In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Selene is the goddess and personification of the Moon — the divine figure who embodies the lunar orb, not the astronomical body considered apart from myth. Also called Mene, she is traditionally the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun god Helios and the dawn goddess Eos. She drives a moon chariot across the heavens. Her best-known myth is her love for the mortal Endymion. Her Roman counterpart is Luna. In later periods she was often identified with Artemis and associated with Hecate, but only Selene was regarded as the Moon's own personification.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Selene" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Hesiod's Theogony and the Homeric Hymn to Helios make Selene the daughter of Hyperion and Theia (or Euryphaëssa), sister of Helios and Eos. Other sources vary: the Homeric Hymn to Hermes names Pallas son of Megamedes as her father; Euripides sometimes makes her daughter of Helios; a few late notices link her to Leto or Zeus.
By Zeus she was mother of Pandia and, in Alcman, of Ersa (Dew); by Endymion tradition gives her fifty daughters (often read as the fifty lunar months of an Olympiad). Other children attributed in scattered sources include Narcissus (Nonnus), the Horae (by Helios, in Quintus Smyrnaeus), and the poet Musaeus.
II.Mythology
Like Helios, Selene drives a chariot across the sky — usually with two horses (sometimes oxen or bulls) — after bathing in Ocean and donning gleaming raiment, as the Homeric Hymn to Selene describes. She appears on the Gigantomachy frieze of the Pergamon Altar riding into battle beside Helios and Eos, and late epic has her lock horns with Typhon.
Her principal romance is with Endymion of Mount Latmus, whom she visits in eternal or divinely granted sleep; versions differ on whether Zeus, Selene, or Endymion's own choice caused that sleep. Other episodes include her seduction by Pan (Virgil), her role when Zeus lengthened the night for Alcmene, and traditions that connect her with the birth or rearing of the Nemean Lion "fallen from the moon."
III.Iconography and cult
In art Selene appears with a crescent on her brow or as a lunar disk, often riding a chariot or sidesaddle on horseback, sometimes with a torch and a veil billowing into a crescent over her head. She frequently frames cosmic scenes with Helios — as on the Parthenon pediments and the base of the Zeus at Olympia. Roman sarcophagi favour the Endymion reunion.
Her independent cult was modest compared with Artemis or Hecate, with whom she was often merged in worship. Attested honours include the Laconian oracle near Thalamai, an altar at Epidaurus, offerings at Athens among celestial gods, and joint worship with Helios at Gytheum. This notice concerns the goddess Selene; the Moon as a natural satellite, the asteroid 580 Selene, and other modern namesakes lie outside the mythological figure.