Astraeus

Astraeus was a Titan, the son of Crius and Eurybia, and the husband of Eos, the Dawn. In Hesiod’s Theogony he is the father of the winds Zephyrus, Boreas and Notus, and of the stars, including the morning star Eosphoros. Early poets tell almost no stories about him; he matters as a link in the divine family tree of the sky.

Astraeus’s Role and Significance

Astraeus’s Name

His name is connected with the Greek word astron, “star”, and with the role the poets give him: he is the father of the stars. Hesiod says that Eos bore to Astraeus the winds and, after them, the morning star Eosphoros and “the shining stars with which heaven is crowned” (Theogony 378–382). Aratus also calls him the father of the stars (Phaenomena 96–99).

Astraeus’s Roles and Epithets

The ancient sources give Astraeus no active rule over the stars or the weather. He does not guide them, and no source calls him a god of astrology or a ruler of the winds; he is their father. The winds in Hesiod are the children of Astraeus and Eos. Ovid uses the phrase “the Astraean brothers” for the winds when they clash in a storm (Metamorphoses 14.545). No ancient text we checked gives him epithets such as “the Starry One”; he is named only by his parents and children.

Astraeus’s Biography

Origins and Lineage

Astraeus belongs to the generation of the Titans, the children of Uranus and Gaia, among whom Hesiod lists Crius (Theogony 132–138). Eurybia, his mother, was a daughter of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaia, with a heart of adamant (Theogony 237–239). Hesiod says that she lay with Crius and bore Astraeus, Pallas and Perses (Theogony 375–377), and Apollodorus gives the same family (Library 1.2.2). Perses became the father of Hecate by Asteria (Theogony 409–411), and Pallas, by Styx, of Zelus, Nike, Kratos and Bia (Theogony 383–388). Eos, his wife, was the daughter of Hyperion and Theia and sister of Helios and Selene (Theogony 371–374).

Marriage to Eos

Hesiod says that Eos bore to Astraeus the winds, “a goddess lying with a god in love” (Theogony 378–380), and Apollodorus too says that winds and stars were born to Eos and Astraeus (Library 1.2.4). The sources report the marriage and the children, and give no further story about it.

The Birth of the Winds

Hesiod names three sons: Zephyrus, the west wind; Boreas, the north wind, “swift of course”; and Notus, the south wind (Theogony 378–380). Hesiod names no fourth wind here; the east wind Eurus is not among Eos’ sons in this passage. Each wind has its own page.

The Stars and Eosphoros

After the winds, Eos bore Eosphoros, the “dawn-bringer” star, and the other stars (Theogony 381–382). Hesiod calls it a star and a child of Eos; the passage does not name it as a planet.

Astraeus’s Legacy

Astraeus and Demeter

Neither Hesiod nor Apollodorus tells any story about Astraeus himself. He appears only in the lists of Titans, in his marriage to Eos and in his children. The one episode in which he acts comes from the late epic poet Nonnus: Demeter, anxious about the future of her daughter Persephone, visits the aged Astraeus in his hall. Hesperus leads her to her seat, the Winds, his sons, serve her nectar, and Astraeus, a reader of the stars, draws figures in the ashes to find the answer for her. After the visit Demeter hides Persephone in a cave in Sicily (Nonnus, Dionysiaca 6).

Astraeus and Astraea

Aratus says that the constellation Virgo, the Maiden, may be a daughter of Astraeus, or of another father (Phaenomena 96–99). Hyginus reports that Hesiod made her a daughter of Zeus and Themis, and Aratus a daughter of Astraeus and Aurora, who lived in the Golden Age and was called Justice (Astronomica 2.25). Ovid says that the virgin Astraea was the last of the heavenly ones to leave the earth, when it was soaked in blood (Metamorphoses 1.149–150).

Astraeus Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 132–138, 237–239, 371–382, 383–388, 409–411; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.2 and 1.2.4; Aratus, Phaenomena 96–99; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.25; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.149–150 and 14.545; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 6 (Demeter’s visit).

See Also: Eos, Crius, Eurybia, Boreas, Zephyrus, Notus, Pallas, Perses, Astraea, Demeter