Protogeneia is asteroid #147 and of the type C. Protogeneia’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 3.14 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.03, a period of revolution of 2 027 days, and an inclination of 1.9 degrees. Protogeneia was discovered by Lipót Schulhof, after whom the asteroid Schulhof is named, at the Vienna Observatory.

The name Protogeneia was chosen by the Austrian astronomer Karl Ludwig Edler von Littrow. Protogeneia is a character from Greek mythology, but Karl Littrow chose this name because it literally means first-born. Thus Karl Littrow wanted to honor that Protogeneia was the first asteroid, that Lipót Schulhof discovered, so that the already renowned astronomer entered the circle of asteroid discoverers.

Prōtogéneia (Πρωτογένεια) from Greek mythology bears this name because she is the first human, who was born after the deluge. Prōtogéneia (Πρωτογένεια) is the daughter of Pýrrha (Πύῤῥα), who herself is the daughter of Pandora and Epimetheus, and Deukalíōn (Δευκαλίων), who is the son of Prometheus. Deukalíōn (Δευκαλίων) is famous as survivor of the deluge because Prometheus knew about it in advance and so had warned his son Deukalíōn (Δευκαλίων) and advised him to build the ark. Zeús (Ζεύς) was happy that he could be the lover of Prōtogéneia (Πρωτογένεια), who knew no other humans with exception of her parents and then the humans, who were made from stones by Pýrrha (Πύῤῥα) and Deukalíōn (Δευκαλίων), who merely helped mother goddess Gaia this way. Aéthlios (Ἀέθλιος) was the son of Prōtogéneia (Πρωτογένεια) and Zeús (Ζεύς), became the king of Ancient Elis and the father of Endymion.

The official naming citation of the asteroid Schulhof establishes a connection between that asteroid and the asteroid Protogeneia. I already previously to this article expected that the discoverers of certain asteroids could be categories for sorting the asteroids for getting an overview of their meaning and relevance. In the case of Protogeneia have the asteroids Epimetheus and Prometheus and Pandora as well as the asteroids Deucalion, Zeus, and perhaps Endymion to be considered, too. If Protogeneia doesn’t reveal something by aspects to these asteroids, then she simply represents first-born children, in particular first-born daughters.