Editing Selene

{{Short description|Ancient Greek goddess of the Moon}}
{{About|the Greek goddess}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Selene
| image = Brygos Painter 370 10 Selene - gigantomachy (03).jpg
| image_upright = 1.2
| alt = 
| god_of = Personification of the [[Moon]]
| script_name = Greek
| script = [[wikt:Σελήνη|Σελήνη]]
| caption = Earliest known depiction of Selene in a chariot. It is said that the work portrays the moon's ascension as the [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Giants]] are beaten in the [[Gigantomachy]]. [[Attic]] red-figure [[kylix]], c. 490&ndash;480 BC, by the [[Brygos Painter]].<ref>Gury, [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VII-1%20Oidipous-Theseus/page/n369/mode/2up p. 710].</ref>
| abode = [[Sky]]
| other_names = Mene ([[wikt:Μήνη|Μήνη]])
| animals = [[Horse]], [[bull]], [[mule]]
| planet = [[Moon]]<ref>{{cite book|title=The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy|first=James|last=Evans|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1998|pages=296–7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nS51_7qbEWsC&pg=PA17|access-date=2008-02-04|isbn=978-0-19-509539-5}}</ref>
| symbol = [[Crescent]], chariot, [[torch]], [[Velificatio|billowing cloak]], bull, moon
| consort = [[Endymion (mythology)|Endymion]]
| parents = [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and [[Theia]]
| siblings = [[Helios]] and [[Eos]]
| children = Fifty daughters, [[Narcissus (mythology)|Narcissus]], [[Pandia]], [[Ersa]], [[Horae]], [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]]
| Roman_equivalent = [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]]
| equivalent2_type = Phrygian
| equivalent2 = [[Men (deity)|Men]]
}}
{{Ancient Greek religion}}

In ancient [[Greek mythology]] and [[Ancient Greek religion|religion]], '''Selene''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ɪ|ˈ|l|iː|n|iː}}; {{langx|grc|[[wikt:Σελήνη|Σελήνη]]}} {{IPA|el|selɛ̌ːnɛː|pron}} {{respell|seh|LEH|neh}}, meaning "Moon")<ref name=":lsj">''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=selh/nh s.v. σελήνη].</ref> is the goddess and personification of the [[Moon]]. Also known as '''Mene''' ({{respell|MEH|neh}}), she is traditionally the daughter of the [[Titans]] [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and [[Theia]], and sister of the [[Solar deity|sun god]] [[Helios]] and the [[Dawn deities|dawn goddess]] [[Eos]]. She drives her moon chariot across the heavens. Several lovers are attributed to her in various myths, including [[Zeus]], [[Pan (god)|Pan]], and the mortal [[Endymion (mythology)|Endymion]]. In post-classical times, Selene was often identified with [[Artemis]], much as her brother, Helios, was identified with [[Apollo]].<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Selene; Morford, pp. [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/64/mode/2up?view=theater 64], [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/219/mode/2up?view=theater 219–220]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=selene-bio-1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104 s.v. Selene].</ref> Selene and Artemis were also associated with [[Hecate]] and all three were regarded as [[lunar deity|moon and lunar goddesses]], but only Selene was regarded as the personification of the Moon itself.<ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=selene-bio-1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104 s.v. Selene]; Kerényi, [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/196/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 196–197]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Selene; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA43 p. 43]; Morford, pp. [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/64/mode/2up?view=theater 64], [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/219/mode/2up?view=theater 219–221].</ref>

Her equivalent in Roman religion and mythology is the goddess [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]].<ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=selene-bio-1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104 s.v. Selene]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA43 p. 43].</ref>

== Etymology and origins ==
=== Names ===
[[File:Sarcophagus Selene Endymion Met 47.100.4ab n03.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Detail of a [[sarcophagus]] depicting Endymion and Selene, shown with her characteristic attributes of lunate crown, billowing veil (''[[velificatio]]'') and heavenly chariot, from 3rd century AD, Roman Empire period.<ref>Sorrenti, p. 370.</ref>]]

The name "Selene" is derived from the Greek noun ''selas'' (''{{lang|grc|σέλας}}''), meaning "light, brightness, gleam".<ref>Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA90 p. 90, on lines 1&ndash;2]; Kerényi, [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/196/mode/2up?view=theater pp. 196–197]; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA56 p. 56].</ref>  In the [[Doric Greek|Doric]] and [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolic]] dialects, her name was also spelled {{lang|grc|Σελάνα}} (''Selána'') and {{lang|grc|Σελάννα}} (''Selánna'') respectively.<ref name=":lsj"/>

Selene was also called [[Mene (goddess)|Mene]].<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Selene; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=selene-bio-1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104 s.v. Selene].</ref> The Greek word ''mene'', meant the moon, and the lunar month.<ref>Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA90 90, on lines 1&ndash;2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA91 91, on  line 5]; Kerényi, [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/197/mode/2up?view=theater p. 197]. Athanassakis and Wolkow speculate that Selene's name 'might have developed as a euphemism for the moon proper (Greek "mēnē")'.</ref> The masculine form of ''mene'' (''men'') was also the name of the [[Phrygia]]n moon-god [[Men (god)|Men]].<ref>''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Selene; Kerényi, [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/197/mode/2up?view=theater p. 197].</ref> Mene and Men both derive from [[Proto-Greek|Proto-Hellenic]] ''*méns'' ("month"), itself from [[Proto-Indo-European]] ''*mḗh₁n̥s'' (meaning moon, the lunar month), which probably comes from the root ''*meh₁-'' ("to measure"), and is cognate with the English words "Moon" and "month".<ref>Beekes, p. 945.</ref> The Greek [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher [[Chrysippus]] interpreted Selene and Men as, respectively, the female and male aspects of the same god.<ref>Obbink 2002, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3xf0DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA200 p. 200].</ref>

Although no clear attestation for Selene herself has been discovered, in [[Mycenaean Greek]] the word for month 'men' has been found in [[Linear B]] spelled as {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀕𐀜}}}} (me-no, from genitive form {{lang|grc|μηνός}}, ''mēnós'').<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.palaeolexicon.com/Word/Show/16804/ | website = www.palaeolexicon.com | title = The Linear B word me-no | access-date = April 8, 2023}}</ref>

Just as Helios, from his identification with Apollo, is called Phoebus ("bright"), Selene, from her identification with Artemis, is also called Phoebe (feminine form).<ref>Morford, [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/64/mode/2up?view=theater p. 64]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=selene-bio-1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104 s.v. Selene].  [[Phoebe (Titaness)|Phoebe]] was also the name of Selene's aunt, the Titan mother of [[Leto]] and [[Asteria]], and grandmother of Apollo, Artemis, and Hecate.</ref>  Also from Artemis, Selene was sometimes called "Cynthia", meaning "she of Mount [[Cynthus]]" (the birthplace of Artemis).<ref>Pannen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=37CPbHwqPjwC&pg=PA96 p. 96]. For example see [[Ovid]], ''[[Heroides]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-heroides/1914/pb_LCL041.249.xml 18.59&ndash;74]. The English [[Romanticism|Romantic]] poet [[John Keats]] calls Selene Cynthia in his poem ''[[Endymion (poem)|Endymion]]''.</ref>

=== Origin ===
Selene, along with her brother, her sister and the sky-god Zeus, is one of the few Greek deities of a clear [[Proto-Indo-European mythology|Proto-Indo-European]] origin, although they were sidelined by later non-PIE newcomers to the pantheon, as remaining on the sidelines became their primary function, to be the minor deities the major ones were juxtaposed to, thus helping keep the Greek religion Greek.{{sfn|Davidson|2010|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yOQtHNJJU9UC&pg=PA205 205]}}

The original PIE moon deity has been reconstructed as ''*Meh₁not'' (from which 'Mene', Selene's byname, is derived),{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|1997|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC&pg=PA385 385]}} and it appears that it was a male god.{{sfn|West|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA351 351]}} The Greek offshoot of this deity however is female. The ancient Greek language had three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), so when a god or a goddess personified an object or a concept, they inherited the gender of the corresponding noun; selene, the Greek noun for 'Moon', is a feminine one (whereas men is a masculine one), so the deity embodying it is also by necessity female.<ref>Hansen 2004, p. [https://archive.org/details/handbookofclassi0000hans/page/26/mode/2up?view=theater 27]</ref> In PIE mythology, the Moon, which is a male figure, was seen as forming a pair–usually wedlock–with the Sun, which is a female figure, and which in Greek mythology is recognized in the male deity and Selene's brother Helios.{{sfn|Gamkrelidze|Ivanov|1995|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=M2aqp2n2mKkC&pg=PA590 590-591]}} It seems however that unlike the Dawn (Eos) and the Sun (Helios), the Moon had very little importance in PIE mythology.{{sfn|West|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA351 351]}}{{sfn|Matasović|2009|page=155}}

Although attempts have been made to connect Selene to [[Helen of Troy]] due to the similarity of their names, in two early dedications to Helen from [[Laconia]] her name is spelled with a [[digamma]] ({{langx|grc|Ϝελένα|Weléna}}), ruling out any possible connection between them.{{sfn|West|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA231 231]}} 'Helen' is more likely related to 'Helios' instead, and it seems that the two figures stem from a common Proto-Indo-European ancestor, the Sun Maiden.{{sfn|Mallory|Adams|1997|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC&pg=PA164 164]}}{{sfn|West|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC&pg=PA137 137]}}

== Descriptions ==
[[File:Statua di Selene.jpg|thumb|Statue of Selene in white marble, second half of the 3rd century AD]]

Surviving descriptions of Selene's physical appearance and character, apart from those which would apply to the moon itself, are scant. There is no mention of Selene as a goddess in either the ''[[Iliad]]'' or the ''[[Odyssey]]'' of [[Homer]],<ref>Stoll, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UWoBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA61 p. 61].</ref> while her only mention in [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' is as the daughter of [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and  [[Theia]], and sister of [[Helios]] and [[Eos]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:371-403 371&ndash;374].</ref> She was, however, the subject of one of the thirty-three ''[[Homeric Hymns]]'', which gives the following description:

{{blockquote|And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus, well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged<ref>A winged Selene seems to be unique to this ''Hymn'', see Allen, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0029%3Atext%3Dcomm%3Apoem%3D32 [1<nowiki>]</nowiki> "τανυσίπτερον"].</ref> Moon. From her immortal head a radiance is shown from heaven and embraces earth; and great is the beauty that ariseth from her shining light. 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.
...
Hail, white-armed goddess, bright Selene, mild, bright-tressed queen!<ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Hymn to Selene]]'' (32) 1&ndash;17, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D32 translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White].</ref>}}

Two other sources also mention her hair. The ''Homeric Hymn to Helios'' uses the same epithet ''εὐπλόκαμος'' ("bright-tressed"), used in the above ''Hymn to Selene'' (elsewhere translated as "rich-", "lovely-", or "well-tressed"),<ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Helios]]'' (31) [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg031.perseus-eng1:31 6] ([http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg032.perseus-eng1:32 Evelyn-White: "rich-tressed"]; [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_31_helios/2003/pb_LCL496.215.xml West 2003: "lovely-tressed"]), ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Selene]]'', (32) 18 ([https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_32_selene/2003/pb_LCL496.219.xml West 2003: "lovely-tressed"]; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA55 pp. 55&ndash;56: "well-tressed"]). Keightley, describes ''εὐπλόκαμος'', along with ''λευκώλενος'' also used in the ''Hymn to Selene'', "white-armed", as being two of the "usual epithets of the goddesses".</ref> while Epimenides uses the epithet ''ἠυκόμοιο'' ("lovely-haired").<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aelian-characteristics_animals/1958/pb_LCL449.23.xml 12.7]  [= [[Epimenides]] fr. 3B2 [[Hermann Alexander Diels|Diels]] = [https://books.google.com/books?id=B75GgVdxYT0C&pg=PA10 fr. 2 Freeman] ([http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=text:epimenides_of_crete_fragments Online version at Demonax | Hellenic Library]; [[A Greek–English Lexicon]] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Deu)%2Fkomos s.v. εὔκομος].</ref>

In late accounts, Selene (like the moon itself) is often described as having horns.<ref>For a horned Selene see for example: [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Medea (Seneca)|Medea]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-medea/2018/pb_LCL062.323.xml 98], ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-phaedra/2018/pb_LCL062.453.xml 419]; [[Valerius Flaccus (poet)|Valerius Flaccus]], ''Argonautica'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/valerius_flaccus-argonautica/1934/pb_LCL286.415.xml 8.29];  [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica|The Fall of Troy]]'' [https://archive.org/details/falloftroy00quin/page/12/mode/2up 1.147&ndash;149]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [http://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/18/mode/2up 1.221], [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/180/mode/2up 5.163], [http://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/370/mode/2up 11.186], [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/466/mode/2up?view=theater 48.583]. For a horned moon see, for example: [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.355.xml 7.179&ndash;180]; [[Aratus]], ''Phaenomena'' [https://topostext.org/work/551#733 733]; [[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0058%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D424 1.436]; [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL498.251.xml 12.1&ndash;3]; [[Tryphiodorus]], ''The Taking of Ilios'' [https://archive.org/details/oppiancolluthust00oppiuoft/page/618/mode/2up?view=theater 514&ndash;519].</ref> The ''[[Orphic Hymns|Orphic Hymn to Selene]]'' addresses her as "O bull-horned Moon", and further describes her as "torch-bearing, ... feminine and masculine, ... lover of horses," and grantor of "fulfillment and favor".<ref>''[[Orphic Hymns|Orphic Hymn to Selene]]'' (Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA11 p. 11]).</ref> [[Empedocles]], [[Euripides]] and [[Nonnus]] all describe her as γλαυκῶπις (''glaukṓpis'', "bright-eyed", a common epithet of the goddess [[Athena]])<ref>Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA56 p. 56]; [[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-face_which_appears_orb_moon/1957/pb_LCL406.103.xml 929 C&ndash;D] (''Concerning the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon'' 16) [= [[Empedocles]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/empedocles-doctrine/2016/pb_LCL528.481.xml?rskey=gPvh94&result=33 fr. D132 Laks-Most] = fr. B42 Diels-Kranz], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-face_which_appears_orb_moon/1957/pb_LCL406.137.xml 934 D] (''Concerning the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon'' 21); [[Euripides]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.573.xml?rskey=ib6InZ&result=1 fr. 1009] [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'' 1.1280&ndash;1281]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/172/mode/2up?view=theater 5.70].</ref> while in a fragment from a poem, possibly written by [[Pamprepius]], she is called κυανῶπις (''kyanṓpis'', "dark-eyed").<ref>''Select Papyri'' 3.140 Page, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/select_papyri_poetry_elegiac_hexameter_poems/1941/pb_LCL360.567.xml pp. 566, 567].</ref> [[Mesomedes]] of [[Crete]] calls her γλαυκὰ (''glaukà'', "silvery grey").<ref>[[Mesomedes]], ''Hymn to the Sun'' 15 (Psaroudakes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ULNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 p. 122]).</ref>

== 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>

== Mythology ==
=== 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>

=== 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>

=== Gigantomachy ===
[[File:Altar Pérgamo Selene 02.JPG|thumb|left|Selene riding horseback, detail of the Gigantomachy frieze, [[Pergamon Altar]], [[Pergamon museum]], Berlin, c. 180&ndash;159 BC.<ref>Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases [https://museum.classics.cam.ac.uk/collections/casts/great-altar-zeus-pergamon-selene 385a].</ref>]]

[[Gaia]], angered about her children the [[Titans]] being thrown into [[Tartarus]] following their defeat, brought forth the [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Giants]], to attack the gods, in a war that was called the [[Gigantomachy]]. When Gaia heard of a prophecy that a mortal would help the gods to defeat the giants, she sought to find a herb that would make them undefeatable. 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.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D6%3Asection%3D1 1.6.1].</ref> 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.<ref>Picón and Hemingway, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr3WCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 47]</ref><ref name=":han">Honan, p. [https://archive.org/details/guidetopergamonm00perg/page/20/mode/2up?q=&view=theater 20]</ref> Selene gallops sidesaddle in advance, and wears a woolen undergarment and a mantle.<ref name=":han"/> Additionally, on a rein guide for a chariot a goddess thought to be Selene with a crescent and veil over her head is depicted, who stands with Helios on a gate tower and tries to repel the attacks of snake-legged Giants.<ref>Now housed in the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]] and can be seen [https://collections.mfa.org/objects/153313/rein-guide-for-a-chariot-with-a-scene-of-the-battle-of-the-g?ctx=9f6c1772-3544-4c76-85a7-593a85983117&idx=82 here].</ref>

=== Fight with Typhon ===
According to the late account of [[Nonnus]], when the gigantic monster [[Typhon]] laid siege against the heavens, he attacked Selene as well by hurling bulls at her, though she managed to stay in her course, and rushed at her hissing like a viper. Selene fought back the giant, locking horns with Typhon; afterwards, she carried many scars on her orb, reminiscent of their battle.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/18/mode/2up 1.213&ndash;223].</ref>

=== Ampelus ===
[[Ampelos|Ampelus]] was a very beautiful satyr youth, loved by the god [[Dionysus]].<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Fasti]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/ovidsfasti00oviduoft#page/150/mode/2up 3.409&ndash;410].</ref> One day, in Nonnus' account, Ampelus rode on a bull, and proceeded to compare himself to Selene, saying that he was her equal, having horns and riding bulls just like her. The goddess took offense, and sent a gadfly to sting Ampelus' bull. The bull panicked, threw Ampelus and gored him to death.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/370/mode/2up 11.167&ndash;223].</ref>

=== Heracles ===
[[File:Arte romana, statuetta di nyx o selene, I secolo ac.JPG|thumb|right|[[Roman Empire|Roman-era]] bronze statuette of Selene ''[[velificans]]'' or [[Nyx]] (Night) ([[Getty Villa]]).]]

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.<ref>Stuttard, [https://archive.org/details/greekmythologytr0000stut/page/114/mode/2up?view=theater p. 114]; [[Lucian]], ''[[Dialogues of the Gods]]'' [https://archive.org/details/lucianvolviiloeb00luci/page/308/mode/2up 14 (10)].</ref>

Selene also played a small role in the first of Heracles' twelve [[Labours of Hercules|labours]]; whereas for Hesiod, the [[Nemean Lion]] was born to [[Orthrus]] and the [[Chimera (mythology)|Chimera]] (or perhaps [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]]) and raised by [[Hera]],<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA63 p. 63]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-theogony/2018/pb_LCL057.29.xml 326&ndash;329 (Most)].</ref> other accounts have Selene involved in some way in its birth or rearing.<ref>Cook, [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft#page/456/mode/2up pp. 456–457]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA256 p. 256].</ref> [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] states: "They say that the Lion of Nemea fell from the moon", and quotes [[Epimenides]] as saying:<ref>Cook, [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft#page/456/mode/2up p. 456]; Gantz, p. 25; Burkert 1972, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0qqp4Vk1zG0C&pg=PA346 p. 346 n. 47]; West 1983, pp. 47–48.</ref>

{{blockquote|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.<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aelian-characteristics_animals/1958/pb_LCL449.23.xml 12.7] [= [[Epimenides]] fr. 3B2 [[Hermann Alexander Diels|Diels]] = [https://books.google.com/books?id=B75GgVdxYT0C&pg=PA10, fr. 2 Freeman] ([http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=text:epimenides_of_crete_fragments Online version at Demonax | Hellenic Library].  Gantz, p. 25, remarks that this refers to Selene "probably in her role as the moon rather than the goddess".</ref>}}

[[Anaxagoras]] also reports that the Nemean lion was said to have fallen from the moon.<ref>Burkert 1972, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0qqp4Vk1zG0C&pg=PA346 p. 346 with n. 48]; [[Anaxagoras]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=PA6HMrSrjfkC&pg=PA111 fr. A77 Curd] [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]'s ''[[Argonautica]]'' 1.498]. See also [[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_table_talk/1961/pb_LCL424.399.xml?rskey=UQkRts&result=2&mainRsKey=m1fL2Z 677 A] [= [[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorion]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euphorion_chalcis-poetic_fragments/2010/pb_LCL508.337.xml fr. 107 Lightfoot] = fr. 84 Powell = fr. 47 Meineke] (Nemean Lion called "Menê’s fierce-eyed son"). For other accounts see Cook, [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft#page/457/mode/2up p. 457 notes 2 and 3].</ref> [[Pseudo-Plutarch]]'s ''On Rivers'' has Hera collaborating with Selene, "employing magical incantations" to create the Nemean Lion from a chest filled with foam.<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'' [http://www.roman-emperors.org/Pseudo-P%20Revised.pdf#page=22 18.4]; Cook, [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft#page/457/mode/2up p. 457 n. 3].</ref> Hyginus says that Selene had "nourished" the lion in a "two-mouthed cave".<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#30 30]; Cook, [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft#page/456/mode/2up p. 456].</ref>

=== Pan ===
According to [[Virgil]], Selene also had a tryst with the god [[Pan (god)|Pan]], who seduced her with a "snowy bribe of wool".<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0058%3Abook%3D3%3Acard%3D384 3.391–393].</ref> Scholia on Virgil add the story, ascribed to [[Nicander]], that as part of the seduction, Pan wrapped himself in a sheepskin.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Gantz, p. 36; Kerényi, pp. [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/175/mode/2up?view=theater 175], [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/196/mode/2up?view=theater 196]; Grimal, s.v. Selene; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA55 p. 55]; [[Servius (grammarian)|Servius]], ''Commentary on the Georgics of Vergil'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0092%3Abook%3D3%3Acommline%3D391 3.391]; [[Macrobius]], ''[[Saturnalia (Macrobius)|Saturnalia]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/macrobius-saturnalia/2011/pb_LCL511.473.xml 5.22.9&ndash;10]. Hard describes this "tale" as "interesting but poorly attested", and says that the "rusticity of the tale suggests that it may have originated as a local legend in Arcadia."</ref>

=== Other accounts ===
[[File:Palazzo gerini, cortile, busti 11 selene.JPG|Bust of Selene, in the courtyard of [[Palazzo Gerini]].|thumb|left|230px]]

[[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". Because Basileia's other brothers envied these offspring, and feared that Hyperion would try to seize power for himself, they conspired against him. They put Hyperion to the sword, and drowned Helios in the river Eridanus. Selene herself, upon discovering this, took her own life. 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:<ref>Caldwell, p. 40, on lines 207&ndash;210; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3D*.html#57 3.57].</ref>

[[File:Antalya Museum Selene statue 9650.jpg|thumb|220px|Roman statue of Selene, marble 2nd century AD, Museum of Antalya.]]

{{Blockquote|that which had formerly been called the "holy fire" in the heavens would be called by men Helius ("the sun") and that addressed as "menê" would be called Selenê ("the moon").<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3D*.html#57.5 3.57.5].</ref>}}

[[Plutarch]] recorded a [[fable]]-like story in which Selene asked her mother to weave her a garment to fit her measure, and her mother replied that she was unable to do so, as she kept changing shape and size, sometimes full, then crescent-shaped and others yet half her size.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-moralia_dinner_seven_wise_men/1928/pb_LCL222.409.xml 157 C].</ref>

In Lucian's ''{{Interlanguage link|Icaromenippus|fi|Ikaromenippos}}'', 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 [[Helios|brother]]. 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.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Icaromenippus'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/lucian-icaromenippus_sky_man/1915/pb_LCL054.301.xml 20&ndash;21].</ref> Zeus agrees, urged by Selene's complaints and having long intended to deal with the philosophers himself.<ref>[[Lucian]], ''Icaromenippus'' [http://lucianofsamosata.info/wiki/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:icaromenippus#section29 29-33]</ref>

[[Claudian]] wrote that in her infancy, when her horns had not yet grown, Selene (along with Helios – their sister [[Eos]] is not mentioned with them) was nursed by her aunt, the water goddess [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]].<ref>[[Claudian]], ''Rape of Persephone'' [https://archive.org/details/claudia02clau/page/322/mode/2up?view=theater 2.44&ndash;54].</ref>

According to [[pseudo-Plutarch]], [[Lilaeus (mythology)|Lilaeus]] was an Indian shepherd who only worshipped Selene among the gods and performed her rituals and mysteries at night. The other gods, angered, sent him two lions to tear him apart. Selene then turned Lilaeus into a mountain, Mt. Lilaeon.<ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''On Rivers'' 25.4; Grimal s.v. [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/page/259/mode/2up?view=theater Lilaeus]. Pseudo-Plutarch attributes this story to Clitophon's ''Indica'', perhaps recording an Indian tale using names of Greek gods.</ref>

Ovid mentions how in the myth of [[Phaethon]], Helios' son who drove his father's chariot for a day, when Phaethon lost control of the chariot and burned the earth, Selene in the sky looked down to see in amazement her brother's horses running wild lower than normal.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.75.xml 2.208–209]</ref>

== Iconography ==
[[File:Selene and Endymion, fresco from Pompeii, Casa dell'Ara Massima.jpg|thumb|left|Selene and [[Endymion (mythology)|Endymion]], antique fresco in [[Pompeii]]]]

In antiquity, artistic representations of Selene/Luna included sculptural reliefs, vase paintings, coins, and gems.<ref>Roman and Roman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tOgWfjNIxoMC&pg=PT446 p. 434]; Gury, pp. 706&ndash;715. For an example of a coin see [[British Museum]], [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_R-7248 R.7248]; for an example of a gem see the British Museum [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?museum_number=1923,0401.199 1923,0401.199].</ref> In [[red-figure pottery]] before the early 5th century BC, she is depicted only as a bust, or in profile against a lunar disk.<ref>Cohen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SCA2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 p. 157]; Savignoni, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0EaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA270 p. 270 with nn. 4, 5].</ref> In later art, like other celestial divinities such as Helios, Eos, and [[Nyx]] (Night), Selene rides across the heavens. She is usually portrayed either driving a chariot (see above) or riding sideways on horseback<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Savignoni, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0EaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA271 p. 271]; Walters, [https://archive.org/details/historyofancient02walt/page/79 p. 79].</ref> (sometimes riding an ox, a mule or a ram).<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Selene; Murray 1903, [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.69739/page/n80 p. 47]. Hansen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z-LIKN0Ap0C&pg=PA221 p. 221] shows two illustrations one captioned "Selene riding a mule", the other "Selene riding a ram". Note however that both ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]]'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745f9274ebc89-c 13265 (Selene, Luna 35)] (image [https://www.iconiclimc.ch/limc/imageview.php?image=efefd04538da448cae2eacf8bf4d3a3d&total=1&term=%22Luna+35%22 13603X001.jpg]) and Beazley Archive [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/record/F7D43FBE-EB66-43E2-BAAC-35D5FF34B8FA 211530] describe the vase (Florence, Museo Archeologico Etrusco 3996) from which Hansen's first illustration is drawn, as depicting Selene riding on a horse. Cf. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.11.8 5.11.8].</ref>

Selene was often paired with her brother Helios. Selene (probably) and Helios adorned the east pediment of the [[Parthenon]], where the two, each driving a four-horsed chariot, framed a scene depicting the birth of [[Athena]], with Helios and his chariot rising from the ocean on the left, and Selene and her chariot descending into the sea on the right.<ref>Hurwit 2017, pp. 527&ndash;532; Shear, pp. 112&ndash;114; Palagia 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gA81kINAI9cC&pg=236 pp. 236–237]; Palagia 1998, [https://books.google.com/books?id=GFNuxcVKLIkC&pg=PA22 pp. 22&ndash;23]; Murray 1892, [https://archive.org/details/handbookofgreeka00murruoft/page/271 pp. 271&ndash;272].  The goddess paired with Helios here is most often identified as Selene (e.g. Shear, Palagia, and Murray, with no mention of any alternative), however Hurwit 2017, which concludes that the goddess is "probably" Selene, also notes that there is a "strong argument" for the goddess instead being Nyx (Night), while  Robertson 1981, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BoUsvD1_VNQC&pg=PA96 p. 96] also includes Eos as a possibility. "Selene's" torso, from the Parthenon pediment is in Athens at the [[Acropolis Museum]], [https://theacropolismuseum.gr/en/parthenon-east-pediment-selene inventory number 881], while the head of one of her pediment horses is in London at the [[British Museum]], [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1816-0610-98 museum number 1816,0610.98].</ref> Selene and Helios also appear on the North [[Metope (architecture)|Metope]]s of the Parthenon, with Selene this time entering the sea on horseback.<ref>Hurwit 1999, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQ4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA170 p. 170]; ''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]]'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-74113a1bb3b81-d 7734 (Selene, Luna 38)], image [https://www.iconiclimc.ch/limc/imageview.php?image=5101582982f046bdb340a15449313d6e&total=9&term=%22Luna+38%22 7919X001.jpg].</ref> From Pausanias, we learn that Selene and Helios also framed the birth of [[Aphrodite]] on the base of the [[Statue of Zeus at Olympia]].<ref>Robertson 1981, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BoUsvD1_VNQC&pg=PA96 p. 96], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+5.11.8 5.11.8].</ref> There are indications of a similar framing by Selene and Helios of the birth of [[Pandora]] on the base of the [[Athena Parthenos]].<ref>Osborne, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fnJvha8jzzQC&pg=PA87 p. 87]. For another example of Helios and Selene framing a scene, in this case the [[Judgement of Paris]], see Robertson 1992, [https://books.google.com/books?id=BmmW1h7Qk7MC&pg=PA255 p. 255].</ref> Pausanias also reports seeing stone images of Helios, and Selene, in the market-place at [[Elaea (Epirus)|Elea]], with rays projecting from the head of Helios, and horns from the head of Selene.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:6.24.6 6.24.6].</ref> Selene also appears on horseback as part of the [[Gigantomachy]] frieze of the [[Pergamon Altar]].<ref>Thomas, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pD_z8thJyukC&pg=PA17 p. 17]; Mitchell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=72EJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA92 p. 92]; Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases [https://museum.classics.cam.ac.uk/collections/casts/great-altar-zeus-pergamon-selene 385a].</ref>

Selene is commonly depicted with a crescent moon, often accompanied by stars; sometimes, instead of a crescent, a lunar disc is used.<ref>Savignoni, [https://books.google.com/books?id=q0EaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA270 pp. 270–271]; e.g. crescent moon and stars: Florence, Museo Archeologico Etrusco 3996 (''[[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]]'' [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745f9274ebc89-c 13265 (Selene, Luna 35)], image [https://www.iconiclimc.ch/limc/imageview.php?image=efefd04538da448cae2eacf8bf4d3a3d&total=1&term=%22Luna+35%22 13603X001.jpg]), lunar disk: Berlin, Antikensammlung F 2293 (''[[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]).</ref> Often a crescent moon rests on her brow, or the cusps of a crescent moon protrude, horn-like, from her head, or from behind her head or shoulders.<ref>[[British Museum]] [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?museum_number=1923,0401.199 1923,0401.199]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745ed7cd0964a-a 13213 (Selene, Luna 21)]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745e62aefddaa-9 13181 (Selene, Luna 4)]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-74a570795e03c-5 18206 (Mithras 113)]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745ec1d7673ac-8 13207 (Selene, Luna 15)]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745f8ecbfb6c4-2 13264 (Selene, Luna 34)]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-7403b77c6ef4c-7  6780 (Selene, Luna 2)]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745e74fbafa83-d 13186 (Selene, Luna 7)]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745e7c4d9060d-7 13188 (Selene, Luna 9)]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-73cf08b08e293-0 3076 (Selene, Luna 10)]; [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|''LIMC'']] [http://ark.dasch.swiss/ark:/72163/080e-745ed07b28ac0-f 13211 (Selene, Luna 19)]. For the close association between the crescent moon and horns see Cashford 2003b.</ref> Selene's head is sometimes surrounded by a [[Halo (religious iconography)|nimbus]], and from the Hellenistic period onwards, she is sometimes pictured with a torch.<ref>Parisinou, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PX1q70E9ABIC&pg=PA34 p. 34].</ref>

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.<ref>Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 p. 134]; Sorabella, p. 70; Morford, [https://archive.org/details/classicalmytholo0000morf_8ed/page/65/mode/2up?view=theater p. 65].</ref> As frequently depicted on Roman sarcophagi, Selene, holding a billowing veil forming a crescent over her head, descends from her chariot to join her lover, who slumbers at her feet.<ref>Examples, among many others, include sarcophagi in the [[Capitoline Museum]] in Rome (c. 135 AD), two in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York (c. 160 AD and c. 220 AD), and one in [[Palazzo Doria Pamphilj]] Rome (c. 310 AD), for images see Sorabella, figs. 1–7, 12.</ref>

==Cult==
[[File:Altar Selene Louvre Ma508.jpg|thumb|Selene from an altar piece, flanked by either the [[Castor and Pollux|Dioscuri]], or by [[Phosphorus (morning star)|Phosphorus]] and [[Hesperus]].<ref>de Clarac, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R9M-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA340 p. 340]; {{Cite web|url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not&idNotice=27493|title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre|website=cartelfr.louvre.fr|access-date=2020-04-22}}; {{Cite web|url=https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=1539982001&objectId=3598949&partId=1|title=Image gallery: drawing / album|website=British Museum|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-22}}.</ref>]]

Selene's presence in ancient Greek worship is very limited, even in comparison to her brother. Her presence in cult was linked to her connection to more major, important divinities such as Artemis and Hecate, and she is hardly divorced from her identifications when it comes to worship; in later times, she was adopted into pre-existing cults that had not originally included her, along with several other figures.<ref>Athanassakis & Wolkow 2013, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA89 89]</ref>

Moon figures are found on [[Cretan]] rings and gems (perhaps indicating a [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] moon cult), but apart from the role played by the moon itself in magic, folklore, and poetry, and despite the later worship of the Phrygian moon-god Men, there was relatively little worship of Selene.<ref>Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA89 p. 89]; ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Selene; Burkert 1991, p. 176.</ref> An oracular sanctuary existed near Thalamai in [[Laconia]]. Described by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], it contained statues of Pasiphaë and Helios. Here ''Pasiphaë'' is used as an epithet of Selene, instead of referring to the [[Pasiphaë|daughter of Helios]] and wife of [[Minos]].<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Agis'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+Agis+9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0005 9]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.26.1 3.26.1].</ref> Pausanias also described seeing two stone images in the market-place of [[Elis (city)|Elis]], one of the sun and the other of the moon, from the heads of which projected the rays of the sun and the horns of the crescent moon.<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+6.24.6 6.24.6].</ref> Selene (along with Helios, Nyx and others) received an altar at the sanctuary of [[Demeter]] at [[Pergamon]], possibly in connection with the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] mysteries.<ref>Ridgeway, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6Jj6rcIup4C&pg=PA55 p. 55].</ref>

[[File:Attic red-figure kylix depicting Selene Antikensammlung Berlin.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Attic [[Kylix]] with Selene and her horse and crescent Moon, circa 450 BC, by the [[Brygos Painter]].]]

Originally, Pandia may have been an epithet of Selene,<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Cashford 2003a, [https://archive.org/details/homerichymns0000unse_y4i4/page/174/mode/2up?view=theater p. 174]; Willetts, p. 178; Cook, [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft#page/732/mode/2up p. 732]; Roscher, [https://archive.org/stream/berseleneundver00poligoog#page/n125/mode/2up p. 100].</ref> but by at least the time of the late ''Hymn to Selene'', Pandia had become a daughter of Zeus and Selene. Pandia (or Pandia Selene) may have personified the full moon,<ref>Cashford 2003a, [https://archive.org/details/homerichymns0000unse_y4i4/page/174/mode/2up?view=theater p. 174]; [[Károly Kerényi|Kerényi]], [https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich/page/197/mode/2up?view=theater p. 197]; Cox, pp. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24849/page/n157/mode/2up 138], [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.24849/page/n159/mode/2up 140].</ref> and an Athenian festival, called the [[Pandia (festival)|Pandia]], usually considered to be a festival for [[Zeus]],<ref>Parker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=F_ATDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA477 pp. 477&ndash;478].</ref> was perhaps celebrated on the full moon and may have been associated with Selene.<ref>Robertson 1996, [https://books.google.com/books?id=AMTNIZ_LQjoC&pg=PA75 p. 75 n. 109]; Willetts, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wz0qAAAAYAAJ&q=Pandia+Selene 178–179]; Cook, [https://archive.org/stream/zeusstudyinancie01cookuoft#page/732/mode/2up. 732]; Harpers, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0062%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D8%3Aentry%3Dselene-harpers s.v. Selene]; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=BDFA02D9C2623BF90A2B1EC34D743408?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Dpandia-cn s.v. Pandia].</ref> At Athens, wineless offerings (''nephalia'') were made to Selene, along with other celestial gods, Selene's siblings Helios and Eos, and [[Aphrodite Urania|Aphrodite Ourania]];<ref>Meagher, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vBDfKCyC2LMC&pg=PA142 p. 142 n. 137]; Scholia on [[Sophocles]] ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'' 91 (Xenis, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3HBLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 pp. 70&ndash;71]).</ref> in [[Attica]], it seems that Selene was identified with [[Aphrodite]].<ref>Müller, [https://archive.org/details/fragmentahistori01mueluoft/page/530/mode/2up?view=theater p. 531]</ref>

[[File:Kanishka I. Circa AD 127-151. Monolingual Greek issue. Main mint in Baktria Early phase. Obverse BACIΛЄYC BACIΛЄωN KANHÞKOY, Reverse CAΛHNH to right, Selene, wearing lunar horns.jpg|thumb|[[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] coinage of [[Kanishka I]] with Selene (Greek legend "CAΛHNH") on the reverse, wearing lunar horns, c. AD 127 – 151.<ref>[[British Museum]] [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_IOC-282 IOC.282]; {{cite book |last1=Errington |first1=Elizabeth |title=Charles Masson and the Buddhist Sites of Afghanistan |date=2017 |publisher=British Museum Research Publications |location=London |pages=158–159, Fig. 242.14 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3355036 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/3355036}}</ref>]]

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]],<ref>[[Chrysippus]] [https://archive.org/details/stoicorumveterum02arniuoft/page/212/mode/2up?view=theater fr. 748].</ref> as well as other goddesses connected to women's labours. The idea that Selene would also give easy labours to women paved way for identification with [[Hera]] and  the Roman [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] and [[Lucina (mythology)|Lucina]], three other childbirth goddesses; [[Plutarch]] calls Selene "Hera in material form."<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia|Quaestiones Romanae]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg084a.perseus-eng1:77 77].</ref> Roman philosopher [[Cicero]] connected Selene's Roman counterpart [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]]'s name to childbirth goddess Lucina's, both deriving from "light" (thus bringing the unborn child into the light).<ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' [https://topostext.org/work.php?work_id=137#2.68 2.68].</ref> [[Nonnus]] also identified Selene with [[Eileithyia]].<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/102/mode/2up?view=theater 38.150].</ref>

Selene played an important role in love magic.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46].</ref> In Theocritus' second ''Idyll'', a young girl invokes Selene in a love-spell.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA46 p. 46]; Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA90 p. 90]; [[Theocritus]], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/theocritus-poems_i-xxx/2015/pb_LCL028.39.xml 2.10&ndash;11, 69&ndash;166].</ref> 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.<ref>ní Mheallaigh, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NdX7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 33-34]</ref> And, according to a scholium on [[Theocritus]], [[Pindar]] wrote that lovesick women would pray to Selene for help, as [[Euripides]] apparently had [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]], Selene's great-niece, do in his lost play ''[[Hippolytus Veiled]]''.<ref>Faraone, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Aq-Yg6B51NsC&pg=PA139 p. 139]; Collard and Cropp, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL504.469.xml p. 469]; [[Scholia]] on [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgUd8TCc6UYC&pg=PA38 Theocritus 2.10].</ref> Plutarch wrote that Selene was called upon in love affairs because she, the Moon, constantly yearns for the Sun, and compared her in that regard to [[Isis]].<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''On Isis and Osiris'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plut.+De+Iside+52&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0239 52]</ref>

Her and her brother's worship is also attested in [[Gytheio|Gytheum]], a town in [[Laconia]] near [[Sparta]], via an inscription (''C.I.G. 1392'').<ref>''The Classical Review'', volume VII, [[University of Illinois]] Library, 1893, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LQgOi5LWx5QC&pg=PA77 77], vol. VII</ref> In the city of [[Epidaurus]], in [[Argolis]], Selene had an altar dedicated to her.<ref>Vermaseren, [https://books.google.com/books?id=peh5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA149 p. 149].</ref> Records show that a type of cake called {{lang|grc|βοῦς}} (''boûs'', "ox") decorated with horns to represent the full moon or an ox was offered to her and other divinities like Hecate, Artemis and Apollo.<ref>[[Julius Pollux]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=m2U-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA23 6.76]</ref><ref name=":cake">Allaire Brumfield, ''Cakes in the Liknon: Votives from the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on Acrocorinth'', Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens Vol. 66, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1997), [https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/uploads/media/hesperia/148477.pdf pp. 157; 171], [[The American School of Classical Studies at Athens]].</ref> In addition, a type of flat, round moon-shaped cake was called 'selene' ("moon") and was offered "to the goddess."<ref name=":lsj"/><ref name=":cake"/><ref>[http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/sigma/204 "Selenai."] ''[[Suda]] On Line''. Trans. Rocco Marseglia on 9 November 2012.</ref> The ancient Greeks also called [[Monday]] "day of the Moon" (''ἡμέρα Σελήνης'') after her.<ref>Olderr, [https://books.google.com/books?id=y5gZDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 p. 98].</ref>

== Orphic literature ==
[[File:Athens Acropolis Museum Marble Parthenon Pediment Fragments and or Casts (28361481711).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Torso of Selene from the East Pediment of the [[Parthenon]], [[Acropolis Museum]].]]

According to a certain Epigenes,<ref>This Epigenes has been tentatively identified with [[Epigenes, son of Antiphon|Epigenes]], the follower of Socrates, see Blum, [https://books.google.com/books?id=yAzJ0oCM9b8C&pg=PA180 p. 180]; Edmonds 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CR9aAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 p. 14].</ref> the three [[Moirai]], or Fates, were regarded in the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic]] tradition as representing the three divisions of Selene, "the thirtieth and the fifteenth and the first" (i.e. the crescent moon, full moon, and dark moon, as delinted by the divisions of the calendar month).<ref>Jones, pp. 50&ndash;51, citing [[Clement of Alexandria]], ''[[Stromata]]'': Abel, frg. 253.</ref>

== Namesakes ==
Selene is the Greek proper name for the [[Moon]],<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/MOON/target | title = Planetary Names | website = planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov | accessdate = Jan 7, 2023}}</ref> and [[580 Selene]], a [[minor planet]] in the [[asteroid belt]], is also named after this goddess.<ref>{{cite book | title = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (580) Selene | last = Schmadel | first = Lutz D. | publisher = [[Springer Berlin Heidelberg]] | page = 160 | date = 2003 | isbn = 978-3-540-29925-7 | doi = 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_581 | chapter = (580) Selene}}</ref> Scientific study of the Moon, particularly lunar geology, is sometimes referred to as selenology, and its practitioners selenologists, to distinguish from Earth-based study.

The chemical element [[Selenium]] was named after Selene by [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius]], because of the element's similarity to the element [[tellurium]], named for the [[Earth]] ([[Tellus (mythology)|Tellus]]).<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1021/ed009p474 |title=The discovery of the elements. VI. Tellurium and selenium |date=1932 |last1=Weeks |first1=Mary Elvira |author-link1=Mary Elvira Weeks |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |volume=9 |issue=3 |page=474 |bibcode=1932JChEd...9..474W}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Berzelius' Discovery of Selenium |first=Jan |last=Trofast |url=http://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2011/3305/5_trofast.html |journal=Chemistry International |volume=33 |issue=5 |year=2011 |pages=16–19}} [http://www.iupac.org/publications/ci/2011/3305/sept11.pdf#page=18 PDF]</ref>

The second [[Japan]]ese [[Moon|lunar]] orbiter [[spacecraft]] following was named SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) after Selene, and was also known as [[The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter|Kaguya]] in Japan.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1066163/kaguya__another_chapter_for_the_lunar_saga/index.html | title=Kaguya – Another Chapter for the Lunar Saga | publisher=Red Orbit | date=September 14, 2007 | access-date=September 14, 2007 | archive-date=May 22, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522040727/http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1066163/kaguya__another_chapter_for_the_lunar_saga/index.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> [[HMS Selene (P254)]], a 1944 [[Great Britain|British]] submarine and [[Ghia Selene]], a concept car from the Ghia design studio from 1959, also bore her name.

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed-hover" class="center" heights="150" caption="Selene in art">
File:8560 - Milano - San Marco - Tomba Alessandro e Lancellotto Pusterla - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 14-Apr-2007.jpg|Selene and Endymion relief, Alessandro and Lancellotto Pusterla's gravestone, 16th century.
File:-0175 Endymion empfängt Selene Altes Museum anagoria.JPG|Selene and Endymion standing next to each other, sarcophagus fragment, end of 2nd century AD.
File:Albert Aublet - Selene.jpg|''Selene'', 1880 painting by [[Albert Aublet]].
File:Fresco in the Fourth Pompeian Style depicting Selene and Endymion, from Herculaneum, Empire of colour. From Pompeii to Southern Gaul, Musée Saint-Raymond Toulouse (16092515370).jpg|Selene with sleeping Endymion, fresco in the fourth Pompeian style.
File:Sarcophagus Selene Endymion Met 47.100.4ab n04.jpg|Selene detail from a sarcophagus, imperial period.
File:Séléné.jpg|Selene, engraving by François Chauveau.
File:Cabeza de caballo de la cuadriga de Selene, frontón este (6648083105).jpg|Head of one of Selene's horses.
File:Selene (the goddess of the moon), The Silahtarağa statues group representing the Battle of the Gods and Giants (Gigantomachy), Istanbul Archeology Museum (46100832541).jpg|Statue of Selene from the Silahtarağa group representing the Gigantomachy, Istanbul Archeology Museum.
File:67.2.775 Lampe - Séléné (Musée de Die).jpg|Oil lamp fragment with the head of Selene, early classical period, [[Musée de Die]]. 
File:Wiesbaden Kurhaus Thiersch-Saal Helios Selene.JPG|Selene and Endymion, in the mural above the stage of the Friedrich von Thiersch Saal in the Wiesbaden Kurhaus.
File:Cástulo, mosaico (15319110013).jpg|Selene leaving her chariot, Roman mosaic, [[Andalusia]].
File:Giuseppe Antonio Felice Orelli 001.jpg|''Selene and Endymion'', fresco on ceiling by [[Giuseppe Antonio Orelli]], circa 1730–1770, Palazzo Riva.
File:The Four Seasons (Horae) and Selene.jpg|''Selene and the Horae'', by [[Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher]].
File:Statue of a female deity (Academy of Athens) on 22 May 2022.jpg|Selene or Nyx in the [[Academy of Athens (modern)|Academy of Athens]], [[Greece]].
File:Selene and Endymion.jpg|''Selene and Endymion'', by [[Albert Aublet]].
File:Distelbarth, Friedrich, Artemis-Selene-Relief, Bildfeld 5.jpg|Selene with her chariot in the relief of [[Rosenstein Palace]], Germany.
File:Figure of Selene from, "Flora, seu florum...", Ferrari 1646 Wellcome L0007609.jpg|Selene in a flying chariot drawn by two white horses from "Flora, seu florum...", Ferrari 1646.
</gallery>

== Genealogy ==
{{chart top|Selene's family tree<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+132 132&ndash;138], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337 337&ndash;411], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 453&ndash;520], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+901 901&ndash;906, 915&ndash;920]; Caldwell, pp. 8&ndash;11, tables 11&ndash;14.</ref>|collapsed=no}}
{{chart/start}}
{{chart|}}
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | |URA |y|GAI |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|y|PON|URA=[[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]]|GAI=[[Gaia]]|PON=[[Pontus (mythology)|Pontus]]}}
{{chart|,|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | |!}}
{{chart|!|OCE |y|TET | | | |HYP |y|THE | | | | |CRI |y|EUR|OCE=[[Oceanus]]|TET=[[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]|HYP=[[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]]|THE=[[Theia]]|CRI=[[Crius]]|EUR=[[Eurybia (mythology)|Eurybia]]}}
{{chart|!| |,|-|^|-|.| | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| | | |,|-|-|^|v|-|-|-|.}}
{{chart|!|RIV | |OCE | |HEL | |SEL | |EOS | |AST | |PAL | |PER |RIV=<small>The&nbsp;[[River gods (Greek mythology)|Rivers]]</small>|OCE=<small>The&nbsp;[[Oceanids]]</small>|HEL=[[Helios]]|SEL='''SELENE'''<ref>Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+371 371&ndash;374], in the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Hermes]]'' (4), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+4+99&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138 99&ndash;100], Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.</ref>|EOS=[[Eos]]|AST=[[Astraeus]]|PAL=[[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]]|PER=[[Perses (Titan)|Perses]]}}
{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{chart|)|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | |}}
{{chart|!| | | | |CRO |y|RHE | | | | | | | |COE |y|PHO | | |COE=[[Coeus]]|PHO=[[Phoebe (Titaness)|Phoebe]]|CRO=[[Cronus]]|RHE=[[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]}}
{{chart|!| |,|-|v|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|v|-|.| | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | }}
{{chart|!|HES |!|HER | |HAD |!|ZEU | | | |LET | |AST | |HES=[[Hestia]]|HER=[[Hera]]|HAD=[[Hades]]|ZEU=[[Zeus]]|LET=[[Leto]]|AST=[[Asteria]]}}
{{chart|!| | | |!| | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{chart|!| | |DEM | | | | | |POS | | | | | | | | | | | | | |DEM=[[Demeter]]|POS=[[Poseidon]]}}
{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}}
{{chart|`|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.}}
{{chart| | | | |IAP |y|CLY | | | | | |MNE |~|y|~|ZEU |~|y|~|THE |IAP=[[Iapetus]]|CLY=[[Clymene (wife of Iapetus)|Clymene]]&nbsp;(or&nbsp;[[Asia (Oceanid)|Asia]])<ref>According to [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+507 507&ndash;511], Clymene, one of the [[Oceanid]]s, the daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]], at [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351 351], was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D3 1.2.3], another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.</ref>|MNE=[[Mnemosyne]]|ZEU=(Zeus)|THE=[[Themis]]}}
{{chart| |,|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | | | | |!| | | | | |!}}
{{chart|ATL | |MEN | |PRO | |EPI | | | | |MUS | | | |HOR |ATL=[[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]]<ref>According to [[Plato]], ''[[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg032.perseus-eng1:113d 113d&ndash;114a], Atlas was the son of [[Poseidon]] and the mortal [[Cleito]].</ref>|MEN=[[Menoetius]]|PRO=[[Prometheus]]<ref>In [[Aeschylus]], ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.445.xml 444&ndash;445 n. 2], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.467.xml 446&ndash;447 n. 24], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.539.xml 538&ndash;539 n. 113]) Prometheus is made to be the son of [[Themis]].</ref>|EPI=[[Epimetheus]]|MUS=<small>The&nbsp;[[Muses]]</small>|HOR=<small>The&nbsp;[[Horae]]</small>}}
{{chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Mythology|Religion}}
* [[Diana (mythology)]]
* [[Horned deity]]
* [[List of lunar deities]]
* [[Star and crescent]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== References ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals, Volume III: Books 12-17'', translated by A. F. Scholfield, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 449, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 1959. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL449/1959/volume.xml  Online version at Harvard University Press]. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99494-2}}.
* [[Aeschylus]], ''Fragments'', edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein, [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 505. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99629-8}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL505/2009/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* Allen, Thomas W., E. E. Sikes. ''The Homeric Hymns'', edited, with preface, apparatus criticus, notes, and appendices.  London. Macmillan. 1904.
* [[Anaxagoras]], ''Anaxagoras of Clazomenae: Fragments and Testimonia: A Text and Translation with Notes and Essays'', edited and translated by Patricia Curd, University of Toronto Press, 2007. {{ISBN|9780802093257}}.
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.
* [[Apollonius of Rhodes]],  ''Argonautica''; with an English translation by R. C. Seaton. William Heinemann, 1912. [https://archive.org/details/argonautica00apoluoft/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].
* [[Aratus|Aratus Solensis]], ''Phaenomena'' translated by G. R. Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921. [https://topostext.org/work/551 Online version at the Topos Text Project].
* [[Aristotle]], ''Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 19, translated by H. Rackham''. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1934.
* Astour, Michael C., ''Hellenosemitica: An Ethinic and Cultural Study in West Semitic Impact on Mycenaean Greece'', Brill Archive, 1965.
* [[Apostolos Athanassakis|Athanassakis, Apostolos N.]], and Benjamin M. Wolkow, ''The Orphic Hymns'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0882-8}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC Google Books].
* {{cite book | last1 = Beekes | first1 =  Robert S. P. | title = Etymological Dictionary of Greek | location = Leiden | publisher = Brill | date = 2009 | page = 1:945 | author-link = Robert S. P. Beekes}}
* [[August Immanuel Bekker|Bekker, Immanuel]], ''Anecdota Graeca: Lexica Segueriana'', Apud G.C. Nauckium, 1814.
* Blum, Rudolf, ''Kallimachos: The Alexandrian Library and the Origins of Bibliography'', translated by	Hans H. Wellisch, University of Wisconsin Press, 2011. {{ISBN|9780299131739}}.
* ''Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World'', Volume 13, Sas-Syl, editors: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, [[Brill Publishers]], 2008. {{ISBN|978-90-04-14218-3}}. [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/brill-s-new-pauly Online version].
* {{cite book | first=Walter | last=Burkert | author-link=Walter Burkert | title=Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism | publisher= Harvard University Press | year=1972 | isbn=978-0674539181}}
* {{cite book | first=Walter | last=Burkert | author-link=Walter Burkert | title=Greek Religion | publisher= Wiley-Blackwell | year=1991 | isbn=978-0631156246}}
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* Stoll, Heinrich Wilhelm, ''Handbook of the religion and mythology of the Greeks, With a Short Account of The Religious System of the Romans'', tr. by R.B. Paul, and ed. by T.K. Arnold, London, Francis & John Rivington, 1852.
* [[Strabo]], [[Geographica|''Geography'']], Editors, H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., London. George Bell & Sons. 1903. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3Dnotice Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* {{cite book | last1 = Stuttard | first1 = David | date = 2016 | title = Greek Mythology: A Traveler's Guide | location = London and New York | publisher = Thames and Hudson | isbn = 978-0500518328}}
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* [[Theocritus]], [[Bion of Smyrna]], [[Moschus]], ''Theocritus, Bion et Moschus. Graece et Latine. Accedunt virorum doctorum animadversiones, scholia, indices; et M. Æmilii Porti Lexicon Doricum, Volume 2'', London Sumptibus Ricardi Priestley, 1826.
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* Walters, Henry Beauchamp, Samuel Birch, ''History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman, Volume 2'', John Murray, 1905.
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{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Selēnē|volume=24|page=601}}
* [http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Selene.html SELENE in The Theoi Project]
* [https://mythopedia.com/topics/selene SELENE in Mythopedia]
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000709 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Selene)]

{{Greek religion|state=collapsed}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Selene| ]]
[[Category:Cattle deities]]
[[Category:Characters in the Argonautica]]
[[Category:Childhood goddesses]]
[[Category:Consorts of Pan (god)]]
[[Category:Divine women of Zeus]]
[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Horned goddesses]]
[[Category:Light goddesses]]
[[Category:Lunar goddesses]]
[[Category:Magic goddesses]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Night goddesses]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Titans (mythology)]]
[[Category:Women of Helios]]