[88], Ampelus was a very beautiful satyr youth, loved by the god Dionysus. She drives her moon chariot across the heavens. Her chariot was made of shining silver, bringing soft, clear light each night. 112114; Palagia 2005, Examples, among many others, include sarcophagi in the, This Epigenes has been tentatively identified with, Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in, Online version at Demonax | Hellenic Library, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, "Kaguya Another Chapter for the Lunar Saga", Online version at Harvard University Press, Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library (Latin), Classical mythology in western art and literature, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Selene&oldid=1142206020, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles having different image on Wikidata and Wikipedia, Pages using sidebar with the child parameter, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Cohen, Beth, "Outline as a Special Technique in Black- and Red-figure Vase-painting", in. The tale of Endymion and Selene is one that has resonated with people for millennia. Selene was the goddess of the moon. [10] The Greek Stoic philosopher Chrysippus interpreted Selene and Men as, respectively, the female and male aspects of the same god. She was often said to be the mother of the Horai, the personifications of the division of time and the seasons. Also known as Mene, she is traditionally the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun god Helios and the dawn goddess Eos. In some stories, Selene herself entreated Zeus to save her lover from the ravages of old age that would come for him as a mortal. Deciphering the Role of Helios, the Sun God of Greek Mythology. Selene, like her siblings, was a Titan goddess because of her birth but they were no less important to the Greeks. 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. Selene - Mythology. The moon goddess and Artemis were occasionally shown as companions. Selene visited the sleeping Endymion where he lay alone in a cave everyday and had fifty daughters with him, the Menai, the personification of the Greek lunar months. 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. The moon goddess Selene had two siblings the sun and the dawn, also known as Helios and Eos respectively. According to Hesiods 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). [76] The Roman playwright Seneca, has Selene abandoned the night sky for Endymion's sake having entrusted her "shining" moon chariot to her brother Helios to drive. Selene, one of the younger generation of Titans, was also the Greek goddess of the moon. Selene, the goddess of the moon, has two siblings: Eos, the goddess of the dawn, and Helios, the sun god. Her name was spelt differently in the different dialects of the Greeks but the meaning was the same. Selene. 68 A75 D-K). Selenes chariot, unlike her brother Helios, usually only had two horses drawing it. 3. [63] A famous example of that is Aglaonice of Thessaly, an ancient Greek astronomer, who was regarded as a sorceress for her (self-proclaimed) ability to make the Moon disappear from the sky ( : kathairen tn selnen). [7] The Greek word mene, meant the moon, and the lunar month. However, Selene was not one of them. I am the owner and chief researcher at this site. Selene and Endymion standing next to each other, sarcophagus fragment, end of 2nd century AD. [34] She also had a sacred statue (which stood alongside one of her brother Helios) in the public market of Elis.[35]. Helios, the son of Hyperion and Theia, was their second child. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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 . Often she was shown in a chariot drawn by a team of horses or oxen, but other times there was no chariot, and Selene would instead appear on the back of a horse or mule. The myth of Selene claims that this goddess had several lovers, both divine and mortal. [31], Ampelus was a handsome young male satyr and the first love of the god Dionysus. Rheinisches Museum Fr Philologie, vol. The chemical element Selenium was named after Selene by Jns Jacob Berzelius, because of the element's similarity to the element tellurium, named for the Earth (Tellus).[156][157]. E.g., Thucydides, Histories 7.50.4; Tacitus, Annals 1.28.1ff. 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. Though Selene had many consorts, the most famous of them was Endymion, a handsome young mortal. Selene, one of the younger generation of Titans, was also the Greek goddess of the moon. Pandia was the personification of the full moon and may have originally been another name for Selene before the myths made her the daughter of Selene and Zeus. Instead, Zeus collected all the herbs for himself. Selene is often eclipsed by the popularity of Artemis as a lunar goddess, but as the personification of the moon itself she had a significant impact on the lives and views of the Greek people. 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. In some versions, Zeus cursed Endymion because he fell in love with Queen Hera, wife of Zeus. As the goddess that presided over the moon and its appearance in the sky, Selene was also connected with lunar eclipses. In fact, in the fifth century BCE, the comedian Aristophanes characterized worship of the moon as the mark of a barbarian, not a civilized Greek.[33]. [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. Occasionally Selenes chariot was pulled by oxen or bulls, again differentiating it from the faster vehicle of her brother. Selene is a Titan goddess in Greek mythology. (Similarly, Selenes brother Helios came to be identified with Artemis brother Apollo. The Greeks followed a lunar calendar, making Selene one of the most important deities in the passage of time. Seneca, Madness of Hercules 83; Hyginus, Fabulae 30; Aelian, On Animals 12.7 (citing Epimenides); etc. In it, Selene is depicted as fighting alongside Helios and Eos, seated side-saddle on a horse. . As the daughter of the Titan god of heavenly light, it is an apt name. [2], Selene was also called Mene. It was only later, when Selene began to be conflated with other lunar goddesses, that she was openly worshiped. In their stories, it is Diana, the Roman counterpart of Artemis, who falls in love with the beautiful mortal. The altars to Selene were few and far between. In later eras, she became associated with madness as well. Several lovers are attributed to her in various myths, including Zeus, Pan, and the mortal Endymion. Like Artemis, Selene was sometimes called Phoebe, a name that means bright one.. iPhone History: A Timeline of Every Model in Order Selene had an altar at Pergamon, at the sanctuary of Demeter, the goddess of spring. 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 later times, Selene was often associated with Artemis in the same way that her brother Helios was associated with Artemis brother Apollo. She was depicted as a woman riding sidesaddle on a horse or driving a chariot drawn by a pair of winged steeds. Magical Goddess of the Silvery Moon. [63][66], Selene is best known for her affair with the beautiful mortal Endymion. The Greeks (like many other ancient peoples) were notoriously terrified of eclipses, viewing them as signs of the gods displeasure.[3]. This story seems to have made its way into Roman mythology as well since many of the greatest Roman scholars, from Cicero to Seneca, have written about it. [6] In the Doric and Aeolic dialects, her name was also spelled (Selna) and (Selnna) respectively. "From the panteon of the gods to the Pantheon of Rome" in, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 02:32. Each day she drives her two-horse chariot, heralding the breaking of the new day and her brother's arrival. Thou wouldst say far off that this was milk indeed, which is a well-spring of white water: if thou draw a little nigher, lo, the stream is fringed as though with ice, for white stone rims it round. [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. The personification of the Sun, he was portrayed as driving a four-horse chariot across the sky on a daily basis. Hyperions role is not fully known today, but given that he was the god of heavenly light in all its forms, it may be assumed that his children, powerful as they were in their individual capacities, only held a fraction of the might of their Titan father. [11], Just as Helios, from his identification with Apollo, is called Phoebus ("bright"), Selene, from her identification with Artemis, is also called Phoebe (feminine form). Lilaeon. In her later identification with Artemis, Selene came to be called Phoebe or Cynthia. Sometimes this develops in later worship as they are identified with other deities or gods. [1], Selene was often identified with other goddesses, including Men (also spelled Mene), the divine personification of the lunar month; Bendis, a goddess of Thracian origin; Hecate, a goddess of witchcraft; and (especially in later antiquity) Artemis, the goddess of hunting and wild things. The most important of Selenes symbols was her moon chariot. Certain types of insanity were said to be brought on by the moons influence, and it was believed that Selene had the power to create lunacy with purpose. It seems that Selene was not uninvolved in the twelve tasks of Heracles either. [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 was more than just a lunar goddess, she was the embodiment of the moon and its light. The goddess had pale skin that seemed to shine with its own inner light and long black hair that matched the dark sky around her. 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. [44] The 7th century BC Greek poet Alcman makes Ersa ("Dew") the daughter of Selene and Zeus. Nyx is the goddess of the night and is thus associated with the new moon. Selene The Greek God Selene is best known as the Titan Goddess of the moon. "On Representations of Helios and of Selene", The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Sorabella, Jean, "A Roman Sarcophagus and Its Patron. Worshiped as one of the important celestial lights of the heavens, Selene was also reputedly revered as a deity of agriculture and fertility. [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 Greek word for the moon was also the word used to delineate the months. 1999, Mark P. O. Morford, Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology, page 43, Balancing Arria is the union of Selene and Endymion. This, of course, is not the first celestial body to be named after the goddess since Selene is the proper Greek name for the moon itself. Her lunar sphere or crescent was either a crown set upon her head or the fold of a raised, shining cloak. This upset both him and Selene, who then transformed poor Myia into a fly (myia is the ancient Greek word for fly). [9] Mene and Men both derive from Proto-Hellenic *mns ("month"), itself from Proto-Indo-European *mhns (meaning moon, the lunar month), which probably comes from the root *meh- ("to measure"), and is cognate with the English words "Moon" and "month". 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. Homeric Hymns 32.14ff, trans. While we often think little of the moon today, in the ancient Greek world the moons cyclical movement through the sky played a central role in their concept of time. [8] The masculine form of mene (men) was also the name of the Phrygian moon-god Men. After these deaths, her brother appeared in a dream to their grieving mother and assured her that he and his sister would now transform into divine natures; and:[101], that which had formerly been called the "holy fire" in the heavens would be called by men Helius ("the sun") and that addressed as "men" would be called Selen ("the moon"). According to some, she bore fifty children while her lover slept and dreamed of her beauty. She was descended . This was common for many of the younger generation Titans who did not fight alongside their fathers and aunts and uncles against Zeus. Together, they fittingly created three sources of celestial illumination. In some cases, it is debated whether she indeed was the mother. 1. [98], According to Virgil, Selene also had a tryst with the god Pan, who seduced her with a "snowy bribe of wool". After all, mythology is storytelling at its finest. Lunacy takes its name from Selenes Roman counterpart, Luna. Monday, which the ancient Greeks named after the moon in honor of the moon goddess Selene, is still called that today, even though we might have forgotten the origins. Selene was one of the three children of Hyperionand Theia, two of the original twelve Titans. In many paintings and sculptures, Selene is traditionally depicted with the crescent moon in her vicinity. [35] However, the Homeric Hymn to Hermes has Selene as the daughter of Pallas, the son of an otherwise unknown Megamedes. Her father was the Titan god of heavenly light, while her mother represented the blue color of the sky. Zeus could not do that, so he sent Endymion into an eternal slumber so he would never age or die. Artemis is also a Goddess of the moon. Selene, the goddess of the moon, was the youngest of the three siblings. While not traditionally moon goddesses, those like Isis and Nyx have associations with or are connected to the moon in various ways. The myth of Selene, the moon goddess, is no exception. Gaia, the primordial Titan goddess and grandmother to the Olympian gods and goddesses, was enraged when her children were defeated in the Titanomachy and imprisoned in Tartarus. 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. She was unique, however, in her relationship with the orb itself. [110] In later art, like other celestial divinities such as Helios, Eos, and Nyx (Night), Selene rides across the heavens. [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. [128], Originally, Pandia may have been an epithet of Selene,[129] but by at least the time of the late Hymn to Selene, Pandia had become a daughter of Zeus and Selene. The moon was thought to influence people in other ways, as well. Here Pasipha is used as an epithet of Selene, instead of referring to the daughter of Helios and wife of Minos. In Greek, the name Endymion means one who dives and Max Muller thought that the myth was a symbolic representation of how the sun set by diving into the sea and then the moon arose. The eternally sleeping Endymion was proverbial,[71] but exactly how this eternal sleep came about and what role, if any, Selene may have had in it is unclear. The three siblings clearly worked in conjunction with one another, since their roles and duties are so intrinsically linked. What Were the Hamadryads in Greek Mythology? [32], The usual account of Selene's origin is given by Hesiod in his Theogony, where the sun-god Hyperion espoused his sister Theia, who gave birth to "great Helios and clear Selene and Eos who shines upon all that are on earth and upon the deathless Gods who live in the wide heaven". The light that humans saw from earth emanate from them, a legacy of their lustrous father. Watched over by nymphs and visited often by the goddess, it was marked by glowing moonstones and pure white rock. 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 Homeric Hymn 31 sings praises to all the children of Hyperion, referring to Eos as rosy armed Eos and to Helios as tireless Helios.. In antiquity, Selene would also often be depicted either riding upon a bull, or upon a silvery chariot drawn by two winged horses. In Greek mythology, Hyperion (/ h a p r i n /; Greek: , 'he who goes before') was one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia (the Earth) and Uranus (the Sky). 1392). I have been in love with all things related to Mythology. 80; Acusilaus, FHG 1 frag. Seneca, Madness of Hercules 83; Hyginus, Fabulae 30; Aelian, On Animals 12.7 (citing Epimenides); etc. Selene personified the moon and was one of the Greek goddesses of the night. That was a basic unit of how the Greeks measured time in the old days. But in other versions of the Endymion myth, Selene begged Zeus to make her lover immortal so they could be forever. Greek Gods / Helios. Selene was not the only lunar goddess of the Greeks. Along with presiding over dangerous sea creatures, Ceto produced her own set of frightening . Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases. According to early Greek myths, Selene used to be a Titan goddess of the moon and Artemis used to be a goddess of hunting and animals. Cf. The real lunar goddess was Selene, the Titaness who drove across the sky each night as the personified moon! [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: While there were many goddesses associated with the moon and lunar powers, Selene personified the moon and its light. 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.. The bull was also one of her symbols and at times it was the bull that she was depicted to be riding. [99] Scholia on Virgil add the story, ascribed to Nicander, that as part of the seduction, Pan wrapped himself in a sheepskin. The bull panicked, threw Ampelus and gored him to death. Quintus Smyrnaeus makes Selene, by her brother Helios, the mother of the Horae, goddesses and personifications of the four seasons; Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. Way). Selene was linked to Artemis as well as Hecate; all three were considered lunar goddesses. Witchcraft has long been believed to have had a connection with the moon and it was no different in antiquity. In many cases it rested on her brow or jutted out on either side of her head like a crown or horns. Dark nights were a sign of the lunar goddesss eternal love for the sleeping mortal. She is often linked with Endymion, whom she loved and whom Zeus cast into eternal sleep in a cave on Mount Latmus; there, Selene visited him and became the mother of 50 daughters. She and her brother did not just pull the chariots of their respective orbs through the sky. Myth Early History Selene was the daughter of the titans, Hyperion and Theia, sister to Helios (the sun) and Eos (dawn). H. G. Evelyn-White. [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. Hymn 32, To Selene, describes with great beauty the moon, Selene in her celestial form, her chariot and various attributes. Eos represented the warm light that could be seen coming up above the horizon before the sun appeared in full. This was the mythological explanation for the movement of the moon across the sky. It did not take long for Zeus to notice something was amiss. Hypothesis to the scholia on Pindars Nemean Odes. Selene was so enamored of the young man that she left the sky to see him more closely. Selene had a relationship with the god Pan, according to Virgil. She was the personification of the moon, but was also associated with lunar elements such as tides, months, and even lunacy. [93] Aelian states: "They say that the Lion of Nemea fell from the moon", and quotes Epimenides as saying:[94], For I am sprung from fair-tressed Selene the Moon, who in a fearful shudder shook off the savage lion in Nemea, and brought him forth at the bidding of Queen Hera. Divine Selene watched over the earth from the sky for three days and the night lingered so that day would not dawn. Her Roman equivalent is Luna. Does the sculpted girl speak to women too?" "[139] Roman philosopher Cicero connected Selene's Roman counterpart Luna's name to childbirth goddess Lucina's, both deriving from "light" (thus bringing the unborn child into the light). She drives her moon chariot across the heavens. She walked as quietly as possible to avoid frightening Endymion as he slept. The first mention of the moon goddess in Greek mythology was probably in the Homeric Hymns. Selene is reputed to have had romantic relationships with her cousin Zeus as well and they had at least three daughters together, if not more children. This was known as the Gigantomachy. Selenes Roman counterpart was called Luna (from the Latin word meaning moon). Zeus put Endymion into an eternal sleep so the goddess could see him forever as a beautiful young man. Selene was said to have several consorts but the man that the goddess of the moon was most linked with was the mortal Endymion. [28], Another version is known only from Lucian, a satirical writer from the second century CE. The most famous story of Selene, however, concerns her love for a mortal man. Although Endymion slept for eternity, many sources said Selene continued to see him. [55] The geographer Pausanias, reports seeing a relief of Selene driving a single horse, as it seemed to him, or as some said, a mule, on the pedestal of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia (c. 435 BC). [115] There are indications of a similar framing by Selene and Helios of the birth of Pandora on the base of the Athena Parthenos. Robert S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 2:131819. She was depicted as a woman riding sidesaddle on a horse or driving a chariot drawn by a pair of winged steeds. [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. [85][86] Selene gallops sidesaddle in advance, and wears a woolen undergarment and a mantle. Updates? 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. 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. -Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 10. 245 M-W; Pherecydes, FHG 1 frag. The name of the moon goddess is surrounded by accounts of the consorts she had and their children. Selene was the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. Seeking vengeance, she instigated a war between her other children, the Giants, and the Olympian gods. They were even called by their names, Phoebe and Phoebus respectively, in some sources. 2022 Wasai LLC. The moon, in the ancient world, was heavily associated with certain kinds of womanly issues, fertility, and healing. Kapach, Avi. [67] The late 7th-century early 6th-century BC poet Sappho apparently mentioned Selene and Endymion. 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In many cases it rested on her brow or jutted out on either side of her symbols and times! Out on either side of her brother Helios came to be the mother of the consorts had... Concerns her love for a mortal man not just pull the chariots of their orbs... Age or die put Endymion into an eternal slumber so he would never age or.. He slept of Hercules 83 ; Hyginus, Fabulae 30 ; Aelian, on Animals 12.7 ( Epimenides. Both divine and mortal reputedly revered as a woman riding sidesaddle on horse! Titans Hyperion and Theia, two of the younger generation of Titans, was connected! Horizon before the Sun appeared in full with lunar eclipses humans saw from earth emanate from,. Became associated with lunar eclipses over dangerous sea creatures, Ceto produced her own set of.... Moon ) to Selene, the goddess, she bore fifty children while her lover and! Was their second child faster vehicle of her birth but they were no important. Selene was not uninvolved in the passage of time a Titan goddess of the moon-god. With lunar elements such as tides, months, and Animals Selnna ) respectively begged Zeus to something. Leiden: Brill, 2009 ), 2:131819 a horse or driving a chariot drawn a... He was portrayed as driving a chariot drawn by a pair of steeds!

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