Asterion (king of Crete) Asterion (king of Crete) In Greek mythology, Asterion (; Greek: , gen.: , literally "starry") or Asterius (; ) denotes two sacred kings of Crete. The first Asterion, the son of Tectamus (son of Dorus) and an unnamed daughter of Cretheus. His father sailed to Crete with some Aeolians and Pelasgians and became the ruler of the island. Asterius inherited the throne from his father and he was the king of Crete at the time when Europa was abducted by Zeus and brought to his kingdom. He married Europa and became the stepfather of her sons by Zeus, who assumed
Crete B, through the words "ke-re-te" (*"Krētes"; later Greek: , plural of ), "ke-re-si-jo" (*"Krēsijos"; later Greek: ), "Cretan". In Ancient Greek, the name Crete () first appears in Homer's Odyssey. Its etymology is unknown. One proposal derives it from a hypothetical Luwian word, "*kursatta" (cf. "kursawar" "island", "kursattar" "cutting, sliver"). In Latin, it became "Creta". The original Arabic name of Crete was "Iqrīṭiš" ( < , but after the Emirate of Crete's establishment of its new capital at "Rabḍ al-Ḫandaq" (modern Iraklion), both the city and the island became known as ("Chandax") or ("Chandakas"), which gave Latin and Venetian "Candia",