In Greek mythology, Asterope (Ancient Greek: Ἀστεροπή, Asteropē lit. "starry-eyed") was an Oceanid, one of the 3,000 daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. Asterope was one of the lovers of Zeus, and bore him a son named Acragas.
Mythology[]
The only attestation of Asterope is from the Byzantine Christian author Stephanus of Byzantium's work Ethnica. The work is about an alphabetical dictionary or encyclopedia of geographical toponyms and ethnonyms.
The account of Asterope is from the definition of "Akragantes" a city in Sicily (today Agrigento). The quote is stated here in the original Greek:[1]
| “ | Ἀκράγαντες, πόλεις πέντε. Σικελίας, ἀπὸ ποταμοῦ παραρρέοντος. φησὶ γὰρ Δοῦρις ὅτι αἱ πλεῖσται τῶν Σικελῶν πόλεων ἐκ τῶν ποταμῶν ὀνομάζονται, Συρακούσας Γέλαν Ἱμέραν Σελινοῦντα καὶ Φοινικοῦντα καὶ Ἐρύκην καὶ Καμικόν Ἁλικύας τε καὶ Θέρμον καὶ Καμαρῖναν, ὡς καὶ ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ. οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Ἀκράγαντος τοῦ Διὸς καὶ Ἀστερόπης τῆς Ὠκεανοῦ. ἔστι καὶ Θρᾴκης καὶ Εὐβοίας καὶ Κύπρου καὶ Αἰτωλίας. Πολύβιος δὲ τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας ὠνομάσθαι Ἀκράγης διὰ τὸ εὔγεων. τὸ ἐθνικὸν Ἀκραγαντῖνος, ὡς Ἰχανῖνος Ταραντῖνος, ὥς φησιν Ἡρωδιανός. | ” |
–Ethnica, Stephanus Byzantium | ||
In English it roughly states: "Acragantes, five cities. Sicily, from a river flowing by. For Duri says that most of the Sicilian cities are named after rivers, Syracuse, Gela, Himera, Selinus, and Phoenicus, and Erec, and Camicon, and Halicia, and Thermo, and Camarina, as in Italy. And those from Acragantes of Zeus and Asterope of the Ocean. It is also Thrace and Euboea and Cyprus and Aetolia. Polybius, however, named the river and the city from the country Acrages for the eugeon. The national Acragantine, as Ichaninus Tarantinus, as Herodianus, as the myth."