Editing Selene (section)

=== Endymion ===
[[File:Wall painting - Selene and Endymion - Pompeii (VI 9 6-7) - Napoli MAN 9240.jpg|thumb|[[Endymion (mythology)|Endymion]] as hunter (with dog), sitting on rocks in a landscape, holding two spears, looking at Selene who descends to him. Antique fresco from [[Pompeii]].]]
[[File:Sebastiano Ricci 015.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|''Selene and Endymion'', by [[Sebastiano Ricci]] (1713), [[Chiswick House]], England.]]

Selene is best known for her affair with the beautiful mortal [[Endymion (mythology)|Endymion]].<ref>Roman and Roman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tOgWfjNIxoMC&pg=PT446 p. 434]; Hard, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 46], [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 411]; Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA89 p. 89]; Gantz, p. 35. The story was especially popular with [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] and Roman poets, for which Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 p. 134], describes the theme as "irresistible", e.g. [[Catullus]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/catullus-poems/1913/pb_LCL006.129.xml 66.5&ndash;6]; ''[[Palatine Anthology]]'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_anthology_5/1916/pb_LCL067.187.xml 5.123], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_anthology_5/1916/pb_LCL067.207.xml 5.165], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_anthology_6/1916/pb_LCL067.329.xml?rskey=n0rAo8&result=1 6.58]; [[Propertius]], ''Elegies'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/propertius-elegies/1990/pb_LCL018.145.xml 2.15.15&ndash;16]; [[Ovid]], ''[[Amores (Ovid)|Amores]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-amores/1914/pb_LCL041.371.xm 11.13.43&ndash;44], ''[[Ars Amatoria]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-art_love/1929/pb_LCL232.123.xml 3.83], ''Heroides'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-heroides/1914/pb_LCL041.187.xml 15.89&ndash;90], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-heroides/1914/pb_LCL041.249.xml 18.59&ndash;74]; [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Medea (Seneca)|Medea]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-medea/2018/pb_LCL062.323.xml 93&ndash;101], [[Phaedra (Seneca)|''Phaedra'']] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-phaedra/2018/pb_LCL062.445.xml 309&ndash;316], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-phaedra/2018/pb_LCL062.453.xml 406&ndash;422], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-phaedra/2018/pb_LCL062.481.xml 785&ndash;794]; [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valerius Flaccus]], ''Argonautica'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/valerius_flaccus-argonautica/1934/pb_LCL286.415.xml 8.28&ndash;30]. [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#271 271], includes "Endymion, son of Aetolus, whom Luna loved" under the heading "Youths Who Were Most Handsome".</ref> The late 7th-century&nbsp;– early 6th-century BC poet [[Sappho]] apparently mentioned Selene and Endymion.<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 p. 133]; Gantz, p. 35; [[Sappho]]  [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/sappho-fragments/1982/pb_LCL142.187.xml fr. 199 Campbell] [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'' 4.57].</ref> 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]]:<ref>Gantz, p. 35.</ref>

{{Poem quote|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:

"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. 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.  Well, go on, and steel thy heart, wise though thou be, to take up thy burden of pain, fraught with many sighs."<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]''  [https://archive.org/stream/argonautica00apoluoft#page/298/mode/2up 4.54&ndash;65].</ref>}}

The eternally sleeping Endymion was proverbial,<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 pp. 133&ndash;134]; Frazer's note to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.7.5 1.7.5]; e.g. [[Plato]], ''[[Phaedo]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plat.+Phaedo+72c 72c]; [[Aristotle]], ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D8%3Asection%3D7 10.8.7].</ref> but exactly how this eternal sleep came about and what role, if any, Selene may have had in it is unclear. 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.<ref>Gantz, p. 35; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 p. 134]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA411 p. 411]; [[Hesiod]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-catalogue_women/2018/pb_LCL503.59.xml fr. 10.58&ndash;62 Most] [= fr. 10a.58&ndash;62 Merkelbach-West].</ref> A scholiast on Apollonius says that, according to [[Epimenides]], Endymion fell in love with Hera, and Zeus punished him with eternal sleep.<ref>Fowler 2013, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 133]&ndash; [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 134]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA411 p. 411]; Gantz, p. 35; Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]’ ''[[Argonautica]]'' 4.57&ndash;58 [= Epimenides, [http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=text:epimenides_of_crete_fragments fr. 14] = Epimenides [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA98 fr. 12 Fowler] = ''[[FGrHist]]'' 457 F10 = 3B14 [[Hermann Alexander Diels|Diels]]]. The same scholiast gives another story involving Endymion's love for Hera, this time attributed to the ''[[Great Ehoiai]]'', saying that "Endymion was carried up by Zeus to heaven, but that he was seized by desire for Hera and was deceived by the phantom of a cloud, and that because of this desire he was thrown out and went down to Hades", see [[Hesiod]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-other_fragments/2018/pb_LCL503.307.xml fr. 198 Most] [= fr. 260 Merkelbach-West = Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]’ ''[[Argonautica]]'' 4.58]; see also [[Acusilaus]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=j0nRE4C2WBgC&pg=PA23 fr. 36 Fowler].</ref>  However, [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] says that because of Endymion's "surpassing beauty, the Moon fell in love with him, and Zeus allowed him to choose what he would, and he chose to sleep for ever, remaining deathless and ageless".<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.7.5 1.7.5] [= [[Zenobius]] 3.76].</ref> [[Theocritus]] portrays Endymion's sleep as enviable because (presumably) of Selene's love for him.<ref>Gantz, p. 35; [[Theocritus]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/theocritus-poems_i-xxx/2015/pb_LCL028.67.xml 3.49&ndash;50]. See also [[Theocritus]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/theocritus-poems_i-xxx/2015/pb_LCL028.277.xml 20.37&ndash;39].</ref> [[Cicero]] seems to make Selene responsible for Endymion's sleep, so that "she might kiss him while sleeping".<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA411 p. 411]; [[Cicero]], ''[[Tusculan Disputations]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/cicerostusculand00ciceuoft#page/50/mode/2up 1.38.92, p. 50]. See also [[Ovid]], ''[[Amores (Ovid)|Amores]]'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-amores/1914/pb_LCL041.371.xm 11.13.43&ndash;44]: "Look, how many hours of slumber has Luna bestowed upon the youth she loves! [Endymion]"; Gantz, p. 35, discussing Selene's role, says that "no source claims that the sleep was her idea, and likely enough (given its role in some quarters as a punishment, and his love for Hera), she was not always a part of the story." Gantz also notes that "Vases and artifacts from the second half of the fifth century on may possibly show Selene leaving an awake Endymion."</ref> The Roman playwright [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], has Selene abandoned the night sky for Endymion's sake having entrusted her "shining" moon chariot to her brother Helios to drive.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-phaedra/2018/pb_LCL062.445.xml 309&ndash;316].</ref> The Greek satirist [[Lucian]]'s dialogue between Selene and the [[List of love and lust deities|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.<ref>Gantz, p. 35; [[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [https://archive.org/details/lucianvolviiloeb00luci/page/n343/mode/2up 19 (11)].</ref> In his dialogue between Aphrodite and Eros, Lucian also has Aphrodite admonish her son Eros for bringing Selene "down from the sky".<ref>[[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [https://archive.org/details/lucianvolviiloeb00luci/page/n345/mode/2up 20 (12)].</ref> While [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]] wrote that, while Endymion slept in his cave beside his cattle:

{{blockquote|Divine Selene watched him from on high,
and slid from heaven to earth; for passionate love
drew down the immortal stainless Queen of Night."<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica|The Fall of Troy]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/falloftroy00quin#page/428/mode/2up 10.125&ndash;131].</ref>}}

[[Lucian]] also records an otherwise unattested myth where a pretty young girl called [[Myia (mythology)|Muia]] becomes Selene's rival for Endymion's affections; the chatty maiden would endlessly talk to him while he slept, causing him to wake up. This irritated Endymion, and enraged Selene, who transforms the girl into a fly ({{langx|grc|μυῖα|muía}}). In memory of the beautiful Endymion, the fly still grudges all sleepers their rest and annoys them.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''The Fly'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/lucian-fly/1913/pb_LCL014.91.xml?result=28&rskey=1dOrZ1 10].</ref>

Philologist [[Max Müller]]'s interpretation of solar mythology as it related to Selene and Endymion concluded that the myth was a narrativized version of linguistic terminology. Because the Greek ''endyein'' meant "to dive," the name Endymion ("Diver") at first simply described the process of the setting sun "diving" into the sea. In this case, the story of Selene embracing Endymion, or Moon embraces Diver, refers to the sun setting and the moon rising.<ref>Powell, pp. 670&ndash;671.</ref>