While most of the Homeric Hymns were written in the seventh or sixth century BCE, the Homeric Hymn to Selene was probably composed no earlier than the fourth century BCE. A womans fertility was said to be influenced by the cycles of the moon, a belief that gave English the word menses, and under Selenes influence women were said to have an easier time in childbirth than they did during the day. She was worshipped at the new and full moons. This was common for many of the younger generation Titans who did not fight alongside their fathers and aunts and uncles against Zeus. Greek Gods / Helios. She fell madly in love with him and asked Zeus to let him stay asleep forever, remaining eternally young and beautiful (in some traditions, it was Endymion himself who requested this unending sleep). Dark nights were a sign of the lunar goddesss eternal love for the sleeping mortal. The talkative Myia would sit with Endymion as he slept his eternal sleep, chattering endlesslyso much so that Endymion eventually woke up. As the goddess of the division of the months, Selene was a goddess of time. [37] Other accounts give still other parents for Selene: Euripides has Selene as the daughter of Helios (rather than sister),[38] while an Aeschylus fragment possibly has Selene as the daughter of Leto,[39] as does a scholium on Euripides's play The Phoenician Women which adds Zeus as the father. 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. ), The name Selene (Greek , translit. Whatever his profession, the handsome young man frequently slept beneath the open sky. Both of these Goddesses are also associated with Hecate. The goddess of the moon does not seem to have been the object of much ritual worship in the early Greek period. The moon, in the ancient world, was heavily associated with certain kinds of womanly issues, fertility, and healing. Occasionally she asked her brother to take over her duties so she could spend more time on the ground with Endymion. Pandia (or Pandia Selene) may have personified the full moon,[130] and an Athenian festival, called the Pandia, usually considered to be a festival for Zeus,[131] was perhaps celebrated on the full moon and may have been associated with Selene. The Story of Selene. Selene was more than just a lunar goddess, she was the embodiment of the moon and its light. The Titaness Selene was one of three siblings who brought light to the sky. In another story she was loved by Pan. Selene was so enamored of the young man that she left the sky to see him more closely. What Were the Hamadryads in Greek Mythology? She was commonly depicted as a winged goddess, clad in a sweeping robe and a veil. Accessed on 27 Feb. 2023. In this aspect she was closely associated with Dionysus. Selene fought back the giant, locking horns with Typhon; afterwards, she carried many scars on her orb, reminiscent of their battle. Knowing he would be there whenever she wanted to see him, the goddess no longer worried he would leave or die before she got to see him again. Surviving descriptions of Selene's physical appearance and character, apart from those which would apply to the moon itself, are scant. [13], 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 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. [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. Seneca, Madness of Hercules 83; Hyginus, Fabulae 30; Aelian, On Animals 12.7 (citing Epimenides); etc. As the embodiment of the moon, Selene and the movement of her chariot across the night sky was important for the Greeks to measure time. [140] Nonnus also identified Selene with Eileithyia. She is often linked with Endymion, whom she loved and whom Zeus cast into eternal sleep in a cave on Mount Latmus; there, Selene visited him and became the mother of 50 daughters. [77] The Greek satirist Lucian's dialogue between Selene and the 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. [102], 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. [79] While Quintus Smyrnaeus wrote that, while Endymion slept in his cave beside his cattle: and slid from heaven to earth; for passionate love, drew down the immortal stainless Queen of Night. 527532; Shear, pp. Privacy Policy. To cite this article in an academic-style article or paper, use: Rittika Dhar, "Selene: The Titan and Greek Goddess of the Moon", History Cooperative, September 20, 2022, https://historycooperative.org/selene-greek-goddess-of-the-moon/. [7] The Greek word mene, meant the moon, and the lunar month. All of these qualities bound Selene to the natural phenomena of time and seasons and the rejuvenation of nature as well, even apart from her ability to shed light. [95], Anaxagoras also reports that the Nemean lion was said to have fallen from the moon. Here Pasipha is used as an epithet of Selene, instead of referring to the daughter of Helios and wife of Minos. She was also well known for her many affairs with men and her love that possibly . Though Hesiod made the Nemean Lion the child of Echidna, other authors wrote that Selene gave birth to it or brought it up at Heras request. Hill, D. E. "THE THESSALIAN TRICK." These three lunar goddesses were all important to the Greeks in different ways but it was only Selene who was considered the moon incarnate herself. It did not take long for Zeus to notice something was amiss. [119] 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. [108], In antiquity, artistic representations of Selene/Luna included sculptural reliefs, vase paintings, coins, and gems. [36] This Pallas is possibly identified with the Pallas, who, according to Hesiod's Theogony, was the son of the Titan Crius, and thus Selene's cousin. There were still several goddesses who shared Selenes lunar domain, however. For centuries, those affected by mental illness were referred to as lunatics.. Although Endymion slept for eternity, many sources said Selene continued to see him. Selene was the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. Selene was not the only goddess the Greeks associated with the moon. Most famous classical poets describe her beauty as so intriguing that gods and mortals alike could not resist her godly charms. Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica 10.336ff; cf. The bull panicked, threw Ampelus and gored him to death. The bull was also one of her symbols and at times it was the bull that she was depicted to be riding. Only a handful of religious centers of Selene are known from the ancient world. She walked as quietly as possible to avoid frightening Endymion as he slept. 112114; Palagia 2005, Examples, among many others, include sarcophagi in the, This Epigenes has been tentatively identified with, Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in, Online version at Demonax | Hellenic Library, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, "Kaguya Another Chapter for the Lunar Saga", Online version at Harvard University Press, Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library (Latin), Classical mythology in western art and literature, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Selene&oldid=1142206020, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles having different image on Wikidata and Wikipedia, Pages using sidebar with the child parameter, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Cohen, Beth, "Outline as a Special Technique in Black- and Red-figure Vase-painting", in. This claim has been takenby Plutarch at first, and subsequently by modern astronomersto mean that she could predict the time and general area where an eclipse of the Moon would occur. Pan, the god of the wild, supposedly seduced Selene while dressed in a sheepskin. Museum of Classical Archaeology Databases. The phases of the moonespecially the new moon and the full moonplayed a central role in the ancient Greeks understanding of time and agriculture. Her brother, Helios, is the god of the sun, and her sister, Eos, is the goddess of the dawn. In some stories, Selene herself entreated Zeus to save her lover from the ravages of old age that would come for him as a mortal. The light that humans saw from earth emanate from them, a legacy of their lustrous father. [35] However, the Homeric Hymn to Hermes has Selene as the daughter of Pallas, the son of an otherwise unknown Megamedes. Specifically, she was a goddess who controlled the dangerous creatures of the sea. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. There are three different ways you can cite this article. Like most of the Titans, Selene was rarely worshipped in the ancient world. They were even called by their names, Phoebe and Phoebus respectively, in some sources. Attic red-figure kylix showing Selene riding the chariot of the moon, drawn by two winged horses. The ancient Greeks saw her as the actual representation of the moon. She drives her moon chariot across the heavens. Selene was linked to Artemis as well as Hecate; all three were considered lunar goddesses. 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. At that time, he did not wish for the sun to rise for three days and sent instructions to Selene via Hermes so it should be so. Thou wouldst say far off that this was milk indeed, which is a well-spring of white water: if thou draw a little nigher, lo, the stream is fringed as though with ice, for white stone rims it round. She and her brother did not just pull the chariots of their respective orbs through the sky. Selene is a Titan goddess. Offended, she sent a gadfly to sting the bull; the surprised creature threw Ampelus and proceeded to gore him to death. The animals, however, were almost always shown as pure white regardless of their type. Updates? With Zeus she is the mother of Pandeia goddess of dew. She is the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun-god Helios, and Eos, goddess of the dawn. Her brother is Helios, the Sun and her sister is Eos, the Dawn. 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. Thus, Selene falling for Endymion was supposed to represent moonrise every night. Privacy. [64][65] Those who brought down the Moon were thought to bring ill fortune upon themselves, as evidenced by the proverb ("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. The altars to Selene were few and far between. The myth of Selene claims that this goddess had several lovers, both divine and mortal. According to Hesiod's Theogony, her parents were the Titans Hyperion and Theia; her brother was Helios, the sun god (sometimes called her father); her sister was Eos (Dawn). To Artemis as well as Hecate ; all three were considered lunar goddesses as possible avoid! 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