Virgo: Astraea / Dike among the Stars

Catalogue ID: 05-local-and-lesser/106-virgo-astraea-dike-catasterism

Cycle: Local and lesser — astral aetiology / Justice departing the earth

Version line: Catasterismic / Hesiodic–Aratean — maiden Justice as Virgo

Sources: Aratus, *Phaenomena* 96–136; Hesiod, *Works and Days* 256–262 (Dike); Eratosthenes, *Catasterismi* 9; Hyginus, *Astronomica* 2.25; Ovid, *Metamorphoses* 1.149–150 (**Roman** Astraea departure labeled)

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/05-local-and-lesser/106-virgo-astraea-dike-catasterism.md

Characters

Artemis — maiden Justice; constellation Virgo
Men of the declining ages — whose crimes drive her upward
Philotes — father or overseer of Dike in Hesiod
Spica — wheat-ear she holds as astral attribute

Places

Earth in the Golden/Silver Age — her former dwelling
Path of the sun — Virgo’s place

Themes

None detected.

Narrative

Star-poets identify the constellation Virgo with Dike (Justice) or Astraea, the virgin who lived among humans in the Golden (and lingering into Silver) Age and fled to heaven when bloodshed and greed filled the Bronze/Iron world. Aratus narrates her withdrawal and placement in the zodiac holding an ear of grain (Spica). Hesiod’s Dike reports men’s crimes to Zeus; the catasterism makes her a permanent sky-sign of lost righteousness. Ovid’s Astraea leaving the earth is Roman poetic color on the same Greek idea. Catalogue Virgo apart from the full Five Ages entry.