Although she counts as a goddess in her own right, Selene often gets associated with archer goddess, Artemis, who is also a moon goddess. Selene and Endymion, in the mural above the stage of the Friedrich von Thiersch Saal in the Wiesbaden Kurhaus. "[42], According to the Homeric Hymn to Selene, the goddess bore Zeus a daughter, Pandia ("All-brightness"),[43] "exceeding lovely amongst the deathless gods". 3 (cited in the scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica 4.57). (2022, December 7). [61], In antiquity, the lunar eclipse phenomena were thought to be caused by witches, particularly the ones from Thessaly, who brought the Moon/Selene down with spells and invocations of magic. Selene and Helios together were said to be the parents of the four Horae, the goddesses of the seasons. Selene. Mythopedia, 7 Dec. 2022. https://mythopedia.com/topics/selene. These three lunar goddesses were all important to the Greeks in different ways but it was only Selene who was considered the moon incarnate herself. Whatever his profession, the handsome young man frequently slept beneath the open sky. Selene was not the only lunar goddess of the Greeks. Goddess Selene is often portrayed in art and in myths generally, riding a chariot across the sky. Pandia (or Pandia Selene) may have personified the full moon,[130] and an Athenian festival, called the Pandia, usually considered to be a festival for Zeus,[131] was perhaps celebrated on the full moon and may have been associated with Selene. The concept of Selene as the lunar goddess also made her an important goddess of childbirth and female fertility. Endymion was, depending on the source, a prince in exile or a simple shepherd. Hymn 31, To Helios, also speaks of the two sisters of Helios where the rich-tressed Selene is once again alluded to. Selene was more than just a lunar goddess, she was the embodiment of the moon and its light. Multiple sources say that she had a hand in the creation of the Nemean Lion, whether that was only Selene working on her own or in conjunction with Hera. Seneca, Madness of Hercules 83; Hyginus, Fabulae 30; Aelian, On Animals 12.7 (citing Epimenides); etc. Selene was a beautiful goddess with long, flowing . Myth Early History Selene was the daughter of the titans, Hyperion and Theia, sister to Helios (the sun) and Eos (dawn). There are different versions of this story. At night he drove below the edge of the world in the west, circling below Gaia to reappear on the eastern horizon by morning. 573 Bernab. What Were the Hamadryads in Greek Mythology? Selene and Endymion by Sebastiano Ricci (1713). Accessed March 1, 2023. Greek Gods / Helios. Hail, white-armed goddess, bright Selene, mild, bright-tressed queen! My name is Mike and for as long as I can remember (too long!) She was often said to be the mother of the Horai, the personifications of the division of time and the seasons. Artemis is also a Goddess of the moon. If your web page requires an HTML link, please insert this code: . [68] However, the first account of the story comes from the third-century BC Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, which tells of Selene's "mad passion" and her visiting the "fair Endymion" in a cave on Mount Latmus:[69], And the Titanian goddess, the moon, rising from a far land, beheld her [Medea] as she fled distraught, and fiercely exulted over her, and thus spake to her own heart: https://mythopedia.com/topics/selene, Avi Kapach is a writer, scholar, and educator who received his PhD in Classics from Brown University. [90], When Zeus desired to sleep with the mortal queen Alcmene and sire Heracles, he made the night last three days, and ordered Selene via Hermes to dawdle in the sky during that time. Not only was she the goddess of the moon, but she was considered a personification of the moon itself and that was how she was portrayed by many of the old poets and writers. [25], Two other sources also mention her hair. Selene's Role She was the goddess of the moon, which she drove every night across the skies. With his sister, the Titaness Theia, Hyperion fathered Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon) and Eos (the Dawn).. Hyperion was, along with his son Helios, a personification of the sun, with the two sometimes . And unlike Hera or Aphrodite or Artemis, Selene is still quite a common first name in the English-speaking world, which is perhaps the moon goddesss own form of sweet justice over a civilization where she was only worshiped in secret by young women and expectant mothers for fear of being considered barbarians.. In her later identification with Artemis, Selene came to be called Phoebe or Cynthia. Together, they fittingly created three sources of celestial illumination. Watched over by nymphs and visited often by the goddess, it was marked by glowing moonstones and pure white rock. The myth of Selene claims that this goddess had several lovers, both divine and mortal. According to the Homeric Hymn 32, Selene and Zeus together had a daughter named Pandia. That the myths contained a considerable element of fiction was recognized by the more critical Greeks, such as the philosopher Plato in the 5th-4th century bce. Both of these Goddesses are also associated with Hecate. [104] Zeus agrees, urged by Selene's complaints and having long intended to deal with the philosophers himself. [143] The idyll opens with the girl ordering her maid to bring potions and magical utensils, followed by an invocation to Selene and Hecate, and finally the rather lengthy spell itself; once she finishes her spell, the girl recounts to Selene of how she met and was betrayed by her lover, and calls upon the goddess to witness and help her, hence the love tail is woven into the love spell. [37] Other accounts give still other parents for Selene: Euripides has Selene as the daughter of Helios (rather than sister),[38] while an Aeschylus fragment possibly has Selene as the daughter of Leto,[39] as does a scholium on Euripides's play The Phoenician Women which adds Zeus as the father. Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany. [23] She was, however, the subject of one of the thirty-three Homeric Hymns, which gives the following description: And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus, well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged[24] Moon. ), The name Selene (Greek , translit. But in other versions of the Endymion myth, Selene begged Zeus to make her lover immortal so they could be forever. Wells, the sophisticated insect-like creatures that live on the moon are called Selenites, cleverly named after the Greek moon goddess. The scientist Jons Jacob Berzelius named it such since the element was very similar in nature to tellurium, which was named after the Earth, whose Greek name is Tellus. Though Selene had many consorts, the most famous of them was Endymion, a handsome young mortal. [144] And, according to a scholium on Theocritus, Pindar wrote that lovesick women would pray to Selene for help, as Euripides apparently had Phaedra, Selene's great-niece, do in his lost play Hippolytus Veiled. The altars to Selene were few and far between. All of these qualities bound Selene to the natural phenomena of time and seasons and the rejuvenation of nature as well, even apart from her ability to shed light. In later eras, she became associated with madness as well. The animals, however, were almost always shown as pure white regardless of their type. Most of the important Greek gods and goddesses had temple sites of their own. [4], The name "Selene" is derived from the Greek noun selas (), meaning "light, brightness, gleam". [2], Selene was also called Mene. [32], Selene was rarely worshipped, at least in earlier periods of ancient Greek history. [97] Hyginus says that Selene had "nourished" the lion in a "two-mouthed cave". The two other daughters that Selene and Zeus had together was Nemea, the nymph of the town that the Nemean Lion was from, and Ersa, the personified version of dew. Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History 3.57. There is a magnificent frieze in the Pergamon Altar, now kept at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, which depicts this battle between the Giants and the Olympians. The Moirai In some traditions the Fates were seen as three aspects of the lunar goddess. The first mention of the moon goddess in Greek mythology was probably in the Homeric Hymns. That haunted cave [on Mount Latmos] of fair-haired Nymphai (Nymphs) where, as Endymion slept beside his kine, divine Selene watched him from on high, and slid from heaven to earth; for passionate love drew down the immortal stainless queen of night. There were other goddesses worshiped by the Greeks who were widely associated with the moon themselves. Robert S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 2:131819. Several lovers are attributed to her in various myths, including Zeus, Pan, and the mortal Endymion. Both Theocritus in his second Idyll and Pindar write about how young women would pray to or invoke spells in the name of the moon goddess for help with their love lives. Helios was one of the Titans, son of Hyperion and Theia and brother of Eos (the Dawn) and Selene (the Moon ). According to Hesiod's Theogony, her parents were the Titans Hyperion and Theia; her brother was Helios, the sun god (sometimes called her father); her sister was Eos (Dawn). Selene herself most often wore a crown of gleaming silver, which matched her silver chariot. [59] Though the moon chariot is often described as being silver,[60] for Pindar it was golden. She is the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun-god Helios, and Eos, goddess of the dawn. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men. [117] Selene also appears on horseback as part of the Gigantomachy frieze of the Pergamon Altar. Attributes to the Byrgos Painter, ca. Selene also has a chemical element named after her, Selenium. Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases. Selene had a relationship with the god Pan, according to Virgil. Every evening, Selene ushered in nightfall and then drove her chariot through the night before giving way to dawn. Perhaps the most colorful ancient description of Selene comes from Homeric Hymn 32 (the Homeric Hymn to Selene). Selene is a Titan goddess. Greek Mythology >> Galleries GALLERIES. [84] Selene's participation in the battle is evidenced by her inclusion in the Gigantomachy frieze of the Pergamon Altar, fighting against Giants next to her siblings Helios and Eos and her mother Theia in the southern frieze. Her appearance matched the night sky she drove through. Selene, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, was the personification of the moon. Homeric Hymn 4.99100. Selene's Roman name was Lunar. The brother and sister married each other and had three children: Eos (the goddess of the dawn), Helios (the sun god), and Selene (the moon goddess). Without Selene giving way to Eos, Helios could not bring the sun back to the world. Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.54ff; Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.1.4; Apollodorus, Library 1.7.5; cf. [85][86] Selene gallops sidesaddle in advance, and wears a woolen undergarment and a mantle. She was the personification of the moon, but was also associated with lunar elements such as tides, months, and even lunacy. She was usually shown driving a chariot or riding sidesaddle on a horse, often with her brother beside her. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In the center of the main panel Selene descends from her chariot, whose horses are held by a nymph, to join Endymion, who lies to the right. In other versions, Endymion was actually taken to Mount Olympus. The goddess Selene was the daughter of Titius Hyperion and Theia. [29] Empedocles, Euripides and Nonnus all describe her as (glaukpis, "bright-eyed", a common epithet of the goddess Athena)[30] while in a fragment from a poem, possibly written by Pamprepius, she is called (kyanpis, "dark-eyed"). She fell madly in love with him and asked Zeus to let him stay asleep forever, remaining eternally young and beautiful (in some traditions, it was Endymion himself who requested this unending sleep). Thus, both the sun and the moon were seen as gods embodied in those forms. Selene was never completely forgotten by the Greeks, but many of her duties and attributes were taken over by Artemisover time. Her Roman equivalent is Luna. [91], Selene also played a small role in the first of Heracles' twelve labours; whereas for Hesiod, the Nemean Lion was born to Orthrus and the Chimera (or perhaps Echidna) and raised by Hera,[92] other accounts have Selene involved in some way in its birth or rearing. Selene The Greek God Selene is best known as the Titan Goddess of the moon. [134], Selene was sometimes associated with childbirth, for it was believed that during the full moon women had the easiest labours; this helped in her identification with the goddess Artemis,[138] as well as other goddesses connected to women's labours. [63][66], Selene is best known for her affair with the beautiful mortal Endymion. Greek months began with the first new moon and were organized into three ten-day weeks that roughly followed the progression of the lunar cycle. In this case, the story of Selene embracing Endymion, or Moon embraces Diver, refers to the sun setting and the moon rising. Selene does not appear in modern adaptations of Greek myths, since she is not exactly one of the major Greek gods like Zeus or Aphrodite. "On Representations of Helios and of Selene", The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Sorabella, Jean, "A Roman Sarcophagus and Its Patron. While the Maenids of Dionysus were driven mad by the frenzy of their worship, however, the madness brought about by Selene could be used as a targeted punishment. The three children have become much more well-known in general Greek literature than their parents, especially after the fall from grace of Hyperion, who stood by his brother Cronus in the latters war against Zeus and was banished to Tartarus for it. [7] The Greek word mene, meant the moon, and the lunar month. [127] Selene (along with Helios, Nyx and others) received an altar at the sanctuary of Demeter at Pergamon, possibly in connection with the Orphic mysteries. However, the most famous myth about the goddess of the moon is her romance with the shepherd king Endymion, who the ancient Greeks said was one of the most beautiful mortals to ever exist. Selenes Roman counterpart was called Luna (from the Latin word meaning moon). [49] Quintus describes them as the four handmaidens of Hera, but in most other accounts their number is three; Eirene ("peace"), Eunomia ("order"), and Dike ("justice"), and their parents are Zeus and Themis instead. Selene, the goddess of the moon, has two siblings: Eos, the goddess of the dawn, and Helios, the sun god. Many people believed that labor and childbirth was easiest during the full moon and prayed to Selene for aid. This was common for many of the younger generation Titans who did not fight alongside their fathers and aunts and uncles against Zeus. Selene saw him as she passed overhead and fell deeply in love. With Zeus she is the mother of Pandeia goddess of dew. [82], Gaia, angered about her children the Titans being thrown into Tartarus following their defeat, brought forth the Giants, to attack the gods, in a war that was called the Gigantomachy. I am the owner and chief researcher at this site. Lastly, Selene was said to be the mother of the legendary Greek poet Musaeus,[50] with, according to Philochorus, the father being the legendary seer Eumolpus.[51]. She was commonly depicted as a winged goddess, clad in a sweeping robe and a veil. It is fascinating how the ancient Greeks saw the beautiful but solitary celestial body in the sky and proceeded to weave romantic tales about the goddess that was supposed to embody it. The ancient Greeks believed that a lunar eclipse was the work of a witch, particularly the witches of Thessaly. The Greeks (like many other ancient peoples) were notoriously terrified of eclipses, viewing them as signs of the gods displeasure.[3]. These were the fifty daughters who were fathered by Endymion the fifty months represented the four-year cycle of the Olympiads. Obbink, Dirk (2002), "'All Gods are True' in Epicurus" in, Obbink, Dirk (2011) "56. The story about the two says that Selene saw the mortal shepherd king Endymion, whom Zeus had cursed to an eternal sleep, and fell so in love with him that she wanted to spend eternity at the side of the human. In many cases it rested on her brow or jutted out on either side of her head like a crown or horns. Mene, a name that she was also commonly known by, meant the moon or the lunar month, from the root mens which meant month. This is an attribute that she shares with her Roman equivalent Luna, where the latin luna also means moon.. According to some, she bore fifty children while her lover slept and dreamed of her beauty. As the most important and visible features in the sky, the people of ancient Greece thought that Selene, goddess of the moon, and her brother Helios, god of the sun, were the ones responsible for the movement of the two celestial bodies across the sky. Selene is the daughter of Titans Hyperion and Theia. Her chariot was made of shining silver, bringing soft, clear light each night. It is of course a tale that began in Ancient Greece, but the story of Endymion is one taken up with vigour by Renaissance artists and the imagery of the Moon goddesses visiting the eternal sleeping mortal was often repeated. Magical Goddess of the Silvery Moon. On the other hand, her eyes and hair were believed to have been as dark as the night. Hecate and her followers, for example, asked Selene for her cooperation in their magic. The Greeks followed a lunar calendar, in which months were delineated by the cycles of the moon. She was depicted as a woman riding sidesaddle on a horse or driving a chariot drawn by a pair of winged steeds. The Story of Selene. Her name is linked with those of various other goddesses, such as Artemis and Hecate, who are also associated with the moon. One of the most important sources of this myth is in the Greek satirist Lucian of Samosatas Dialogues of the Gods, where Aphrodite and Selene talk about the latters love for Endymion. [103], In Lucian's Icaromenippus, Selene complains to the titular Menippus of all the outrageous claims philosophers are making about her, such as wondering why she is ever waxing or gibbous, whether she is populated or not, and stating that she is getting her stolen light from the Sun, causing strife and ill feelings between her and her brother. 68 A75 D-K). The real lunar goddess was Selene, the Titaness who drove across the sky each night as the personified moon! Zeus slept with the human queen Alcmene, of which encounter Heracles was born. The talkative Myia would sit with Endymion as he slept his eternal sleep, chattering endlesslyso much so that Endymion eventually woke up. . (Similarly, Selenes brother Helios came to be identified with Artemis brother Apollo. Way). Hesiod, Catalogue of Women frag. Francoise Gury, Selene/Luna, in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Zurich: Artemis, 1994), 7:70615. Zeus heard of that, and ordered Selene as well as her siblings Helios (Sun) and Eos (Dawn) not to shine, and harvested all of that plant for himself. [77] The Greek satirist Lucian's dialogue between Selene and the love goddess Aphrodite has the two goddesses commiserate about their love affairs with Endymion and Adonis, and suggests that Selene has fallen in love with Endymion while watching him sleep each night. The most well-known story of Selene is her love of the mortal man Endymion. That leaves Artemis and Selene. Selene was one of the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses, and her story is one of the most captivating in Greek mythology. Selene was written off and Artemis became the goddess of the moon, hunting, and animals. Those that do exist are somewhat generic (like the previously mentioned epithets). The myth of Selene, the moon goddess, is no exception. The other gods, angered, sent him two lions to tear him apart. "Not I alone then stray to the Latmian cave, nor do I alone burn with love for fair Endymion; oft times with thoughts of love have I been driven away by thy crafty spells, in order that in the darkness of night thou mightest work thy sorcery at ease, even the deeds dear to thee. [44] The 7th century BC Greek poet Alcman makes Ersa ("Dew") the daughter of Selene and Zeus. Lilaeon. Selene was linked to Artemis as well as Hecate; all three were considered lunar goddesses. Mitchell, Lucy M., "Sculptures of the Great Pergamon Altar" in The Century Magazine, 1883. Selene was one of the daughters of the Titan gods Hyperion and Theia and the sister of the sun god Helios and the goddess of the dawn Eos. These were Eiar, Theros, Cheimon, and Phthinoporon, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Is the Mother of Castor and Pollux a Goddess? The goddess took offense, and sent a gadfly to sting Ampelus' bull. Pandia Usually said to be the daughter of Selene and Zeus, Pandia was also sometimes given as another name for Selene herself. She was worshipped at the new and full moons. The Greeks recognized several goddesses as having a connection to the moon, but none was as closely associated with it as Selene. H. G. Evelyn-White; cf. And now thou thyself too hast part in a like mad passion; and some god of affliction has given thee Jason to be thy grievous woe. We learn of Selenes family, her parents and siblings and the children that she went on to have, from various different sources and Greek myths. [64][65] Those who brought down the Moon were thought to bring ill fortune upon themselves, as evidenced by the proverb ("you are bringing down the Moon on yourself") said for those who caused self-inflicted evils; some witches supposedly avoided this fate by sacrificing their children or their eyeballs. In ancient Greek mythology, Selene, is the Titan goddess of the moon and is said to drive her glowing chariot powered by beautiful white horses across the sky each night. She asks Menippus to report her grievances to Zeus, with the request that Zeus wipes all these natural philosophers from the face of the earth. The idea that Selene would also give easy labours to women paved way for identification with Hera and the Roman Juno and Lucina, three other childbirth goddesses; Plutarch calls Selene "Hera in material form. Even if he were sleeping, he would not be parted from the goddess he loved by death. Her list of powers are unmatched, as far as lunar goddesses go. . Accessed on 27 Feb. 2023. One of the names given for Selene, and occasionally for an independent personification, was Mene. Hill, D. E. "THE THESSALIAN TRICK." 3/4, 1973, pp. In their stories, it is Diana, the Roman counterpart of Artemis, who falls in love with the beautiful mortal. The counterpart to her brother, she traveled by night. Though Hesiod made the Nemean Lion the child of Echidna, other authors wrote that Selene gave birth to it or brought it up at Heras request. 3 Most Important Characters in Greek Mythology, 5 Awesome Greek Mythology Fiction Books for Kids, Aphrodite Facts: Awesome Facts about the Goddess of Love and Beauty. Grapevines then rose from Ampelus corpse, from which the heartbroken Dionysus made wine for the first time. Selene was, while not worshiped openly, apparently the object of many spells and invocations addressed to her by young women. In later times, Selene was often associated with Artemis in the same way that her brother Helios was associated with Artemis brother Apollo. Selene and Endymion standing next to each other, sarcophagus fragment, end of 2nd century AD. The cave in Anatolia where Endymion was said to sleep became a holy place for Selene. [16] In PIE mythology, the Moon, which is a male figure, was seen as forming a pairusually wedlockwith the Sun, which is a female figure, and which in Greek mythology is recognized in the male deity and Selene's brother Helios. Though Selene almost never appears in modern adaptations of Greek mythology, she is nonetheless present in pop culture as the personification of the moon. Selene, like her siblings, was a Titan goddess because of her birth but they were no less important to the Greeks. This was known as the Gigantomachy. Selene, one of the younger generation of Titans, was also the Greek goddess of the moon. Hesiod, Theogony 371ff; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.2; etc. While Selenes best known consort may have been Endymion and the mythic romance between the moon goddess and the mortal has been documented in many places, he was not the only person that she was involved with. Selene and Endymion, fresco on ceiling by Giuseppe Antonio Orelli, circa 1730-1770, Palazzo Riva. The moon was thought to influence people in other ways, as well. Even now, this moon goddess of the ancient world has not quite gone out of our lives and her presence can be felt in small but subtle reminders. Seneca, Madness of Hercules 83; Hyginus, Fabulae 30; Aelian, On Animals 12.7 (citing Epimenides); etc. Selene could still see her sleeping love whenever she pleased, but the pressures of time and mortality were taken off her. She began to do this every night, leaving her chariot behind and making the sky dark with her absence. The Theoi Project galleries contain more than 1,200 images of ancient Greek and Roman art. Athena, also spelled Athene, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. Selene was one of the three children of Hyperionand Theia, two of the original twelve Titans. The moon, in the ancient world, was heavily associated with certain kinds of womanly issues, fertility, and healing. Two winged steeds pulled her across the sky each night. [95], Anaxagoras also reports that the Nemean lion was said to have fallen from the moon. The air, unlit before, glows with the light of her golden crown, and her rays beam clear, whensoever bright Selene having bathed her lovely body in the waters of Ocean, and donned her far-gleaming raiment, and yoked her strong-necked, shining team, drives on her long-maned horses at full speed, at eventime in the mid-month: then her great orbit is full and then her beams shine brightest as she increases. For this the Greek gods were to be worshiped. She walked as quietly as possible to avoid frightening Endymion as he slept. Together, they fittingly created three sources of celestial illumination. [142] In Theocritus' second Idyll, a young girl invokes Selene in a love-spell. Privacy Policy. Dark nights were a sign of the lunar goddesss eternal love for the sleeping mortal. These two goddesses have additional association with Hecate. Hyginus, preface to Fabulae. Selenes role in this war was not only to fight against the giants. As the goddess of the division of the months, Selene was a goddess of time. Depending on the author, the chariot was either silver,[6] snow white,[7] or gold. [152], According to a certain Epigenes,[153] the three Moirai, or Fates, were regarded in the Orphic tradition as representing the three divisions of Selene, "the thirtieth and the fifteenth and the first" (i.e. The tale of Endymion and Selene is one that has resonated with people for millennia. [8] The masculine form of mene (men) was also the name of the Phrygian moon-god Men. Selene was a Titan goddess in Greek mythology, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. According to the Catalogue of Women, Endymion was the son of Aethlius (a son of Zeus), and Zeus granted him the right to choose when he would die. Selene fought back the giant, locking horns with Typhon; afterwards, she carried many scars on her orb, reminiscent of their battle. Homeric Hymns 32.14ff, trans. [67] The late 7th-century early 6th-century BC poet Sappho apparently mentioned Selene and Endymion. Hurwit 2017, pp. ", Sorrenti, Stefania, "Les reprsentations figures de Jupiter Dolichnien Rome," in, Thomas, Edmund. [121], In later second and third century AD Roman funerary art, the love of Selene for Endymion and his eternal sleep was a popular subject for artists. [100], Diodorus Siculus recorded an unorthodox version of the myth, in which Basileia, who had succeeded her father Uranus to his royal throne, married her brother Hyperion, and had two children, a son Helios and a daughter Selene, "admired for both their beauty and their chastity". Pandeia goddess of the younger generation Titans who did not fight alongside their and! Or riding sidesaddle on a horse or driving a chariot across the dark! 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