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In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, Astraea (; ), also spelled Astrea or Astria, is a daughter of Astraeus and Eos. She is the virgin goddess of justice, innocence, purity, and precision. She is closely associated with the Greek goddess of justice, Dike, the daughter of Zeus and Themis. Astraea is not to be confused with Asteria, the goddess of the stars and the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe.
In Greek myth, Astraea lived together with humans on earth during the idealistic Golden Age, when people were virtuous and no evil existed in the world. But as the human race became progressively crueler and more corrupt, Astraea decided to abandon humanity forever and live among the stars as the constellation Virgo.
The asteroid belt asteroid 5 Astraea is named after her, and her name was also suggested for the planet Uranus.
The myth of Astraea has been variously attributed to eighth-century BC Greek poet Hesiod, who in his surviving works prophesied that since mankind had deteriorated so much in morality and virtue during his era (that is the Fifth Age, or Iron Age) the goddesses Nemesis and Aidos, who embodied divine retribution and humility respectively, would finally abandon the earth once and for all and return to Mount Olympus by the end of it, forsaking men and leaving them to deal with the hardships and evils on their own.Hesiod, Works and Days 174-201
Later authors, starting first with Aratus writing over four hundred years after Hesiod, expanded on the tale. According to the later myths, at the beginning of time Justice (Dike) or Astraea the daughter of Astraeus used to live and mingle with men and women on earth, an immortal among mortals. During this Golden Age there was no strife, war and battle or detestation between people as Justice urged them all to be kind to each other and spread feelings of virtue and honour among them. In this pre-seafaring era, humans only ploughed their rich fields while Justice supplied them with all they could ever want or need.Aratus, Phaenomena 96-136
As the Golden Age ended and the Silver one arrived, the goddess found herself dissatisfied as people were less virtuous than before and started yearning for the older times. She no longed spoke with gentle words to them and took to the hills and then the mountains.Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 9 She used threats and shame on them, but failed to motivate them to become better people. Then the Bronze and Iron Ages rolled in which introduced war and hatred, corruption, people consuming the oxen they previously only used to plough the fields and the vanishment of honour and love.Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.25.1 They began to sail the seas after cutting down trees to build ships, divided the free land between them and dug up the earth in search for wealth such as iron and gold. Finally the disillusioned Dike-Astraea decided to abandon humanity for good and take her place among the stars as the constellation Virgo, also known as the Maiden, with the star Spica as the ear of corn she holds.
To a lesser extent, Astraea was also envisioned as the goddess who watched over mortals and then reported their wrongdoings back to Zeus. Valerius Flaccus wrote that the harsh weather and storms of November were associated with Zeus' vengeance against mankind on behalf of Astraea.Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2.357-366 According to Nonnus, Astraea as the starry nurse of the universe once took under her care and nurished Beroe, the daughter of Aphrodite. She nursed the infant on her breast and fashioned a necklace out of Spica for her.Nonnus 41.212–230
Virgil used the pre-existing myth of Astraea within a political frame in order to hail the dawning Augustan rule, signaling the return of harmony and lack of war, conflict and suffering; he added that Astraea's return would be accompanied by the arrival of a child who would also kick off Augustus' new golden age along with her. The exact identity of the unknown child that escorted Astraea is the subject of much debate; it has been speculated that Virgil meant the son of Gaius Asinius Pollio, the consul to whom the poem was dedicated; or the marriage of Mark Antony and Octavia the Younger, Augustus' sister; or even Alexander Helios, the son of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.
Judging from the preserved Greek and Roman corpus and art, there is no indication that this goddess was ever properly called Astraea before Ovid in the early first century AD, with writers preceding him preferring Dike ("justice") or simply the Maiden to refer to her. It seems that the notion of using Astraea as her name proper was prompted from Aratus writing that Astraeus was the star-maiden's father.
The English epic poet Edmund Spenser further embellished this myth at the opening of Book V of The Faerie Queene (1596), where he claims that Astraea left behind "italic=yes" called Talos. Shakespeare refers to Astraea in Titus Andronicus, and also in Henry VI, Part 1. In his most famous play, Life Is a Dream, Calderón has a character named Rosaura (an anagram for "dawns") take on the name of Astraea at Court. This may be a laudatory political allusion to the dawn of a new Golden Age under Philip IV/Segismundo.
Astraea is also referenced in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, in Book IV between lines 990 and 1000. When Satan is discovered in the Garden of Eden and brought before the Angel Gabriel, the two are on the verge of war.
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The British writer Aphra Behn used "Astrea" as one of her code-names while working as a spy for King Charles II. She subsequently used the name "Astrea" to identify the speaker in many of her poems, and was herself referred to as "The Incomparable Astrea".
Astraea was represented on a allegorical engraving by John Norman published in 1784, just a few years after the American declaration of independence, in which she appears to decide on where on earth she will make her residence while Nature is about to play the lyre, Fame blows her trumpet and Liberty presents a medal to George Washington.
"" is also the title of a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The planned British replacement A21/Mk7 nuclear warhead will be named Astraea.
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