Editing Selene (section)

== Family ==
=== Parents ===
[[File:Clipeus Selene Terme.jpg|thumb|Detail of Selene from a Roman sarcophagus]]

The usual account of Selene's origin is given by [[Hesiod]] in his ''[[Theogony]]'', where the [[sun-god]] [[Hyperion (Titan)|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".<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA43 p. 43]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+371 371–374]. See also Apollodorus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%201.2.2 1.2.2], [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 Preface 12].</ref> The ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Helios]]'' follows this tradition: "Hyperion wedded glorious Euryphaëssa, his own sister, who bare him lovely children, rosy-armed Eos and rich-tressed Selene and tireless Helios",<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Helios]]'' (31) [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0138%3ahymn%3d31 4–7]. Assuming that their order of mention is meant to be their order of birth, Hesiod and [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] (''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 Preface 12]) make Helios the oldest of the siblings, with Eos the youngest, while the ''Hymn'' swaps the order of Eos and Helios, and Apollodorus ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%201.2.2 1.2.2]) has Selene as the youngest, with Eos as the oldest.</ref> with ''Euryphaëssa'' ("widely shining") probably being an epithet of Theia.<ref>Morford, [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/61/mode/2up?view=theater p. 61]; West 2003, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_31_helios/2003/pb_LCL496.215.xml p. 215 n. 61].</ref> However, the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Hermes]]'' has Selene as the daughter of Pallas, the son of an otherwise unknown Megamedes.<ref>Vergados, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qzF9UQt8NDUC&pg=PA313 p. 313]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Gantz, p. 34; ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Hermes]]'' (4), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg004.perseus-eng1:94-133 99&ndash;100].</ref> This Pallas is possibly identified with the [[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]], who, according to Hesiod's ''Theogony'', was the son of the Titan [[Crius]], and thus Selene's cousin.<ref>Vergados, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qzF9UQt8NDUC&pg=PA313 p. 313]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:371-403 375&ndash;377]. As Vergados points out, there is no indication of this genealogy elsewhere in Greek texts, however for Ovid, [[Aurora]] (Dawn), the Roman counterpart of Selene's sister Eos, was the daughter of Pallas, see ''[[Fasti]]'' [https://archive.org/details/ovidsfasti00oviduoft/page/216/mode/2up?view=theater 4.373&ndash;374], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.33.xml 9.421], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.379.xml 15.191], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL043.415.xml 15.700].</ref> Other accounts give still other parents for Selene: [[Euripides]] has Selene as the daughter of Helios (rather than sister),<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA54 p. 54 with n. 9]; [[Euripides]], ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg015.perseus-eng1:145-192 175&ndash;176] (with scholia); so also [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/180/mode/2up 5.162&ndash;166], [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/310/mode/2up 44.191]; Scholia  on [[Aratus]] 445. Keightley quotes the Euripides scholiast as saying that [[Aeschylus]] (and others) said that Selene is Helios' daughter "because she partakes of the solar light, and changes her form according to the solar positions".</ref> while an [[Aeschylus]] fragment possibly has Selene as the daughter of [[Leto]],<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46], Gantz, pp. 34&ndash;35; [[Aeschylus]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.173.xml fr. 170 Sommerstein] [= fr. 170 Radt, Nauck].</ref> as does a [[Scholia|scholium]] on [[Euripides]]'s play ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' which adds Zeus as the father.<ref>[[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D11%3Aentry%3Dselene-bio-1 s.v. Selene]; [[Scholia]] on [[Euripides]]' ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=lUNhAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA261 179].</ref> Furthermore, in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', when [[Nisus and Euryalus|Nisus]] calls upon Selene/the Moon, he addresses her as "daughter of Latona."<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/245#9.367 9.404].</ref>

=== Offspring ===
According to the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Selene]]'', the goddess bore [[Zeus]] a daughter, [[Pandia]] ("All-brightness"),<ref>Fairbanks, [https://archive.org/stream/MythologyOfGreeceAndRomespecialReferenceToItsInfluenceOnLiterature/bulgaria_fairbanks-GRE1907#page/n175/mode/2up p. 162].</ref> "exceeding lovely amongst the deathless gods".<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Gantz, p. 34; ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Selene]]'' (32) [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D32 15–16]; so also [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 Preface 28]. Allen, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0029%3Atext%3Dcomm%3Apoem%3D32 [15<nowiki>]</nowiki> "ΠανδείηΝ"], says that Pandia, "elsewhere unknown as a daughter of Selene ...  seems to be merely an abstraction of the moon herself". Cook [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft#page/732/mode/2up p. 732] says that it seems probable that, instead of being her daughter, "Pandia was originally an epithet of Selene". Either Selene or her daughter may have been connected to the Athenian festival [[Pandia (festival)|Pandia]].</ref> The 7th century BC Greek poet [[Alcman]] makes [[Ersa]] ("Dew") the daughter of Selene and Zeus.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46];  ní Mheallaigh, [https://books.google.com/books?id=h6ECEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 p. 26]; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA55 p. 55]; [[Alcman]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/alcman-fragments/1988/pb_LCL143.435.xml fr. 57 Campbell] [= [[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia]]'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_table_talk/1961/pb_LCL424.279.xml 659 B] = fr. 48 Bergk = fr. 43 Diehl] (see also [[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_causes_natural_phenomena/1965/pb_LCL426.201.xml 918 A], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-face_which_appears_orb_moon/1957/pb_LCL406.175.xml 940 A]). According to Hard, "this is really no more than an allegorical fancy referring to the heavy dew-fall associated with clear moonlit nights".</ref> Selene and Zeus were also said to be the parents of Nemea, the eponymous [[nymph]] of [[Nemea]], where [[Heracles]] slew the [[Nemean Lion]], and where the [[Nemean Games]] were held.<ref>Cook, [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft#page/456/mode/2up p. 456]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=selene-bio-1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104 s.v. Selene]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.15.3 2.15.3] has [[Asopus]] as the father of Nemea, with no mention of a mother.</ref>

From [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] we hear that Selene was supposed to have had fifty daughters, by her lover [[Endymion (mythology)|Endymion]], often assumed to represent the fifty lunar months of the [[Olympiad]].<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.1.4 5.1.4]; Mayerson [https://books.google.com/books?id=WgTYAAAAMAAJ&q=%22fifty+daughters%22+Selene p. 167]. For the assumption that the daughters represent the fifty lunar months of the [[Olympiad]], see for example: Cashford 2003b, p. 137; Davidson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&pg=PA205 pp. 204–205]; Jebb, [https://books.google.com/books?id=OQoYmol_nXkC&pg=PA296 pp. 296]&ndash;[https://books.google.com/books?id=OQoYmol_nXkC&pg=PA297 297], note on VII, 1&ndash;3 πεντήκοντα (''μῆνες''); Seyffert, [https://archive.org/details/b3135841x/page/213 s.v. Endymion]; Stoll, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UWoBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA61 p. 61]. There are other accounts of fifty daughters in Greek mythology: the [[Nereid]]s, the fifty sea [[nymphs]] born to [[Nereus]] and [[Doris (Oceanid)|Doris]] ([[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+240 240–264]), the [[Danaides]], the fifty daughters of [[Danaus]], who killed all but one of their fifty husbands ([[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]]), [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.1.4 2.1.4], and the [[Thespiades]], the fifty daughters of [[Thespius]], each of whom bore a son to [[Heracles]] ([[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.4.10 2.4.10], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.7.8 2.7.8]). Astour, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NMkUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA78 p. 78], connects the number of daughters with the approximate number of seven-day weeks in a lunar year.</ref> [[Nonnus]] has Selene and Endymion as the parents of the beautiful [[Narcissus (mythology)|Narcissus]], although in other accounts, including [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', Narcissus was the son of [[Cephissus (mythology)|Cephissus]] and [[Liriope (nymph)|Liriope]].<ref>Verhelst, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZbhRDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA253 p. 253 with n. 59]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [http://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/466/mode/2up 48.581&ndash;583] (however compare with ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/342/mode/2up 10.214&ndash;216], which suggests that Selene and Helios are the parents of Narcissus); [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.149.xml 3.341&ndash;346].</ref>

[[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.<ref>''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Selene; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA54 pp. 54&ndash;55]; [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica|The Fall of Troy]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/falloftroy00quin#page/442/mode/2up 10.336&ndash;343]. Compare with [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/396/mode/2up 12.1&ndash;2], which has the Horae as the daughters of Helios, without mentioning a mother.</ref> Quintus describes them as the four handmaidens of Hera, but in most other accounts their number is three; [[Eirene (goddess)|Eirene]] ("peace"), [[Eunomia]] ("order"), and [[Dike (mythology)|Dike]] ("justice"), and their parents are [[Zeus]] and [[Themis]] instead.

Lastly, Selene was said to be the mother of the legendary Greek poet [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]],<ref>Burkert 1972, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0qqp4Vk1zG0C&pg=PA346 p. 346 n. 48]; [[Plato]], ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plat.+Rep.+2.364e 2.364e]; [[Philodemus]], ''De Pietate'' (''On Piety'') Herculaneum Papyrus 243 fr. 6 (Obbink 2011, [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=D4tDMNaqKfIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA353 p. 353]).</ref> with, according to [[Philochorus]], the father being the legendary seer [[Eumolpus]].<ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dmusaeus-bio-2 s.v. Musaeus (literary 1)];  [[Philochorus]] ''[[Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller|FHG]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=y5pxAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA416 fr. 200] ([[Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller|Müller]]) [= Scholia on [[Aristophanes]]'s ''[[The Frogs|Frogs]]'' 1033].</ref>