Garden of the Hesperides by Albert Herter

Asterope ( grc, Ἀστεροπή or Στεροπή, ''Asteropē'' or ''Steropē'', " lightning") was a Hesperid in Greek mythology.

Parents and names

Asterope's parents, along with her sisters, were sometimes daughters of

Nyx Nyx (; , , "Night") is the Greek goddess and personification of night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities, such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darknes ...

and Erebus, sometimes of Atlas, even Zeus in some cases. Other possible parents were Phorcys and

Ceto Ceto (; grc, Κητώ, Kētṓ, sea monster) is a primordial sea goddess in Greek mythology, the daughter of Pontus and his mother, Gaia. As a mythological figure, she is considered to be one of the most ancient deities, and bore a host of ...

, and Hesperus. Her sisters were

Chrysothemis In Greek mythology, Chrysothemis or Khrysothemis (; grc, Χρυσόθεμις, "golden law") is a name ascribed to several characters. ''Female:'' * Chrysothemis, may refer to known as the attributes of the golden harvest as an agricultural demi ...

, Hygieia and

Lipara Lipari (; scn, Lìpari) is the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the northern coast of Sicily, southern Italy; it is also the name of the island's main town and ''comune'', which is administratively part of the Metropolit ...

. Literally, her name means "Starry-Faced"., a compound of ἄστηρ (''ástēr'', "star") and ὄψ (''ops'', "face"), but its idiomatic meaning is "lightning". She also has another name she sometimes uses: Hesperia, which is probably linked to one of her putative parents.

Namesake

'' Asterope'' is a genus of

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family Nymphalidae.

Notes

Nymphs {{Greek-deity-stub Hesperides