Named after the Sibyls, oracles in ancient Greece. Originally there may have been just one Sibyl at a time, but the number eventually increased to nine or ten. Bases included Delphi, Samos, Delos and Clarus. The etymology of the term’s source is unknown.
Name origin: Greek Oreiad nymph. Rhodope was a queen of Thrace and the wife of Haemus. The pair grew hubristic, comparing themselves to Zeus and Hera, and were both turned into mountains as punishment. The Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria and Greece are named after her.
Name origin: Unknown. May refer to the Biblical Eve, but this has been doubted due to the usual naming practices of the discoverers.
Name origin: Thessalian princess in Greek myth, loved by the god Apollo. During her pregnancy, Koronis had an affair with a man named Iskhys; a raven informed Apollo of this, and either he or his sister Artemis killed her as a consequence. Later he felt remorse, and in anger against the raven turned its white feathers black.
One of a pair of Roman childhood goddesses, the other being Abeōna. Adeōna is goddess of returning from somewhere, homecomings, safe return and bringing children home safely.
Name origin: Toulouse in France, where the asteroid was discovered. Schmadel says the city was celebrated for the cultivation of the sciences; it is home to one of the oldest universities in Europe (founded in 1229) and several prestigious higher education schools, most notably in aerospace engineering.
Name origin: Thessalian princess in Greek myth. Kyrene was the daughter of King Hypseus of the Lapiths. She was a famed huntress who guarded her father’s herds on Mount Pelion, killing predators. One day, when she was wrestling a lion, the god Apollo saw her and at once fell in love. He carried her to the Hill of Myrtles (Myrtoessa) in Libya, where she bore him a son named Aristaios.
Name origin: Greek mythical daughter of Agamemnon and Klytaemnestra. After their mother murders their father, Elektra and her brother Orestes plot to kill Klytaemnestra and her lover Aegisthus in revenge, on the orders of the Delphic Oracle.
Name origin: A Theban princess in Greek tales; daughter of Oedipus. Antigone rebels against her uncle King Creon’s directive not to allow her brother Polynices a proper burial.
According to Schmadel, the naming “very probably is an allusion to the liberation of France at the time of the discovery.” The liberation here referred to is the Franco-Prussian war in 1870; this choice may have been intended to honour Adolphe Thiers, first president of the French Republic, who negotiated the removal of Prussian troops from France.
