Gifted Thracian bard in Greek legend. The best-known story involves Orpheus venturing into the underworld to try to bring back his wife Eurydike after she died from a snake bite. He lost her again just as they were returning to the upper world, after failing to keep a prohibition on looking back at her on the journey.
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Name origin: Cretan mortal, son of the great craftsman Daedalus, who made wings held together with beeswax to help the two of them escape the island. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by giddiness while flying, Icarus disobeyed his father and came too close to the sun, and the heat melted the beeswax. He fell into the sea and drowned.
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Auravictrix is Latin for ‘victory against the wind’ (named for the first Schütte-Lanz zeppelin flights in 1911). The Schütte-Lanz company was an early competitor of the more famous airships built by Ferdinand von Zeppelin.
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Name origin: Unknown. There is a 19th century comic opera, Haydée, featuring the titular character as a slave girl who is really a princess and ultimately marries her beloved. A Haidee was also associated with the fictional libertine Don Juan, and a Haydée appears in The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas père.
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Name origin: Unknown. May refer to the Biblical Eve, but this has been doubted due to the usual naming practices of the discoverers.
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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.
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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.
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Rhea Silvia was forced to become a Vestal Virgin by her uncle Amulius to prevent her conceiving, but Mars had other ideas. Their sons were sent to die but rescued and suckled by a she-wolf, and eventually grew up to overthrow Amulius and reinstate their grandfather Numitor as king, before moving on to found Rome.
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Sappho (c.630-570 BCE) was an ancient Greek lyric poet and musician from the island of Lesbos. Widely regarded as an outstanding writer, she was called the Tenth Muse; sadly, much of her work, in total estimated at around 10,000 lines, has been lost. Her poetry is still influential today.
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Name origin: Greek goddess of peace and the season of spring. Naming was in part related to the Great Exhibition, which was taking place at the time.
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