Myth Library · Divine Genealogy

Crius, Eurybia, and Their Sons

2 source witnesses · 2 source-scoped variants · reviewed 2026-08-30

Crius and Eurybia become parents of Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses, after which Hesiod follows Astraeus’ line toward the winds and stars.

Canonical narrative

After naming the older divine generations, Hesiod turns toward the sea-born Eurybia. With Crius she bears three sons: Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses. The poem gives no courtship scene and no account of labor. The change happens through genealogy, as two divine lines meet and three new names enter the world.

Perses receives a brief distinction for wisdom. Astraeus receives the longer future. He joins with Eos, the dawn, and their descendants include the strong winds and stars. That continuation can make Crius appear close to the sky in a family tree, but the poem never transfers the winds, stars, or dawn backward to him. A descendant’s power is not the ancestor’s hidden domain.

Pseudo-Apollodorus repeats the central family structure in a shorter list. Crius and Eurybia again have Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses. The mythographer does not repeat Hesiod’s praise of Perses and does not continue immediately into Astraeus’ children. The agreement secures the three sons; the difference preserves each author’s purpose.

This is a sparse myth because the ancient evidence is sparse. Crius acts as parent, Eurybia as mother, and the three sons become the branching points of later stories. Nothing in either witness makes Crius a ram, zodiac power, constellation, heavenly pillar, or star ruler. His surviving narrative weight rests in the transmission of divine generations, precise but narrow.

Episodes in this myth

Episode 1

The three sons

Both witnesses name Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses as children of Crius and Eurybia.

Episode 2

Astraeus’ line reaches winds and stars

Hesiod continues from Astraeus and Eos to the winds and stars without assigning their powers backward to Crius.

Participants and roles

Crius

divine father of Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses

The genealogy supplies parentage but no scene of courtship or birth.

Eurybia

daughter of Pontus and mother of the three sons

Her own lineage belongs to the wider Theogony.

Astraeus

son whose union with Eos continues the line through winds and stars

Only Hesiod continues his descendants within the cited passage.

Pallas

son named in both genealogies

No individual action is assigned in these locators.

Perses

son whom Hesiod distinguishes for wisdom

The descriptive phrase belongs to Hesiod, not to Pseudo-Apollodorus.

Source-scoped variants

Hesiod’s continuing descendant line

Eurybia bears Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses to Crius, and Astraeus’ union with Eos produces winds and stars.

What differs: Hesiod continues beyond the three sons and calls Perses preeminent in wisdom, details absent from the later list.

Greek Archaic · Ancient Greece

Pseudo-Apollodorus’ compact genealogy

Crius and Eurybia are parents of Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses in a concise later genealogical sequence.

What differs: The mythographer confirms the three sons without continuing to winds and stars or repeating Hesiod’s description of Perses.

Greek Roman Imperial · Ancient Greece

Source witnesses

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Theogony

Hesiod; edited and translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White · 1914

Entry Theogony · Line 375-382

Names Eurybia’s sons by Crius and immediately continues Astraeus’ line through winds and stars.

Open reviewed source

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Library

Pseudo-Apollodorus; edited and translated by James G. Frazer · 1921

Entry Library · Book 1 · Chapter 2 · Section 2

Lists Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses as the sons of Crius and Eurybia.

Open reviewed source