ADRASTEIA

1. A Cretan nymph, daughter of Melisseus, to whom Rhea entrusted the infant Zeus to be reared in the Dictaean grotto. In this office Adrasteia was assisted by her sister Ida and the Curetes (Apoilod. i. 1. § 6), whom the scholiast on Callimachus calls her brothers. Apollonius Rhodius relates that she gave to the infant Zeus a beautiful globe to play with, and on some Cretan coins Zeus is represented sitting upon a globe.

2. A surname of Nemesis, which is derived by some writers from Adrastus, who is said to have built the first sanctuary of Nemesis on the river Asopus (Strab. xiii. p. 588), and by others from the verb which would signify the goddess whom none can escape.(id Herod, iii. 40.)