Astraea (mythology)
<p><b>Astraea</b> or <b>Astrea</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Ancient Greek</a>: Ἀστραῖα;<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astraea%28mythology%29#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> "star-maiden"), in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_religion" title="Ancient Greek religion">ancient Greek religion</a>, was a daughter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astraeus" title="Astraeus">Astraeus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eos" title="Eos">Eos</a>. She was the virgin goddess of Innocence and purity and is always associated with the Greek goddess of justice, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dike%28mythology%29" title="Dike (mythology)">Dike</a> (daughter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus" title="Zeus">Zeus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themis" title="Themis">Themis</a> and the personification of just judgement). She is not to be confused with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteria%28mythology%29" title="Asteria (mythology)">Asteria</a>, the goddess of the stars and the daughter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeus" title="Coeus">Coeus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe%28mythology%29" title="Phoebe (mythology)">Phoebe</a>.
Astraea, the celestial virgin, was the last of the immortals to live with humans during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age" title="Golden Age">Golden Age</a>, one of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_ancient_Greece" class="mw-redirect" title="Religion in ancient Greece">old Greek religion</a>'s five deteriorating <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_Man" title="Ages of Man">Ages of Man</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astraea%28mythology%29#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup> According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid" title="Ovid">Ovid</a>, Astraea abandoned the earth during the Iron Age.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astraea%28mythology%29#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup> Fleeing from the new wickedness of humanity, she ascended to heaven to become the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation" title="Constellation">constellation</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgo%28constellation%29" title="Virgo (constellation)">Virgo</a>. The nearby constellation <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libra%28constellation%29" title="Libra (constellation)">Libra</a> reflected her symbolic association with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dike_%28mythology%29" title="Dike (mythology)">Dike</a>, who in Latin culture as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justitia" class="mw-redirect" title="Justitia">Justitia</a> is said to preside over the constellation. In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot" title="Tarot">Tarot</a>, the 8th card, Justice, with a figure of Justitia, can thus be considered related to the figure of Astraea on historical iconographic grounds.
According to legend, Astraea will one day come back to Earth, bringing with her the return of the utopian Golden Age of which she was the ambassador.</p>