AstrAeA

(asTria; Starry night) Greek The virgin goddess of justice and fairness; daughter of Zeus and Themis, who was also a goddess of justice. When her father brought the gods to Earth to dwell among mankind, Astraea often walked through towns and cities, smiling at people, helping them to treat each other well. After Zeus, frustrated with how poorly people treated the gods and themselves, took the gods back up to the heavens, Astraea lingered behind, always hopeful. Eventually, though, as people became more evil and meaner to each other and stopped listening to her, Astraea, too, rose up to the heavens where she sat at her mother's right hand, still watching mankind, still trying to help them be just and fair. Some sources say Zeus transformed Astraea into the constellation Virgo, with the famous scales she always carried placed next to her in the sky as the constellation Libra. Some modern experts equate Astraea with Dike, the personification of justice, while others see these as two separate beings in Greek literature and history. Also, a few writers from the classical period say that Astraea was the daughter of the Titans Astraeus and Eos.