Astraea

Astraea was a goddess of justice in Greek and Roman tradition, said by Aratus to be the daughter of the Titan Astraeus and Eos, goddess of the dawn. In the poets she lived among people during the early ages of mankind, left the earth when they became violent, and became the constellation Virgo, the Maiden.

Astraea's Name and Role

The name Astraea is linked to the Greek word for “star” and is often rendered “star-maiden”. It fits her father’s name: Astraeus is the Titan who, with Eos, fathered the winds, the Morning Star and the other stars (Hesiod, Theogony 376–382). Hesiod does not mention Astraea herself.

Aratus, in his poem on the constellations, says the Maiden may be the daughter of Astraeus, “who men say was of old the father of the stars”, or the child of another father, and that men called her Justice (Aratus, Phaenomena 96–136). Hyginus, in his Astronomica, reports that Aratus makes her the daughter of Astraeus and Aurora (the Latin name of Eos), while Hesiod makes her the daughter of Zeus and Themis. He also gives other identifications that some writers made: Fortune, Ceres, Erigone the daughter of Icarius, or the daughter of Apollo and Chrysothemis (Hyginus, Astronomica 2.25). Hesiod himself calls Dike (Justice) a maiden born of Zeus who sits beside her father and reports unjust men (Works and Days 256–262); the equation of Astraea with Dike comes from later poets.

In Aratus, she lived on earth in the Golden Age, mingling with people, calling the elders to the market-place and urging them to fairer judgements; in that age men knew nothing of strife or war, and the sea and ships were far from them (Phaenomena 96–136). The Golden Age is the first of Hesiod’s ages of mankind (Hesiod, Works and Days 109–126).

The Transformation into Virgo

When the Silver Race came, she mixed with people less, and came down only in the evening from the hills, speaking to no one; then she warned the crowd that their descendants would be worse than their fathers, and that war and bloodshed would come, and she withdrew to the mountains. When the Bronze Race arose, who first forged the sword and first ate the flesh of the plough-ox, Justice loathed that race and flew up to heaven, where she is seen at night as the Maiden near Boötes (Aratus, Phaenomena 96–136). Hyginus tells the same story with the same ages (Astronomica 2.25). Ovid, who tells it for the Iron Age, says that when piety lay conquered and the earth was wet with slaughter, the virgin Astraea was the last of the heavenly ones to leave it (Metamorphoses 1.149–150). In Aratus and Hyginus she leaves in the time of the Bronze Race; in Ovid’s account of the ages, at the end, in the Iron Age.

Connection with Dike

Aratus says that men called the Maiden Justice, and Hyginus says that she was called Justice for her care and fairness (Aratus, Phaenomena 96–136; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.25). Hesiod calls Justice (Dike) a daughter of Zeus (Works and Days 256), so in the poets Astraea and Dike are blended into one figure, a goddess of justice. The ancient texts do not make Libra the scales of Dike or Astraea. Hyginus explains that the Roman name Libra was given to one of the two parts into which the great Scorpion was divided (Astronomica 2.26).

The Prophesied Return of Astraea

Virgil’s fourth Eclogue announces the birth of a new age of the world with the words “now the Virgin returns, the reign of Saturn returns” (Virgil, Eclogue 4.5–7). The Virgin is Justice, the Astraea of the earlier poets, and Saturn’s reign is the Golden Age. The sources do not describe a prophecy about her return in Greek myth itself: the idea comes from this Roman poem.

Astraea in Cultural and Astronomical Context

As the constellation Virgo, the Maiden holds the bright Ear of Corn, the star Spica, in her hands, and stands below the feet of Boötes (Aratus, Phaenomena 96–136). Hyginus lists the competing stories about who the Maiden was, and notes that Libra stands next to Virgo in the zodiac (Astronomica 2.25–26).

Astraea Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 376–382 and Works and Days 109–126, 256–262; Aratus, Phaenomena 96–136; Hyginus, Astronomica 2.25–26; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.149–150; Virgil, Eclogue 4.5–7.

See Also: Astraeus, Eos, Dike, Zeus, Themis, Ages of Man