Asteria was a Titan goddess and the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe and sister of Leto. She married the Titan Perses and had a daughter, Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft.
Asteria was an inhabitant of Olympus, and like her sister, Leto was beloved by Zeus. In order to escape the amorous advances of the god, who, in the form of an eagle, pursued her, she transformed herself into a quail and flung herself into the Aegean Sea. It was there that Asteria metamorphosed into the island Asteria or the "quail island" Ortygia. This then became identified with the island of Delos, which was the only piece on earth to give refuge to the fugitive Leto when, pregnant with Zeus's children, she was pursued by vengeful Hera. According to Hyginus, Leto was borne by the north wind Boreas at the command of Zeus to the floating island at the time when Python was pursuing her, and there, clinging to an olive, she gave birth to Apollo and Artemis.