Earliest known depiction of Selene in a chariot. It is said that the work portrays the Moon's ascension as theGiants are beaten in theGigantomachy.Attic red-figurekylix, c. 490–480 BC, by theBrygos Painter.[1]
Detail of asarcophagus 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.[7]
The name "Selene" is derived from the Greek nounselas (σέλας), meaning "light, brightness, gleam".[8] In theDoric andAeolic dialects, her name was also spelledΣελάνα (Selána) andΣελάννα (Selánna) respectively.[3]
Selene was also calledMene.[9] The Greek wordmene, meant the moon, and the lunar month.[10] The masculine form ofmene (men) was also the name of thePhrygian moon-godMen.[11] Mene and Men both derive fromProto-Hellenic*méns ("month"), itself fromProto-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".[12] The GreekStoic philosopherChrysippus interpreted Selene and Men as, respectively, the female and male aspects of the same god.[13]
Although no clear attestation for Selene herself has been discovered, inMycenaean Greek the word for month 'men' has been found inLinear B spelled as𐀕𐀜 (me-no, from genitive formμηνός,mēnós).[14]
Just as Helios, from his identification with Apollo, is called Phoebus ("bright"), Selene, from her identification with Artemis, is also called Phoebe (feminine form).[15] Also from Artemis, Selene was sometimes called "Cynthia", meaning "she of MountCynthus" (the birthplace of Artemis).[16]
Selene, along with her brother, her sister and the sky-god Zeus, is one of the few Greek deities of a clearProto-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.[17]
The original PIE moon deity has been reconstructed as*Meh₁not (from which 'Mene', Selene's byname, is derived),[18] and it appears that it was a male god.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21] It seems however that unlike the Dawn (Eos) and the Sun (Helios), the Moon had very little importance in PIE mythology.[19][22]
Although attempts have been made to connect Selene toHelen of Troy due to the similarity of their names, in two early dedications to Helen fromLaconia her name is spelled with adigamma (Ancient Greek:Ϝελένα,romanized: Weléna), ruling out any possible connection between them.[23] '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.[24][25]
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 theIliad or theOdyssey ofHomer,[26] while her only mention inHesiod'sTheogony is as the daughter ofHyperion andTheia, and sister ofHelios andEos.[27] She was, however, the subject of one of the thirty-threeHomeric Hymns, which gives the following description:
And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus, well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged[28] 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.
Two other sources also mention her hair. TheHomeric Hymn to Helios uses the same epithetεὐπλόκαμος ("bright-tressed"), used in the aboveHymn to Selene (elsewhere translated as "rich-", "lovely-", or "well-tressed"),[30] while Epimenides uses the epithetἠυκόμοιο ("lovely-haired").[31]
In late accounts, Selene (like the Moon itself) is often described as having horns.[32] TheOrphic 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".[33]Empedocles,Euripides andNonnus all describe her as γλαυκῶπις (glaukṓpis, "bright-eyed", a common epithet of the goddessAthena)[34] while in a fragment from a poem, possibly written byPamprepius, she is called κυανῶπις (kyanṓpis, "dark-eyed").[35]Mesomedes ofCrete calls her γλαυκὰ (glaukà, "silvery grey").[36]
The usual account of Selene's origin is given byHesiod in hisTheogony, where thesun-godHyperion espoused his sisterTheia, 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".[37] TheHomeric 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",[38] withEuryphaëssa ("widely shining") probably being an epithet of Theia.[39] However, theHomeric Hymn to Hermes has Selene as the daughter of Pallas, the son of an otherwise unknown Megamedes.[40] This Pallas is possibly identified with thePallas, who, according to Hesiod'sTheogony, was the son of the TitanCrius, and thus Selene's cousin.[41] Other accounts give still other parents for Selene:Euripides has Selene as the daughter of Helios (rather than sister),[42] while anAeschylus fragment possibly has Selene as the daughter ofLeto,[43] as does ascholium onEuripides's playThe Phoenician Women which adds Zeus as the father.[44] Furthermore, inVirgil'sAeneid, whenNisus calls upon Selene/the Moon, he addresses her as "daughter of Latona."[45]
According to theHomeric Hymn to Selene, the goddess boreZeus a daughter,Pandia ("All-brightness"),[46] "exceeding lovely amongst the deathless gods".[47] The 7th century BC Greek poetAlcman makesErsa ("Dew") the daughter of Selene and Zeus.[48] Selene and Zeus were also said to be the parents of Nemea, the eponymousnymph ofNemea, whereHeracles slew theNemean Lion, and where theNemean Games were held.[49]
FromPausanias we hear that Selene was supposed to have had fifty daughters, by her loverEndymion, often assumed to represent the fifty lunar months of theOlympiad.[50]Nonnus has Selene and Endymion as the parents of the beautifulNarcissus, although in other accounts, includingOvid'sMetamorphoses, Narcissus was the son ofCephissus andLiriope.[51]
Quintus Smyrnaeus makes Selene, by her brotherHelios, the mother of theHorae, goddesses and personifications of the four seasons; Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn.[52] Quintus describes them as the four handmaidens of Hera, but in most other accounts their number is three;Eirene ("peace"),Eunomia ("order"), andDike ("justice"), and their parents areZeus andThemis instead.
Lastly, Selene was said to be the mother of the legendary Greek poetMusaeus,[53] with, according toPhilochorus, the father being the legendary seerEumolpus.[54]
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.[55] There are no mentions of Selene's chariot in eitherHomer orHesiod,[56] but theHomeric Hymn to Selene gives the following description:
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.[57]
The earliest known depiction of Selene driving a chariot adorns the inside of an early 5th century BCred-figure cup attributed to theBrygos Painter, showing Selene plunging her chariot, drawn by two winged horses, into the sea (Berlin Antikensammlung F 2293).[58] The geographerPausanias, 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 theStatue of Zeus at Olympia (c. 435 BC).[59] While the sun chariot has four horses, Selene's usually has two,[60] described as "snow-white" byOvid.[61] In some later accounts the chariot was drawn by oxen or bulls.[62] Though the moon chariot is often described as being silver,[63] forPindar it was golden.[64]
In antiquity, thelunar eclipse phenomena were thought to be caused by witches, particularly the ones fromThessaly, who brought the Moon/Selene down with spells and invocations of magic.[65] References to this magical trick, variously referred to asκαθαιρεῖν (kathaireĩn), are scattered throughout ancient literature, whereas eclipses of both the Sun and the Moon were calledkathaireseis ("casting-downs") by the Greek populace.[66] A famous example of that isAglaonice 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 (καθαιρεῖν τὴν σελήνην:kathaireĩn tén selénen). This claim has been taken–byPlutarch 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.[67][68] Those who brought down the Moon were thought to bring ill fortune upon themselves, as evidenced by the proverbἐπὶ 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.[66][69]
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.[70] Owing to her role as the moon goddess, she was sometimes calledNyctimedusa (Ancient Greek:Νυκτιμέδουσα,romanized: Nuktimédousa), meaning "queen of the night".[71]
Endymion as hunter (with dog), sitting on rocks in a landscape, holding two spears, looking at Selene who descends to him. Antique fresco fromPompeii.Selene and Endymion, bySebastiano Ricci (1713),Chiswick House, England.
Selene is best known for her affair with the beautiful mortalEndymion.[72] The late 7th-century – early 6th-century BC poetSappho apparently mentioned Selene and Endymion.[73] However, the first account of the story comes from the third-century BCArgonautica ofApollonius of Rhodes, which tells of Selene's "mad passion" and her visiting the "fair Endymion" in a cave onMount Latmus:[74]
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."[75]
The eternally sleeping Endymion was proverbial,[76] but exactly how this eternal sleep came about and what role, if any, Selene may have had in it is unclear. According to theCatalogue of Women, Endymion was the son ofAethlius (a son of Zeus), and Zeus granted him the right to choose when he would die.[77] A scholiast on Apollonius says that, according toEpimenides, Endymion fell in love with Hera, and Zeus punished him with eternal sleep.[78] However,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".[79]Theocritus portrays Endymion's sleep as enviable because (presumably) of Selene's love for him.[80]Cicero seems to make Selene responsible for Endymion's sleep, so that "she might kiss him while sleeping".[81] The Roman playwrightSeneca, has Selene abandoned the night sky for Endymion's sake having entrusted her "shining" moon chariot to her brother Helios to drive.[82] The Greek satiristLucian's dialogue between Selene and thelove goddessAphrodite has the two goddesses commiserate about their love affairs with Endymion andAdonis, and suggests that Selene has fallen in love with Endymion while watching him sleep each night.[83] In his dialogue between Aphrodite and Eros, Lucian also has Aphrodite admonish her son Eros for bringing Selene "down from the sky".[84] WhileQuintus Smyrnaeus wrote that, while Endymion slept in his cave beside his cattle:
Divine Selene watched him from on high,
and slid from heaven to earth; for passionate love
drew down the immortal stainless Queen of Night."[85]
Lucian also records an otherwise unattested myth where a pretty young girl calledMuia 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 (Ancient Greek:μυῖα,romanized: muía). In memory of the beautiful Endymion, the fly still grudges all sleepers their rest and annoys them.[86]
PhilologistMax 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 Greekendyein 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.[87]
Gaia, angered about her children theTitans being thrown intoTartarus following their defeat, brought forth theGiants, to attack the gods, in a war that was called theGigantomachy. 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 siblingsHelios (Sun) andEos (Dawn) not to shine, and harvested all of that plant for himself.[89] Selene's participation in the battle is evidenced by her inclusion in the Gigantomachy frieze of thePergamon Altar, fighting against Giants next to her siblings Helios and Eos and her mother Theia in the southern frieze.[90][91] Selene gallops sidesaddle in advance, and wears a woolen undergarment and a mantle.[91] 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.[92]
According to the late account ofNonnus, when the gigantic monsterTyphon 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.[93]
Ampelus was a very beautiful satyr youth, loved by the godDionysus.[94] 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.[95]
When Zeus desired to sleep with the mortal queenAlcmene and sire Heracles, he made the night last three days, and ordered Selene viaHermes to dawdle in the sky during that time.[96]
Selene also played a small role in the first of Heracles' twelvelabours; whereas for Hesiod, theNemean Lion was born toOrthrus and theChimera (or perhapsEchidna) and raised byHera,[97] other accounts have Selene involved in some way in its birth or rearing.[98]Aelian states: "They say that the Lion of Nemea fell from the moon", and quotesEpimenides as saying:[99]
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.[100]
Anaxagoras also reports that the Nemean lion was said to have fallen from the Moon.[101]Pseudo-Plutarch'sOn Rivers has Hera collaborating with Selene, "employing magical incantations" to create the Nemean Lion from a chest filled with foam.[102] Hyginus says that Selene had "nourished" the lion in a "two-mouthed cave".[103]
According toVirgil, Selene also had a tryst with the godPan, who seduced her with a "snowy bribe of wool".[104] Scholia on Virgil add the story, ascribed toNicander, that as part of the seduction, Pan wrapped himself in a sheepskin.[105]
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:[106]
Roman statue of Selene, marble 2nd century AD, Museum of Antalya.
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").[107]
Plutarch recorded afable-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.[108]
In Lucian'sIcaromenippus [fi], Selene complains to the titularMenippus 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 theSun, causing strife and ill feelings between her and herbrother. She asks Menippus to report her grievances toZeus, with the request that Zeus wipes all these natural philosophers from the face of the earth.[109] Zeus agrees, urged by Selene's complaints and having long intended to deal with the philosophers himself.[110]
Claudian wrote that in her infancy, when her horns had not yet grown, Selene (along with Helios – their sisterEos is not mentioned with them) was nursed by her aunt, the water goddessTethys.[111]
According topseudo-Plutarch,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.[112]
Ovid mentions how in the myth ofPhaethon, 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.[113]
In antiquity, artistic representations of Selene/Luna included sculptural reliefs, vase paintings, coins, and gems.[114] Inred-figure pottery before the early 5th century BC, she is depicted only as a bust, or in profile against a lunar disk.[115] In later art, like other celestial divinities such as Helios, Eos, andNyx (Night), Selene rides across the heavens. She is usually portrayed either driving a chariot (see above) or riding sideways on horseback[116] (sometimes riding an ox, a mule or a ram).[117]
Selene was often paired with her brother Helios. Selene (probably) and Helios adorned the east pediment of theParthenon, where the two, each driving a four-horsed chariot, framed a scene depicting the birth ofAthena, with Helios and his chariot rising from the ocean on the left, and Selene and her chariot descending into the sea on the right.[118] Selene and Helios also appear on the NorthMetopes of the Parthenon, with Selene this time entering the sea on horseback.[119] From Pausanias, we learn that Selene and Helios also framed the birth ofAphrodite on the base of theStatue of Zeus at Olympia.[120] There are indications of a similar framing by Selene and Helios of the birth ofPandora on the base of theAthena Parthenos.[121] Pausanias also reports seeing stone images of Helios, and Selene, in the market-place atElea, with rays projecting from the head of Helios, and horns from the head of Selene.[122] Selene also appears on horseback as part of theGigantomachy frieze of thePergamon Altar.[123]
Selene is commonly depicted with a crescent moon, often accompanied by stars; sometimes, instead of a crescent, a lunar disc is used.[124] 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.[125] Selene's head is sometimes surrounded by animbus, and from the Hellenistic period onwards, she is sometimes pictured with a torch.[126]
In later second and third century AD Romanfunerary art, the love of Selene for Endymion and his eternal sleep was a popular subject for artists.[127] 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.[128]
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.[130]
Moon figures are found onCretan rings and gems (perhaps indicating aMinoan 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.[131] An oracular sanctuary existed near Thalamai inLaconia. Described byPausanias, it contained statues of Pasiphaë and Helios. HerePasiphaë is used as an epithet of Selene, instead of referring to thedaughter of Helios and wife ofMinos.[132] Pausanias also described seeing two stone images in the market-place ofElis, 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.[133] Selene (along with Helios, Nyx and others) received an altar at the sanctuary ofDemeter atPergamon, possibly in connection with theOrphic mysteries.[134]
AtticKylix with Selene and her horse and crescent Moon, circa 450 BC, by theBrygos Painter.
Originally, Pandia may have been an epithet of Selene,[135] but by at least the time of the lateHymn to Selene, Pandia had become a daughter of Zeus and Selene. Pandia (or Pandia Selene) may have personified the full moon,[136] and an Athenian festival, called thePandia, usually considered to be a festival forZeus,[137] was perhaps celebrated on the full moon and may have been associated with Selene.[138] At Athens, wineless offerings (nephalia) were made to Selene, along with other celestial gods, Selene's siblings Helios and Eos, andAphrodite Ourania;[139] inAttica, it seems that Selene was identified withAphrodite.[140]
Kushan coinage ofKanishka I with Selene (Greek legend "CAΛHNH") on the reverse, wearing lunar horns, c. AD 127 – 151.[141]
Selene was sometimes associated withchildbirth, for it was believed that during thefull moon women had the easiest labours; this helped in her identification with the goddessArtemis,[142] 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 withHera and the RomanJuno andLucina, three other childbirth goddesses;Plutarch calls Selene "Hera in material form."[143] Roman philosopherCicero connected Selene's Roman counterpartLuna's name to childbirth goddess Lucina's, both deriving from "light" (thus bringing the unborn child into the light).[144]Nonnus also identified Selene withEileithyia.[145]
Selene played an important role in love magic.[146] In Theocritus' secondIdyll, a young girl invokes Selene in a love-spell.[147] 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.[148] And, according to a scholium onTheocritus,Pindar wrote that lovesick women would pray to Selene for help, asEuripides apparently hadPhaedra, Selene's great-niece, do in his lost playHippolytus Veiled.[149] 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 toIsis.[150]
Her and her brother's worship is also attested inGytheum, a town inLaconia nearSparta, via an inscription (C.I.G. 1392).[151] In the city ofEpidaurus, inArgolis, Selene had an altar dedicated to her.[152] Records show that a type of cake calledβοῦς (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.[153][154] In addition, a type of flat, round moon-shaped cake was called 'selene' ("moon") and was offered "to the goddess."[3][154][155] The ancient Greeks also calledMonday "day of the Moon" (ἡμέρα Σελήνης) after her.[156]
According to a certain Epigenes,[157] the threeMoirai, or Fates, were regarded in theOrphic 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).[158]
Selene is the Greek proper name for theMoon,[159] and580 Selene, aminor planet in theasteroid belt, is also named after this goddess.[160] 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 secondJapaneselunar orbiterspacecraft following was named SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) after Selene, and was also known asKaguya in Japan.[163]HMS Selene (P254), a 1944British submarine andGhia Selene, a concept car from the Ghia design studio from 1959, also bore her name.
^Athanassakis and Wolkow, pp.90, on lines 1–2,91, on line 5; Kerényi,p. 197. Athanassakis and Wolkow speculate that Selene's name 'might have developed as a euphemism for the moon proper (Greek "mēnē")'.
^Morford,p. 64; Smith,s.v. Selene.Phoebe was also the name of Selene's aunt, the Titan mother ofLeto andAsteria, and grandmother of Apollo, Artemis, and Hecate.
^Hard,p. 46;Homeric Hymn to Helios (31)4–7. Assuming that their order of mention is meant to be their order of birth, Hesiod andHyginus (FabulaePreface 12) make Helios the oldest of the siblings, with Eos the youngest, while theHymn swaps the order of Eos and Helios, and Apollodorus (1.2.2) has Selene as the youngest, with Eos as the oldest.
^Hard,p. 46; Gantz, p. 34;Homeric Hymn to Selene (32)15–16; so alsoHyginus,FabulaePreface 28. Allen,[15] "ΠανδείηΝ", says that Pandia, "elsewhere unknown as a daughter of Selene ... seems to be merely an abstraction of the moon herself". Cookp. 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 festivalPandia.
^Pausanias,5.1.4; Mayersonp. 167. For the assumption that the daughters represent the fifty lunar months of theOlympiad, see for example: Cashford 2003b, p. 137; Davidson,pp. 204–205; Jebb,pp. 296–297, note on VII, 1–3 πεντήκοντα (μῆνες); Seyffert,s.v. Endymion; Stoll,p. 61. There are other accounts of fifty daughters in Greek mythology: theNereids, the fifty seanymphs born toNereus andDoris (Hesiod,Theogony240–264), theDanaides, the fifty daughters ofDanaus, who killed all but one of their fifty husbands (Apollodorus),2.1.4, and theThespiades, the fifty daughters ofThespius, each of whom bore a son toHeracles (Apollodorus,2.4.10,2.7.8). Astour,p. 78, connects the number of daughters with the approximate number of seven-day weeks in a lunar year.
^Gordon, Richard L. (2006)."Selene". In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.).Brill's New Pauly. Translated by Christine F. Salazar. Ilmmünster: Brill Reference Online.doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1107170. RetrievedSeptember 15, 2023.
^Fowler 2013, pp.133–134; Hard,p. 411; Gantz, p. 35; Scholia onApollonius of Rhodes’Argonautica 4.57–58 [= Epimenides,fr. 14 = Epimenidesfr. 12 Fowler =FGrHist 457 F10 = 3B14Diels]. The same scholiast gives another story involving Endymion's love for Hera, this time attributed to theGreat 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", seeHesiodfr. 198 Most [= fr. 260 Merkelbach-West = Scholia onApollonius of Rhodes’Argonautica 4.58]; see alsoAcusilausfr. 36 Fowler.
^Hard,p. 411;Cicero,Tusculan Disputations1.38.92, p. 50. See alsoOvid,Amores,11.13.43–44: "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."
^Hard,p. 46; Gantz, p. 36; Kerényi, pp.175,196; Grimal, s.v. Selene; Keightley,p. 55;Servius,Commentary on the Georgics of Vergil3.391;Macrobius,Saturnalia5.22.9–10. 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."
^Pseudo-Plutarch,On Rivers 25.4; Grimal s.v.Lilaeus. Pseudo-Plutarch attributes this story to Clitophon'sIndica, perhaps recording an Indian tale using names of Greek gods.
^Hard,p. 46;Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Selene; Murray 1903,p. 47. Hansen,p. 221 shows two illustrations one captioned "Selene riding a mule", the other "Selene riding a ram". Note however that bothLIMC13265 (Selene, Luna 35) (image13603X001.jpg) and Beazley Archive211530 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,5.11.8.
^Hurwit 2017, pp. 527–532; Shear, pp. 112–114; Palagia 2005,pp. 236–237; Palagia 1998,pp. 22–23; Murray 1892,pp. 271–272. 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,p. 96 also includes Eos as a possibility. "Selene's" torso, from the Parthenon pediment is in Athens at theAcropolis Museum,inventory number 881, while the head of one of her pediment horses is in London at theBritish Museum,museum number 1816,0610.98.
^abAllaire 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),pp. 157; 171,The American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
^"Selenai."Suda On Line. Trans. Rocco Marseglia on 9 November 2012.
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