Indeed, it reflects the fascinating way the Greeks observed the . Selene was the ancient Greek Titan goddess of the moon. 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. Way). 80; Acusilaus, FHG 1 frag. [143] 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. [118], Selene is commonly depicted with a crescent moon, often accompanied by stars; sometimes, instead of a crescent, a lunar disc is used. The chemical element Selenium was named after Selene by Jns Jacob Berzelius, because of the element's similarity to the element tellurium, named for the Earth (Tellus).[156][157]. Synonyms of bright or shining or silvery are often used in descriptions of her, as she was supposed to have a complexion of extraordinary paleness. 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. As the daughter of the Titan god of heavenly light, it is an apt name. She was depicted as a woman riding sidesaddle on a horse or driving a chariot drawn by a pair of winged steeds. It was devoted to Selene, under the name Pasiphae, and to Helios. 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. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men. And unlike Hera or Aphrodite or Artemis, Selene is still quite a common first name in the English-speaking world, which is perhaps the moon goddesss own form of sweet justice over a civilization where she was only worshiped in secret by young women and expectant mothers for fear of being considered barbarians.. Gaia, the primordial Titan goddess and grandmother to the Olympian gods and goddesses, was enraged when her children were defeated in the Titanomachy and imprisoned in Tartarus. Selene and Endymion by Sebastiano Ricci (1713). Artemis has been commonly associated with Selene. Selene herself, upon discovering this, took her own life. However, her greatest love was a lowly mortal named Endymion. Her lunar sphere or crescent was either a crown set upon her head or the fold of a raised, shining cloak. [89] 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. Selene, (Greek: Moon) Latin Luna, in Greek and Roman religion, the personification of the moon as a goddess. 13 In later times Selene was identified with Artemis, and the worship of the two became amalgamated. The idea that Selene would also give easy labours to women paved way for identification with Hera and the Roman Juno and Lucina, three other childbirth goddesses; Plutarch calls Selene "Hera in material form. 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). Selene was one of the three children of Hyperionand Theia, two of the original twelve Titans. 7 (all cited in the scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica 4.57); Sappho, frag. But the Greek cult of Selene grew more and more prevalent towards the end of the Hellenistic period (32331 BCE). Her request granted, Selene visited him regularly; some sources even reported that they had children together (see above).[27]. Though Selene, as the moon, was undeniably important to the ancient Greeks, there are very few descriptions of her in literature. However, Selene was not one of them. She was unique, however, in her relationship with the orb itself. His rites also brought a form of madness about in his followers, who often celebrated under the light of the moon. The Greek word Phoebe means bright and the word Cynthia means from Mount Cynthus which was said to be the birthplace of Artemis. In some cases, it is debated whether she indeed was the mother. [104] Zeus agrees, urged by Selene's complaints and having long intended to deal with the philosophers himself. 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. Hesiod, Theogony 371ff; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.2; etc. This is a relatively late text. Depending on the author, the chariot was either silver,[6] snow white,[7] or gold. . [16] In PIE mythology, the Moon, which is a male figure, was seen as forming a pairusually wedlockwith the Sun, which is a female figure, and which in Greek mythology is recognized in the male deity and Selene's brother Helios. 1999, Mark P. O. Morford, Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology, page 43, Balancing Arria is the union of Selene and Endymion. While her husbands team of horses usually consisted of four animals, Selenes chariot, like her light, was less powerful. [144] And, according to a scholium on Theocritus, Pindar wrote that lovesick women would pray to Selene for help, as Euripides apparently had Phaedra, Selene's great-niece, do in his lost play Hippolytus Veiled. Selene, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, was the personification of the moon. Selene, the goddess of the moon, was the youngest of the three siblings. Altes Museum, Berlin, Germany. Described by Pausanias, it contained statues of Pasipha and Helios. Please like and share this article if you found it useful. Is the Mother of Castor and Pollux a Goddess? [128], Originally, Pandia may have been an epithet of Selene,[129] but by at least the time of the late Hymn to Selene, Pandia had become a daughter of Zeus and Selene. Although in most myths, the Horae appear to be triads born of Zeus and Themis, in this particular incarnation they were the daughters of Selene and Helios. The Greeks recognized several goddesses as having a connection to the moon, but none was as closely associated with it as Selene. Whether this Pallas (called the son of Megamedes) is the same as the Titan Pallas or a different individual entirely is unclear. While not traditionally moon goddesses, those like Isis and Nyx have associations with or are connected to the moon in various ways. She walked as quietly as possible to avoid frightening Endymion as he slept. [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. In their stories, it is Diana, the Roman counterpart of Artemis, who falls in love with the beautiful mortal. Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.54ff; Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.1.4; Apollodorus, Library 1.7.5; cf. Selene with sleeping Endymion, fresco in the fourth Pompeian style. This eventually led to the identification of Selene with Artemis, also associated with fertility and the moon in various ways. 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. In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Selene (/slini/; Greek: pronounced[seln], meaning "Moon"[2]) is the personification of the Moon. [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. Also known as Mene, she is traditionally the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun god Helios and the dawn goddess Eos. They were even called by their names, Phoebe and Phoebus respectively, in some sources. [84] 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. GREEK VASE PAINTINGS GALLERY 1 (86 IMAGES) . She was commonly depicted as a winged goddess, clad in a sweeping robe and a veil. Worshiped as one of the important celestial lights of the heavens, Selene was also reputedly revered as a deity of agriculture and fertility. 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. [73] 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". In the more familiar tradition, however, the Horae were the daughters of Zeus and Themis, and there were only three of them (even their names are completely different: Eirene, Eunomia, and Dike). The second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft following was named SELENE (Selenological and Engineering Explorer) after Selene, and was also known as Kaguya in Japan. Selene was a Titan goddess in Greek mythology, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. [5], Selenes moon chariotsimilar to the sun chariot of her brother Helios and the dawn chariot of her sister Eoswas probably her most distinctive and consistent attribute. [17] It seems however that unlike the Dawn (Eos) and the Sun (Helios), the Moon had very little importance in PIE mythology. [90], 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. There were other goddesses worshiped by the Greeks who were widely associated with the moon themselves. Helios was married to Perse, but he had quite a few extramarital affairs, and a number of children . Ceto - Goddess of the Water. The other gods, angered, sent him two lions to tear him apart. In Greek mythology, Selene was the Titan goddess of the moon. Divine Selene watched over the earth from the sky for three days and the night lingered so that day would not dawn. -Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 10. Cf. [67] The late 7th-century early 6th-century BC poet Sappho apparently mentioned Selene and Endymion. Mene The personification of the months was sometimes an aspect of Selene and sometimes a separate goddess. 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. Oil lamp fragment with the head of Selene, early classical period, Muse de Die. Hymn 31, To Helios, also speaks of the two sisters of Helios where the rich-tressed Selene is once again alluded to. What are Pan God Powers in Greek Mythology? But Selene was also called by many generic epithets that were used for other goddesses as well, including (euplokmos, she of the beautiful hair), (leuklnos, white-armed), (glaukpis, gray-eyed, bright-eyed, an epithet most commonly associated with Athena), and (kyanpis, dark-eyed, essentially the opposite of glaukpis). And along with Selene, the moon moved as well. [108], In antiquity, artistic representations of Selene/Luna included sculptural reliefs, vase paintings, coins, and gems. 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. The most enduring story of Selene concerns the love she felt for an ordinary human man. The History of Guns, Greek Mythology: Stories, Characters, Gods, and Culture, Aztec Mythology: Important Stories and Characters, Greek Gods and Goddesses: Family Tree and Fun Facts, Roman Gods and Goddesses: The Names and Stories of 29 Ancient Roman Gods, Descriptions of Selene, Goddess of the Moon, Greek Myths featuring the Moon Goddess Selene, iPhone History: A Timeline of Every Model in Order, US History Timeline: The Dates of Americas Journey, Ancient Civilizations Timeline: 16 Oldest Known Cultures From Around The World, Why Are Hot Dogs Called Hot Dogs? The crescent moon, full moon, and dark moon corresponded to the three states of being embodied by the Fates. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men. Selene has a minor planet named after her, called 580 Selene. That leaves Artemis and Selene. She was descended . ", Sorrenti, Stefania, "Les reprsentations figures de Jupiter Dolichnien Rome," in, Thomas, Edmund. 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