ASTRIS

ASTRIS was a star-nymph daughter of the sun-god Helios and the wife of the Indian river-god Hydaspes.

PARENTS

[1.1] HELIOS & KLYMENE (Nonnus Dionysiaca 17.269)
[1.2] HELIOS & KETO (Nonnus Dionysiaca 26.350)

OFFSPRING

[1.1] DERIADES (by Hydaspes) (Nonnus Dionysiaca 26.350)

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 17. 269 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"He [the Indian chief Orontes] stept back and turned his gaze to the eastern expanse, and uttered his last words to Phaethon [Helios the Sun] opposite : ‘O Helios . . . And if you have not forgotten your Klymene's (Clymene's) bed, protect Deriades, a sprout of your own stock, who has in him the blood of Astris (Sidereal Maiden) [wife of Hydaspes, mother of Deriades] said to be your daughter.’"

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 23. 236 ff :
"[Dionysos threatens the Indian river Hydaspes when he attempts to drown his troops :] ‘And if it is Asterie [daughter of the sun-god Helios] your wife that makes you so proud, because she has the blood of Hyperion's heavenly kin, my father [Zeus] burnt with fire the gold son of Helios the fiery charioteer [Phaethon].’"

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 26. 32 ff :
"You [Deriades king of the Indians] have in you the heavenly blood of a daughter [Astris] of Phaethon [Helios the Sun], your blazing grandfather."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 26. 350 ff :
"[Deriades] the emperor of the Indians, son of Hydaspes the watery lover in union with Astris daughter of Helios (the Sun), happy in her offspring--men say that her mother was Keto (Ceto), a Naias daughter of Okeanos (Oceanus)--and Hydaspes crept into her bower till he flooded it, and wooed her to his embrace with conjugal waves."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 27. 100 ff :
"My [Deriades] mother's [Astris's] father, governor of the flaming stars, Phaethon [Helios the Sun], is himself a potentate all of fire."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 27. 189 ff :
"[Dionysos addresses his troops during the Indian War :] ‘Let Astris wander away to the mountains, to bewail her son Deriades a slave in heavy chains : let her go, if she likes, to settle in Celtic land, that she also may turn into a tree with the Heliades (Daughters of the Sun) and weep often in floods of sorrowful tears.’"

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 33. 150 ff :
"[Aphrodite addresses her son Eros (Love) :] ‘Helios (the Sun) mocks at me, and arms the offspring of Astris, the warrior Deriades his own daughter's son, to destroy the Bassarides of womanmad Dionysos and to rout the love-stricken Satyroi (Satyrs) of Bromios [Dionysos].’"

SOURCES

GREEK

• Nonnus, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.