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
Aerope of Crete son of Danae, so he locked her away. Nevertheless, Danae became pregnant, by Zeus according to most accounts, and was cast into the sea by her father, but survived through the intercession of Zeus. In Ovid's "Ars Amatoria", Aerope is given as one of several examples showing that "women's lust", is "keener" than men's and having "more of madness": Aerope of Crete In Greek mythology, Aerope (Ancient Greek: Ἀερόπη) was a daughter of Catreus, the king of Crete, and sister to Clymene, Apemosyne and Althaemenes. She was the wife of Atreus (or Pleisthenes), and by most accounts the mother of