Editing Selene (section)

=== Goddess of the Moon ===
[[File:Diana-selene, da originale ellenistico, da porta s. sebastiano 02.JPG|thumb|Statue of Selene, shown wearing the crescent on her forehead and holding a torch in her right hand, while her veil billows over her head.]]

Like her brother Helios, the Sun god, who drives his sun chariot across the sky each day, Selene is also said to drive a chariot across the heavens.<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]; [[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D3 3.19–20]; [[Euripides]], ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg008.perseus-eng1:990-1008 990&ndash;994]; [[Theocritus]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/theocritus-poems_i-xxx/2015/pb_LCL028.57.xml 2.163&ndash;166]; [[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti (poem)|Fasti]]'' [https://archive.org/details/ovidsfasti00oviduoft/page/128/mode/2up?view=theater 3.109–110], [https://archive.org/details/ovidsfasti00oviduoft/page/216/mode/2up?view=theater 4.373–374], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.75.xml 2.208&ndash;209]; [[Gaius Valerius Flaccus|Valerius Flaccus]], ''Argonautica'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/valerius_flaccus-argonautica/1934/pb_LCL286.275.xml 5.410&ndash;415]; [[Statius]], [[Thebaid (Latin poem)|''Thebaid'']] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.67.xml 1.336&ndash;341].</ref> There are no mentions of Selene's chariot in either [[Homer]] or [[Hesiod]],<ref>Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA54 p. 54].</ref> but the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Selene]]'', gives the following description:

{{blockquote|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. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men.<ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Selene]]'' (32) [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D32 5–14].</ref>}}

The earliest known depiction of Selene driving a chariot adorns the inside of an early 5th century BC [[red-figure]] cup attributed to the [[Brygos Painter]], showing Selene plunging her chariot, drawn by two winged horses, into the sea (Berlin Antikensammlung F 2293).<ref>Cohen, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SCA2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA156 156–157], [https://books.google.com/books?id=SCA2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA177 177–179]; Savignoni, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0EaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA267 pp. 267&ndash;268]; ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]]'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-74476cdb1abcc-3  11564 (Selene, Luna 47)], image [https://www.iconiclimc.ch/limc/imageview.php?image=ec5c193a36ad4901b93316d668406b4f&total=6&term=%22Luna+47%22 11842X101.jpg]; [[Beazley Archive]] [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/FF922369-A326-4645-870F-1DEBDFEB9D0C 203909]. For Selene (?) driving another pair of winged horses see Savignoni, Plate X (following [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0EaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA264 p. 264]); Zschietzschmann, pp. XII, 23; [[Beazley Archive]], [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/F7110D3A-E2AE-4BAD-A262-C5ABD2DB8F95 15412]; note however ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]]'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-7563328f80339-3 31573], which identifies this figure as [[Nyx]] (Night).</ref> The geographer [[Pausanias (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).<ref>Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA54 p. 54]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.11.8 5.11.8].</ref> While the sun chariot has four horses, Selene's usually has two,<ref>Morford, [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/63/mode/2up?view=theater p. 63]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Selene; Kerényi, [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/196/mode/2up?view=theater p. 196]. For an example of Selene driving the less usual four horses see Morford, [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/353/mode/2up?view=theater p. 353].</ref> described as "snow-white" by [[Ovid]].<ref>Ovid, ''Fasti'' [https://archive.org/details/ovidsfasti00oviduoft/page/216/mode/2up?view=theater 4.374].</ref> In some later accounts the chariot was drawn by oxen or bulls.<ref>Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA54 p. 54]; [[Claudian]], ''Rape of Proserpine'' [https://archive.org/details/claudia02clau/page/374/mode/2up?view=theater 3.403]; [[Libanius]], ''[[Progymnasmata]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=kRi-If9IAOYC&pg=PA257 Encomium 8]; [[Nonnus]], ''Dionysiaca'' , [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/18/mode/2up 1.222], [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/74/mode/2up 2.406], [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/262/mode/2up 7.247], [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/370/mode/2up 11.186]; [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/396/mode/2up 12.5]; [http://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/472/mode/2up 48.668]. For an image of Selene driving bulls, see [[British Museum]]  [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1956-0517-1 1956,0517.1]
 = [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-74601d88997c7-0 13303 (Selene, Luna 61)].</ref>  Though the moon chariot is often described as being silver,<ref>Grimal, s.v. Selene; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca03nonnuoft#page/310/mode/2up 44.192].</ref> for [[Pindar]] it was golden.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D3 3.19–20]. For the use of "golden" in reference to the moon, see: Allen, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0029%3Atext%3Dcomm%3Apoem%3D32 [6<nowiki>]</nowiki> "χρυσέου"].</ref>

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.<ref>ní Mheallaigh, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=h6ECEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 38]</ref> References to this magical trick, variously referred to as {{lang|grc|καθαιρεῖν}} (''kathaireĩn''), are scattered throughout ancient literature, whereas eclipses of both the Sun and the Moon were called ''kathaireseis'' ("casting-downs") by the Greek populace.<ref name=":hill">Hill, D. E. "THE THESSALIAN TRICK." Rheinisches Museum Für Philologie, vol. 116, no. 3/4, 1973, pp. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/41244743 221–38]. [[JSTOR]]. Accessed 18 Jul. 2022.</ref> 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 ({{lang|grc|καθαιρεῖν τὴν σελήνην}}: ''kathaireĩn tén selénen''). This claim has been taken–by [[Plutarch]] at first, and subsequently by modern astronomers–to mean that she could predict the time and general area where an eclipse of the Moon would occur.<ref>{{cite book | last = Ogilvie | first = Marilyn Bailey | date = 1986 |title = Women in Science | publisher = [[The MIT Press]] | isbn = 0-262-15031-X | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/womeninscience00mari }}</ref><ref>{{Citation  | last = Schmitz  | first = Leonhard  | contribution = Aganice  | editor-last = Smith  | editor-first = William  | title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 59  | place = Boston  | date = 1867  | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0068.html  | access-date = 2007-12-28  | archive-date = 2010-06-16  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100616135039/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0068.html  | url-status = dead}}</ref> Those who brought down the Moon were thought to bring ill fortune upon themselves, as evidenced by the proverb ''{{lang|grc|ἐπὶ σαυτῷ τὴν σελήνην καθαιρεῖς}}'' ("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.<ref name=":hill"/><ref>[[Scholia]] ad [[Zenobius]] ''Epitome'' 401</ref>

In popular and common belief, Selene as the Moon came to be associated with physical growth, menstruation and sickness, the latter particularly in the context of demonic possession or even epilepsy.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | last = Gordon | first = Richard L. | location = Ilmmünster | date = 2006 | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/selene-e1107170 | title = Selene | encyclopedia = [[Brill's New Pauly]] | publisher = Brill Reference Online | editor-first1 = Hubert | editor-last1 = Cancik | editor-first2 = Helmuth | editor-last2 = Schneider | translator = Christine F. Salazar | access-date = September 15, 2023 | doi = 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1107170| url-access = subscription }}</ref> Owing to her role as the moon goddess, she was sometimes called ''Nyctimedusa'' ({{langx|grc|Νυκτιμέδουσα|Nuktimédousa}}), meaning "queen of the night".<ref>{{cite web | access-date = April 9, 2023 | url = https://lsj.gr/wiki/νυκτιμέδουσα | title = νυκτιμέδουσα | website = lsj.gr}}</ref>