Armida is asteroid #514 and also known as 1903 MB. Armida’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 3.05 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.04, a period of revolution of 1 943 days, and an inclination of 3.9 degrees. Armida was discovered by the German (from Baden, a grand-dukedom with Karlsruhe as the capital, while Germany still didn’t exist) astronomer Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf, usually referred to as Max Wolf, at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory (Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl).

Armida is named after the fictional character Armide from the opera Armide by Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck, after whom the asteroid Gluck is named. The opera is based on the epic poem Jerusalem Delivered (La Gerusalemme liberata) by Torquato Tasso (Italian 16th century poet). I describe its main story line in my article on the asteroid Clorinde. The opera is based on a piece of filler, but this piece was in the 18th and early 19th century so popular that several operas, which treat its topic, got composed. The opera by the “German” composer Christoph Willibald Gluck is in French, so the name of the Italian poem’s protagonist Armida turns into Armide and the name of her love interest Rinaldo turns into Renaud.

Armide is a Saracen sorceress and the princess of Damascus. She has two maids and friends, whose names are Phénice and Sidonie. Armide during the first crusade clashes with knights, whose commander is called Godefroi. Armide celebrates with friends and relatives that she made captives without resorting to weapons, but defeating the enemies only by her beauty. Then a Saracen soldier crashes the party and reports that the captives got freed by a single unstoppable hero. Armide knows that the hero must be Renaud because she did already meet him and was impressed by him resisting her. The freed captives return to their camp, but Renaud doesn’t accompany them because he due to a false accusation got banished by Godefroi. Renaud tells his comrades that he would do his own thing. Armide summons some demons and has them turn into nymphs, shepherdesses, and similar harmless folk, who seemed to be pleasant company. Armide furthermore charms Renaud, so that he falls asleep and the camouflaged demons decorate him with garlands of flowers. This happens on an island in the middle of a river. Then Armide tries to stab the sleeping Renaud, but can’t because she fell in love with him. She commands the demons to turn into winds and to bring Renaud and her into the desert. Phénice and Sidonie suggest that Armide casts a charm to make Renaud fall in love with her, but Armide dislikes the idea of forced love. She summons a fury, whose name is La Haine, and asks her to annihilate the love in her heart. But Armide changes her mind before La Haine is able to fulfill the wish, so La Haine departs and tells Armide that she would never help Armide again. Then she charms Renaud to fall in love with her. They move into her palace. Godefroi sends two knights, Ubalde and an unnamed Danish knight, to retrieve Renaud. Ubalde carries an adamantine (WordPress’ spell-check doesn’t know this word, but it really exists and describes that an item is made of diamond) shield and golden scepter, while the Danish knight carries a weapon (an epee in the opera and thus proving that people of the eighteenth century knew almost nothing about the Middle Ages) for Renaud. The two knights then have an own side story, while Armide visits the underworld and leaves some joy geniuses as company for her lover. Renaud can’t be made blithe this way. When Armide isn’t with him, then he prefers to be alone. So when Ubalde and the Danish knight arrive at Armide’s palace, they meet Renaud alone. Ubalde touches Renaud with the adamantine shield and this breaks the charm. Armide returns, but can only achieve that Renaud bids farewell. Renaud and his comrades depart. Then Armide again summons her demons and let them tear down her palace. Armide finally flies away.

Torquato Tasso already was criticized for his poem resembling tales of Greek mythology instead of being something original. An argument for this has been that Armida resembles the nymph Kalypso (Καλυψώ). Saturn XIV and asteroid #53 are named after her.

Although Armide is female and her moods change rapidly, she really is the protagonist of the story. The supporting roles and side stories are rather irrelevant when figuring out the meaning of the astrological force Armida. In contrast to the many couple asteroids and love-themed asteroids, Armida represents and indicates unrequited love.