Throughout this series, we’ve spoken in depth about how belief in the gods were instrumental
for the ancient Greeks. Without the gods, one could not explain how the stars filled the sky,
how the sun rose from the east, how the rain fell from the sky, nor even how time itself passed by.
The gods in that sense were more than just deities to be worshipped in exchange for salvation,
but instead beings who were responsible for the perseverance of both the world and the
universe. We’ve seen evidence of this in the Titan goddess Eos, who was responsible for the dawn
and in a sense, responsible for the opening of a new day. Incidentally, the ancient Greeks were
pretty big on the concept of cause and effect, so naturally, if there was a deity who opened the day
with dawn, there would be a corresponding deity who closed the day with dusk.
This of course brings us to the Titan of today’s episode, Astraeus, the God of Dusk.
Most commonly known as a second generation Titan having been born to Crius and Eurybia,
Astraeus would come to symbolise nightfall and thus,
would serve as a conduit for Eos and Helios as the day cycle came to its end.
You might say that as the God of Dusk, Astraeus then handed over to both Selene, the goddess of
the moon and Nyx, the goddess of night, those who were certainly far more prominent than him as far
as both mythology and popularity went. This makes sense given that dusk is merely a short period
of time between sunset and nighttime, and so whilst Astraeus was established in the pantheon,
his role may have been frequently overlooked given the limited duration of his presence. As you might
imagine, his existence within the mythology is minute and besides his role as the dusk,
it would appear that Astraeus was most commonly known for his relationships and family tree.
As one might imagine, Astraeus was married to Eos, the goddess of Dawn,
those who were the corresponding deities and those who preceded the more popular
Helios and Nyx in the day and night cycle. Together with Eos, they produced the Anemoi,
those who were several wind deities including Zephyros (the west wind), Boreas
(the north wind), Notus (the south wind) and Eurus (the east wind.) Through these children,
Astraeus was also considered to be something of a wind deity himself, though beyond his children,
his connection to the winds of the earth appear to be minimal, if not for his occasional conflation
with the divine king Aeolus, he was thought of as a keeper of winds and or storm winds.
Hesiod meanwhile does speak of Astraeus being the father of the winds
in the Theogony, where he tells us...
"And Eos (the Dawn) bore to Astraeus, of the Stars the strong-hearted Anemoi (Winds), brightening
Zephyrus, (West Wind), and Boreas (North Wind), headlong in his course,
and Notus, (South Wind),--a goddess mating in love with a god. And after these Eos bore the
star Heosphorus (Dawn-bringer), and the gleaming Astra (Stars) with which heaven is crowned."
You’ll notice here that he also speaks of Astraeus and Eos producing the star Heosphorus,
he who was the ‘morning star’ as well as the gleaming Astra - beings who would come
to represent certain planets. With this, Astraeus can also be considered to be
an astrological deity, or perhaps more accurately - ‘the father of stars and planets’.
These children that he sired with Eos were Stilbon, who represented Mercury, Hesperors,
who represented Venus, Pyroeis, who represented Mars, Phaethon, who represented Jupiter
and Phainon, who represented Saturn. Furthermore, it’s also understood that with Eos,
he fathered the virgin goddess of justice, purity and innocence Astraea.
Astraea would go on to become the constellation of Virgo and with this, we can also gather
why Astraeus would come to be associated as not just an astrological deity,
but a deity who also symbolised the stars. Interestingly, his name was thought to have
meant ‘Starry One’ indicating that his importance once extended beyond the mortal plain and that he
may have operated in ways that the ancient Greeks could not completely understand.
Hesiod refers to Astraeus as the ‘Starry One’ in the Theogony,
confirming his parentage as well as painting the deity as being notably
different from his more battle-hardened brothers Pallas and Perses. He tells us…
And Eurybia, bright goddess, was joined in love to Crius
and bore great Astraeus, the Starry-One and Pallas (the Warrior) and Perses (the Destroyer).
Yet, going by Roman mythography Pseudo-Hyginus, we are told that Astraeus was actually one of
the Gigantes - those who were the giants who were spawned by Gaia from Tartarus,
to wage war on the Olympians. He tells us, "From Gaia and Tartarus were born:
the Gigantes (Giants) Enceladus, Coeus, Elentes, Mophius, Astraeus, Pelorus,
Pallas, Emphytus, Rhoecus, Ienios, Agrius, alemone, Ephialtes, Eurytus, effracordon,
Theomises, Theodamas, Otus, Typhon, Polybotes, meephriarus, abesus, Colophonus, Iapetus."
You’ll notice that from the list, Coeus, Iapetus and several other beings that other writers
identify as Titans are instead repackaged here as giants. As Astraeus appears on the list, we get
a new idea that his role was not to do with the bringing of dusk, nor the producer of the stars
or winds, but instead to destroy the Olympians at the request of his mother Gaia. Whilst there
are no texts that specify Astraeus’ role in this matter, nor does Pseudo-Hyginus further elaborate,
we do know that the giants failed in their mission and so with this, we can gather
that Astraeus was ill-fated, given that that the giants were either destroyed or imprisoned by Zeus
or slain at the hand of Heracles, who Zeus had summoned for the Gigantomachy.
As far as the more standard mythology goes, we can only assume that as a male Titan, Astraeus
went the same way as his fellow brothers. We know that during the Titanomachy, the Titans were not
successful in their war with the Olympians and everyone who had sided with Cronus, the Titan
leader, was either destroyed or imprisoned in the void known as Tartarus, courtesy of Zeus.
Whether or not Astraeus was destroyed by Zeus, or imprisoned deep within the earth’s core is
hard to say, but knowing Zeus, it was only the female Titans who were granted amnesty.
With the exception of Prometheus and Epimetheus, it would appear that many of the other Titans,
including Astraeus, were snubbed not just from their roles within the universe,
but from the pantheon itself. In some variations, we understand that Zeus does show mercy
and eventually frees the Titans from their imprisonment, but there is nothing more
said of them, least of all Astraeus. Let me know which Titan you’d like to
see appear here next and what you thought about today’s installment of Greek Mythology Explained.
As always, if you’ve enjoyed today’s episode then don’t forget to give it a thumbs up
and don’t forget to subscribe for more content just like this.
Furthermore, if you like Greek Mythology as much as I do, you might want to check out
our book Greek Mythology Explained, where we retell a couple of a favourite myths
and explore the meanings and themes behind them. With that being said, I hope you all have a good
evening and I’ll see you in the next one. Until next time!