'Asia' or 'Clymene' in
Greek mythology is a daughter of
Oceanus and
Tethys, the wife of the
Titan Iapetus, and mother of
Atlas,
Prometheus,
Epimetheus and
Menoetius.
Hesiod gives the name as Clymene in his
Theogony (359) but
Apollodorus (1.8) gives instead the name ''Asia'' as does
Lycophron (1411). It is possible that the name ''Asia'' became preferred over Hesiod's ''Clymene'' to avoid confusion with what must be a different
Oceanid named Clymene who was mother of
Phaethon by
Helios in some accounts.
Herodotus (4.45.1) records the tradition that the continent ''
Asia'' was named after Asia whom he calls ''wife'' of Prometheus rather than ''mother'' of Prometheus, perhaps here a simple error rather than genuine variant tradition. Both
Acusilaus and
Aeschylus in his ''Prometheus Bound'' call Prometheus' wife
Hesione.
See
Prometheus for variant accounts in which Prometheus' mother was
Themis or
Hera.