500450 BCE. The other gods, angered, sent him two lions to tear him apart. [118], Selene is commonly depicted with a crescent moon, often accompanied by stars; sometimes, instead of a crescent, a lunar disc is used. Hecate and her followers, for example, asked Selene for her cooperation in their magic. [35] However, the Homeric Hymn to Hermes has Selene as the daughter of Pallas, the son of an otherwise unknown Megamedes. The bull panicked, threw Ampelus and gored him to death. Hail, white-armed goddess, bright Selene, mild, bright-tressed queen! [106], According to pseudo-Plutarch, Lilaeus was an Indian shepherd who only worshipped Selene among the gods and performed her rituals and mysteries at night. Modern audiences do not often think about Selenes cyclical nature, however. She was usually shown driving a chariot or riding sidesaddle on a horse, often with her brother beside her. He soon discovered the source of Selenes distraction. Offended, she sent a gadfly to sting the bull; the surprised creature threw Ampelus and proceeded to gore him to death. The moon was also believed to bring the night dew that nourished the plants and to bring sleep and rest to humankind. Virgil, Georgics 3.391ff; Servius on Virgils Georgics 3.391 (citing the second-century BCE poet Nicander as the original source). Because Basileia's other brothers envied these offspring, and feared that Hyperion would try to seize power for himself, they conspired against him. Everything We Know About the Greek Goddess of Agriculture, Aphrodite Facts: Awesome Facts about the Goddess of, Interesting Facts about Athena: Greek Goddess of Knowledge. Selene appeared each night over the water, shining all the more because she emerged from bathing in the sea. The brother and sister married each other and had three children: Eos (the goddess of the dawn), Helios (the sun god), and Selene (the moon goddess). 14)" in, Osborne, Robin, "Looking on Greek Style. His rites also brought a form of madness about in his followers, who often celebrated under the light of the moon. In rarer traditions, she is the daughter of the Titan Pallas. There were other goddesses worshiped by the Greeks who were widely associated with the moon themselves. The Greeks (like many other ancient peoples) were notoriously terrified of eclipses, viewing them as signs of the gods displeasure.[3]. Her father was the Titan god of heavenly light, while her mother represented the blue color of the sky. In Greek literature, Eos is presented as a daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, the sister of the sun god Helios and the moon goddess Selene. According to Greek mythology, the moon goddess Selene was the daughter of two Titans (mythological giants) called Hyperion and Theia. The moon goddess and Artemis were occasionally shown as companions. Same thing happened with Helius and Apollo. 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. Selene. Mythopedia, December 07, 2022. https://mythopedia.com/topics/selene. Even if he were sleeping, he would not be parted from the goddess he loved by death. There are a few different versions of the myth. Selene - or Luna as the Romans called her - is the goddess of the moon, driving a horse-drawn chariot across the night sky. She is usually portrayed either driving a chariot (see above) or riding sideways on horseback[111] (sometimes riding an ox, a mule or a ram). The three children have become much more well-known in general Greek literature than their parents, especially after the fall from grace of Hyperion, who stood by his brother Cronus in the latters war against Zeus and was banished to Tartarus for it. On the other hand, her eyes and hair were believed to have been as dark as the night. 80; Acusilaus, FHG 1 frag. Festivals and feasts were determined by the lunar calendar, giving Selene as Mene an important role in the worship of all the gods and goddesses. Francoise Gury, Selene/Luna, in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Zurich: Artemis, 1994), 7:70615. She was said to represent the full moon. At night he drove below the edge of the world in the west, circling below Gaia to reappear on the eastern horizon by morning. [10] The Greek Stoic philosopher Chrysippus interpreted Selene and Men as, respectively, the female and male aspects of the same god. Selene was a Titan goddess in Greek mythology, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. The cave in Anatolia where Endymion was said to sleep became a holy place for Selene. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men. [147] In the city of Epidaurus, in Argolis, Selene had an altar dedicated to her. [107], 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. Selene goddess of the moon, Athenian red-figure kylix C5th B.C., Antikensammlung Berlin. Selene was represented on the pedestal of the throne of Zeus at Olympia, riding on a horse or a mule; 12 and at Elis there was a statue of her with two horns. Plutarch, On the Face in the Moon 30, On Isis and Osiris 52; Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica 10.337; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 10.214, 44.70. By all accounts, Selene seemed to have played a major role in this war. Two of the original twelve Titans descended from Uranus and Gaia, Hyperion was the Titan god of heavenly light while Theia was the Titan goddess of vision and the aether. Her chariot was made of shining silver, bringing soft, clear light each night. [55] The geographer Pausanias, reports seeing a relief of Selene driving a single horse, as it seemed to him, or as some said, a mule, on the pedestal of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia (c. 435 BC). (Also, the name of the Titan Goddess Phoebe and an epithet of Artemis.). The Homeric Hymn to Helios uses the same epithet ("bright-tressed"), used in the above Hymn to Selene (elsewhere translated as "rich-", "lovely-", or "well-tressed"),[26] while Epimenides uses the epithet ("lovely-haired"). The most important of Selenes symbols was her moon chariot. Eos represented the warm light that could be seen coming up above the horizon before the sun appeared in full. Oil lamp fragment with the head of Selene, early classical period, Muse de Die. Epimenides, in the theogony that was ascribed to him, also calls her lovely haired, perhaps due to the Homeric Hymns themselves. [126] Pausanias also described seeing two stone images in the market-place of 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. That haunted cave [on Mount Latmos] of fair-haired Nymphai (Nymphs) where, as Endymion slept beside his kine, divine Selene watched him from on high, and slid from heaven to earth; for passionate love drew down the immortal stainless queen of night. Myth Early History Selene was the daughter of the titans, Hyperion and Theia, sister to Helios (the sun) and Eos (dawn). Selene was, while not worshiped openly, apparently the object of many spells and invocations addressed to her by young women. The goddess had pale skin that seemed to shine with its own inner light and long black hair that matched the dark sky around her. Selene was one of the three children of Hyperion and Theia, two of the original twelve Titans. She was the personification of the moon, but was also associated with lunar elements such as tides, months, and even lunacy. Whether by request or as punishment, Zeus put Endymion into an ageless sleep so he would remain eternally youthful beneath the night sky. Selene, the goddess of the moon, has two siblings: Eos, the goddess of the dawn, and Helios, the sun god. Mythopedia. Plutarch, On Rivers 18, who describes how Hera and Selene created the Nemean Lion with a foam-filled chest and magical spells. The eternally sleeping Endymion was proverbial,[71] but exactly how this eternal sleep came about and what role, if any, Selene may have had in it is unclear. The talkative Myia would sit with Endymion as he slept his eternal sleep, chattering endlesslyso much so that Endymion eventually woke up. The ancient Greeks saw her as the actual representation of the moon. The masculine form, Phoebus, was used in reference to either Apollo or. Selene could still see her sleeping love whenever she pleased, but the pressures of time and mortality were taken off her. [100], 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". The most well-known story of Selene is her love of the mortal man Endymion. E.g., Thucydides, Histories 7.50.4; Tacitus, Annals 1.28.1ff. She also had a statue, alongside Helios, in the public marketplace of Elis. Helius, Selene, Eos, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Nike, Boreas, Zephyrus, Astra) GREEK VASE PAINTINGS GALLERY 8 (83 IMAGES) She was worshipped at the new and full moons. Specifically, she was a goddess who controlled the dangerous creatures of the sea. The ancient Greeks believed that a lunar eclipse was the work of a witch, particularly the witches of Thessaly. Even though she, along with her siblings, was a Titan goddess because of her parentage, the three of them became quite central to the Greek pantheon and were accepted as Greek gods themselves after the fall of the great Titans. They put Hyperion to the sword, and drowned Helios in the river Eridanus. Magical Goddess of the Silvery Moon. Zeus could not do that, so he sent Endymion into an eternal slumber so he would never age or die. The goddess of the moon does not seem to have been the object of much ritual worship in the early Greek period. Different sources vary as to whether the chariot was golden or silver, but a silver chariot would seem to fit better with the goddess of the moon. This she shared with her siblings and other goddesses like Nyx. And if Selene and Helios did not work together, as the personifications of the moon and the sun, there would be absolute chaos in the world. Witchcraft has long been believed to have had a connection with the moon and it was no different in antiquity. But unlike other night goddesseslike Nyx, Hecate, and sometimes even ArtemisSelene represented the moon itself. The moon was thought to influence people in other ways, as well. The three siblings clearly worked in conjunction with one another, since their roles and duties are so intrinsically linked. Selene and Helios together were said to be the parents of the four Horae, the goddesses of the seasons. As the most important and visible features in the sky, the people of ancient Greece thought that Selene, goddess of the moon, and her brother Helios, god of the sun, were the ones responsible for the movement of the two celestial bodies across the sky. [104] Zeus agrees, urged by Selene's complaints and having long intended to deal with the philosophers himself. In some versions of the story, the goddess abandoned her duty and left the night sky so she could be with the man she loved. Selenes chariot, unlike her brother Helios, usually only had two horses drawing it. Did a Lion-Headed Monster Exist in Greek Mythology. Her request granted, Selene visited him regularly; some sources even reported that they had children together (see above).[27]. 68 A75 D-K). 3. The altars to Selene were few and far between. Hypothesis to the scholia on Pindars Nemean Odes. Hill, D. E. "THE THESSALIAN TRICK." Selene is the goddess of the moon. [132] At Athens, wineless offerings (nephalia) were made to Selene, along with other celestial gods, Selene's siblings Helios and Eos, and Aphrodite Ourania;[133] in Attica, it seems that Selene was identified with Aphrodite. 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. Most mythologists assumed that Selene was an older moon goddess that was replaced later by Artemis in myth. This irritated Endymion, and enraged Selene, who transforms the girl into a fly (Ancient Greek: , romanized:mua). The poem describes the radiant light that shines from her head and calls her bright Selene. The moon goddess is described as white armed goddess and bright tressed queen and the poem celebrates her loveliness. While there were many goddesses associated with the moon and lunar powers, Selene personified the moon and its light. [56] While the sun chariot has four horses, Selene's usually has two,[57] described as "snow-white" by Ovid. Selene had a relationship with the god Pan, according to Virgil. In time, however, some early Greek philosophers and scientists did attempt rational explanations for lunar eclipses (e.g., Democritus, frag. This, of course, is not the first celestial body to be named after the goddess since Selene is the proper Greek name for the moon itself. Selene is often eclipsed by the popularity of Artemis as a lunar goddess, but as the personification of the moon itself she had a significant impact on the lives and views of the Greek people. [1], Selene was often identified with other goddesses, including Men (also spelled Mene), the divine personification of the lunar month; Bendis, a goddess of Thracian origin; Hecate, a goddess of witchcraft; and (especially in later antiquity) Artemis, the goddess of hunting and wild things. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men. [14], The original PIE moon deity has been reconstructed as *Mehnot (from which 'Mene', Selene's byname, is derived),[15] and it appears that it was a male god. In this case, the story of Selene embracing Endymion, or Moon embraces Diver, refers to the sun setting and the moon rising. There are three different ways you can cite this article. Upon the head of Selene was normally found a crown that was representative of the spherical moon. In her Full Moon state, she is Panselene or . Selene was a beautiful goddess with long, flowing . [16][18], Although attempts have been made to connect Selene to Helene due to the similarity of their names, in two early dedications to Helen from Laconia her name is spelled with a digamma (Ancient Greek: , romanized:Welna), ruling out any possible connection between them. [76] The Roman playwright Seneca, has Selene abandoned the night sky for Endymion's sake having entrusted her "shining" moon chariot to her brother Helios to drive. Hurwit, Jeffery M. (2017), "Helios Rising: The Sun, the Moon, and the Sea in the Sculptures of the Parthenon", Jones, Prudence H., "A Goddess Arrives: Nineteenth Century Sources of the New Age Triple Moon Goddess" in. Indeed, it reflects the fascinating way the Greeks observed the . Only a handful of religious centers of Selene are known from the ancient world. Selene, (Greek: Moon) Latin Luna, in Greek and Roman religion, the personification of the moon as a goddess. Selene was not the only goddess the Greeks associated with the moon. Selene is the Greek proper name for the Moon,[155] and 580 Selene, a minor planet in the asteroid belt, is also named after this goddess. In memory of the beautiful Endymion, the fly still grudges all sleepers their rest and annoys them. 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