In Greek mythology, Endymion was variously described as a handsome Aeolian shepherd, hunter, or king who ruled and lived at Olympia in Elis, though he was also venerated at Mount Latmus in Caria on the western coast of Asia Minor. Ancient sources disagree over his identity — some make him an Elian prince, others a Carian shepherd, while a later tradition recorded by Pliny the Elder casts him as an astronomer, the first human to observe the movements of the moon. He is best known as the beloved of Selene, the Moon goddess, who placed him in eternal sleep so that he would never age or die. His tomb was disputed between Heracleia, which claimed it lay on Mount Latmus, and Elis, which placed it at Olympia.
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I.Identity and etymology
Endymion was variously described as a handsome Aeolian shepherd, hunter, or king who was said to rule and live at Olympia in ancient Elis. He was also venerated at Mount Latmus in Caria, on the western coast of Asia Minor.
Sources present conflicting accounts of his identity. Some suggest he was an Elian prince, while others describe him as a Carian shepherd. A later tradition identifies him as an astronomer: Pliny the Elder credits him as the first human to observe the movements of the moon, which explained his legendary connection to the lunar goddess. This confusion extends to his burial place, with the people of Heracleia claiming his tomb lay on Mount Latmus, while the Eleans insisted it was at Olympia.
The most famous aspect of Endymion's mythology centers on his role as the lover of Selene, the Moon goddess. This characterization attaches chiefly to the version depicting him as either a shepherd or an astronomer, professions that justified his extensive time gazing skyward.
Regarding his name, some scholars propose a Greek etymology derived from a root meaning 'to dive in' (en + duein), suggesting that he represented the sunset or the concept of descent. Latin writers alternatively explained it from somnum ei inductum, meaning 'the sleep put upon him.'
II.Mythology
Apollonius of Rhodes and many later poets recounted how Selene, the Titan goddess of the moon, loved the mortal Endymion for his beauty. She asked Zeus to grant him eternal youth so that he would never leave her. In an alternative version, Selene was so enchanted by watching Endymion sleep in a cave on Mount Latmus near Miletus that she begged Zeus to preserve him in that state forever.
In some accounts Zeus punished Endymion for showing romantic interest in Hera, much like Ixion's fate. In any case Zeus granted Selene's wish and placed Endymion in eternal sleep. Each night Selene visited him, and together they had fifty daughters, whom some have connected with the fifty months of an Olympiad.
Licymnius of Chios offered a different account in which Hypnos, the god of sleep, loved Endymion and kept his eyes open even while he slept, so that he could enjoy gazing into them uninterrupted.
The Bibliotheke gives a different parentage, naming Calyce and Aethlius as his parents, though some made Zeus his father instead. It states that he led the Aeolians from Thessaly and founded Elis, and that his unsurpassed beauty drew the love of the moon. Zeus allowed him to choose his own fate, and he selected eternal sleep, remaining deathless and ageless. He fathered Aetolus by a Naiad nymph or by Iphianassa.
According to Pausanias, Endymion deposed Clymenus, son of Cardys, at Olympia. Pausanias makes Aethlius, son of Zeus and Protogeneia, the father of Endymion. The moon fell in love with him and bore him fifty daughters; yet other sources say Endymion married Asterodia, Chromia, or Hyperippe and fathered Paeon, Epeius, and Aetolus, along with a daughter, Eurycyda. Endymion held a foot race at Olympia among his sons to settle the succession: Epeius won the kingdom, and his subjects were thereafter called Epeans. Aetolus remained at home, while Paeon, embittered by his defeat, went into exile beyond the river Axius, which afterwards bore his name as Paeonia.
Concerning his death, the people of Heracleia near Miletus disputed the Elean claim to his tomb, asserting instead that he withdrew to Mount Latmus, where a shrine honored him. Pausanias also reports seeing a statue of Endymion in the treasury of the Metapontines at Olympia.
Propertius, Cicero in the Tusculanae Quaestiones, and Theocritus treated the Endymion myth at length, repeating these themes with variations. Later poets such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and John Keats, in his 1818 poem Endymion, expanded and reworked the story.
Lucian of Samosata records an otherwise unattested tale in which a girl named Myia became Selene's rival for Endymion. Her constant talking woke him from sleep and angered Selene, who transformed the girl into a fly that still disturbs sleepers in his memory.
Conon made Endymion the son of Aethnos and father of Eurypyle and Aitolos, while the Recognitiones claimed he was descended from Zeus and Phoenissa, daughter of Alphionis (Alpheus).
III.Background
No explicit narrative of the myth survives, but Apollonius's Argonautica alludes to it when Selene reflects on her own situation in comparison with Medea: 'I'm not the only one then to skulk off to the Latmian cave, nor is it only I that burn with desire for fair Endymion.'
The image of Endymion as perpetually asleep rather than dead became proverbial — 'to sleep the sleep of Endymion' (Endymionis somnum dormire) — and made scenes of Endymion and Selene popular subjects on Late Antique sarcophagi, reflecting heightened concern about existence after death.
Some have held that Endymion personified sleep or the sunset; the name has been derived from a root meaning 'diving in,' which would suit such a representation, while Latin writers explained it as the sleep placed upon him.
The myth did not transfer easily to Artemis, the chaste Olympian moon goddess. During the Renaissance, however, the revived moon goddess Diana eventually acquired the Endymion story.