- Looks after
- The moon
- Roman name
- Luna
- Often shown with
- A crescent, a silver chariot.
Selene
Σελήνη
Selene is the moon goddess, who drives her silver chariot across the night sky.
Selene is a daughter of Hyperion and Theia and the sister of Helios and Eos. She drove a chariot, drawn by two horses, across the night sky, and her light was a visible sign of her presence.
Her best-known story is her love for the mortal Endymion, a shepherd or king, who was given eternal sleep, in some versions at his own request, so that he would never age. Selene came to his cave each night. According to some accounts she bore him fifty daughters. A second tale gives her Pan or Zeus as lovers.
In later times she was confused with Artemis, and with Hecate, so that three goddesses all became figures of the moon.
In later art and language
The element selenium, named in 1817, and selenology, the study of the Moon, are named after her.
Ancient sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 371-374
- Homeric Hymn 32 to Selene
- Apollodorus, Library 1.7.5