Βασιλεια
Basileia, whose name means queen was, according to an inconsistent legend, the daughter of Uranus and Titaia and a sister of Rhea and the Titans, who she brought up. She became famous for her wisdom and intellect. She married her brother Hyperion, and had as children Selene (the Moon) and Helios (the Sun). Out of resentment, the other Titans killed Hyperion and immersed Helios in the river Eridanus and in her grief at the loss of her brother, Selene cast herself from the top of the roof of her house. Helios and Selene were then made into heavenly bodies. Basileia learnt of what had happened in a dream, became deranged and, grasping a tambourine and some cymbals which had belonged to her daughter, began to scour the country banging on the tambourine and clashing the cymbals until someone, out of pity, stopped her. Then a great storm broke and Basileia vanished. A cult was practised in her honour, under the name of the Great Goddess, which identifies her with Cybele. The name of Basileia also means royalty, personified and deified.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
- Diod. Sic. 3, 57