sophist]].''
:''This article is about the figure in Greek mythology. For other uses, see [[Asterion (disambiguation)]]''
In [[Greek mythology]], ''Asterion'' ("ruler of the stars") denotes two sacred kings of Crete. The first '''Asterion''' ([[Greek language|Greek]]: Ἀστερίων) or '''Asterius''' (Greek: Ἀστέριος),<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca_%28Pseudo-Apollodorus%29|Bibliotheca]]'' III.1.2-4, and [[Diodorus Siculus]], IV.60.3, give ''Asterius''; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' II.31.1, gives ''Asterion''.</ref> son of [[Neleus]] and [[Chloris]] by the Greeks called "king" of [[Crete]], was the consort of [[Europa (mythical)|Europa]] and stepfather of her sons by [[Zeus]],<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca'' III.1.2; Asterius "having died childless" III.1.3; scholiast on ''Iliad'' XII.292.</ref> who had to assume the form of the [[Bull (mythology)|Cretan bull of the sun]] to accomplish his role. The sons were [[Minos]] the just king in Crete who judged the [[Underworld]], [[Rhadamanthus]], presiding over the [[Hesperides|Garden of the Hesperides]] or in the Underworld, and [[Sarpedon]], likewise a judge in the Afterlife. He was the son of Tectamus. When he died, Asterion gave his kingdom to Minos, who promptly "banished" his brothers after quarrelling with them.
According to [[Karl Kerenyi]]<ref>Kerenyi (1951), p. 111; Kerenyi (1976), p. 105.</ref> and other scholars, the second '''Asterion''', the star at the center of the [[labyrinth]] on Cretan coins, was in fact the [[Minotaur]], as the compiler of [[Bibliotheca_%28Pseudo-Apollodorus%29|Bibliotheca]] (III.1.4) asserts: "And she ([[Pasiphaë]]) gave birth to Asterius, who was called the Minotaur. He had the face of a bull, but the rest of him was human; and Minos, in compliance with certain oracles, shut him up and guarded him in the Labyrinth." "Minotaur" is simply a name of Hellene coining to describe his Cretan iconic bull-man image: see [[Minotaur]]. Coins minted at [[Cnossus]] from the fifth century showed the kneeling bull or the head of a goddess crowned with a wreath of grain<ref>Compare [[Carme]].</ref> and on the reverse — the "underside" — a scheme of four meander patterns joined at the centre windmill fashion, sometimes with sickle moons or with a star-rosette at the center: "it is a small view of the nocturnal world on the face of the coin that lay downward in the printing process, and is, as it were, oriented downward".<ref>Kerenyi (1976), p. 105.</ref>
A Greek myth<ref>Mentioned by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 2.15.4. ([http://www.theoi.com/Potamos/PotamosAsterion.html on-line English text]).</ref> introduced Asterion as one of three [[river god]]s who judged between [[Poseidon]] and [[Hera]], who should rule [[Argos]]. The River Asterion in Argos<ref>[http://www.theoi.com/Potamos/PotamosAsterion.html Theoi Project: Asterion, river-god of Argos]</ref> is mentioned in the ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' (47.493) of [[Nonnus]], who couples the reference with a rite in which young men dedicate locks of their hair.
As long as it is recalled that the myth of Asterion, who appears in no anecdotal Hellenic context, is [[Minoan]], it will be perceived that the figure of Zeus is an interloper, and that rather than the "stepfather" role to which he has been displaced, Asterion is originally the father of the [[Greek Underworld|Underworld]] progeny.
There is a short tale written by [[Jorge Luis Borges]] ("[[The House of Asterion]]") telling the story of [[Theseus]] and [[Ariadne]] from the point-of-view of Asterius.
''Asterion'' in the [[herbal]] of [[Dioscurides]], is ''[[Silene|Silene linifolia]]''.<ref>Charles Singer, "The Herbal in Antiquity and Its Transmission to Later Ages", ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''47'''.1 (1927):1-52), illus. p. 16, fig. 12, naturalistic drawing of the first or second century CE, redrawn for the [[Vienna Dioscurides]] made for Julia Anicia.</ref> Of this herb, found near the [[Heraion]] of the Argolid, [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] noted "On its banks grows a plant, which also is called asterion. They offer the plant itself to Hera, and from its leaves weave her garlands."<ref>Pausanias, 2.17.2.</ref>
==Notes==
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==References==
*[[Arthur Bernard Cook|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. (Asterion referred to as the name of the [[Minotaur]])
[[Category:Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological kings]]
[[Category:Cretan mythology]]
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