"Asterius" redirects here. See also Asterius the Sophist.
This article is about the figure in Greek mythology. For other uses, see Asterion
In Greek mythology Asterion denotes two sacred kings of Crete. The first Asterion (????????) or Asterius (????????)Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca III.1.2-4, and Diodorus Siculus, iv.60.3, give Asterius; Pausanias, Description of Greece II.31.1, gives Asterion ("ruler of the stars"), son of Neleus and Chloris by the Greeks called "king" of Crete, was the consort of Europa and stepfather of her sons by Zeus,Bibliotheca III.1.2; Asterius "having died childless" III.1.3; scholiast on Iliad xii.292. who had to assume the form of the Cretan bull of the sun to accomplish his role. The sons were Minos the just king in Crete who judged the Underworld, Rhadamanthus, presiding over the Garden of the Hesperides or in the Underworld, and Sarpedon, likewise a judge in the Afterlife. He was the son of Tectamus. When he died, Asterion gave his kingdom to M
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterius