ASTE′RIA (Asteria), a daughter of the Titan Coeus (according to Hygin. Fab. Pref. of Polus) and Phoebe. She was the sister of Leto, and, according to Hesiod (Theog. 409), the wife of Perses, by whom she became the mother of Hecate. Cicero (de Nat. Deor. iii. 16) makes her the mother of the fourth Heracles by Zeus. But according to the genuine and more general tradition, she was an inhabitant of Olympus, and beloved by Zeus. In order to escape from his embraces, she got metamorphosed into a quail (ortux), threw herself into the sea, and was here metamorphosed into the island Asteria (the island which had fallen from heaven like a star), or Ortygia, afterwards called Delos. (Apollod. i. 2. § 2, 4. § 1; Athen. ix. p. 392; Hygin. Fab. 53; Callimach. Hymn. in Del. 37; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 73.)
Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisAsteria.html
Adding your comment:
