selene greek mythology

Certain types of insanity were said to be brought on by the moons influence, and it was believed that Selene had the power to create lunacy with purpose. Hesiod, Catalogue of Women frag. [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. [107], Ovid mentions how in the myth of Phaethon, Helios' son who drove his father's chariot for a day, when Phaethon lost control of the chariot and burned the earth, Selene in the sky looked down to see in amazement her brother's horses running wild lower than normal. 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 name of the moon goddess is surrounded by accounts of the consorts she had and their children. [31] Mesomedes of Crete calls her (glauk, "silvery grey"). Selene has a minor planet named after her, called 580 Selene. These were the fifty daughters who were fathered by Endymion the fifty months represented the four-year cycle of the Olympiads. Many of Selenes epithetsincluding (agl, gleaming), (pasiph, all-shining), and (tanyspteros, long-winged)reflected her lunar qualities and other distinctive attributes. Their daughter Eos was the first to appear each day. But she quite likes being glimpsed through the clouds and her coyness is somewhat . Hesiod, Theogony 371ff; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.2; etc. 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. He soon discovered the source of Selenes distraction. Helios was married to Perse, but he had quite a few extramarital affairs, and a number of children . By all accounts, Selene seemed to have played a major role in this war. 200 (cited in the scholia on Aristophanes Frogs 1033); Orphica frag. H. G. Evelyn-White; cf. Around this time, Selene came to be identified with more important goddesses such as Artemis and Hecateidentifications that expanded her role in Greek religion. [9] Mene and Men both derive from Proto-Hellenic *mns ("month"), itself from Proto-Indo-European *mhns (meaning moon, the lunar month), which probably comes from the root *meh- ("to measure"), and is cognate with the English words "Moon" and "month". One of the most important sources of this myth is in the Greek satirist Lucian of Samosatas Dialogues of the Gods, where Aphrodite and Selene talk about the latters love for Endymion. Secretive and shy, she enjoys flitting silently through the night with a pearl-white or silvery chariot. [142] In Theocritus' second Idyll, a young girl invokes Selene in a love-spell. Those that do exist are somewhat generic (like the previously mentioned epithets). Hyginus, preface to Fabulae. According to the Homeric Hymn 32, Selene and Zeus together had a daughter named Pandia. [28], Another version is known only from Lucian, a satirical writer from the second century CE. in, Palagia, Olga (2005), "Fire from Heaven: Pediments and Akroteria of the Parthenon" in, Parisinou, Eva, "Brightness personified: light and devine image in ancient Greece" in, Robertson, Noel (1996), "Athena's Shrines and Festivals" in, Savignoni L. 1899. Well, go on, and steel thy heart, wise though thou be, to take up thy burden of pain, fraught with many sighs."[70]. According to some, she bore fifty children while her lover slept and dreamed of her beauty. Selene was the goddess of the moon. [54], The earliest known depiction of Selene driving a chariot adorns the inside of an early 5th century BC red-figure cup attributed to the Brygos Painter, showing Selene plunging her chariot, drawn by two winged horses, into the sea (Berlin Antikensammlung F 2293). Selene was one of the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses, and her story is one of the most captivating in Greek mythology. She was worshipped at the new and full moons. [14], The original PIE moon deity has been reconstructed as *Mehnot (from which 'Mene', Selene's byname, is derived),[15] and it appears that it was a male god. While there were many goddesses associated with the moon and lunar powers, Selene personified the moon and its light. This irritated Endymion, and enraged Selene, who transforms the girl into a fly (Ancient Greek: , romanized:mua). Kapach, Avi. fr. And a memorial of her couch abides still neath the oaks; for mid the copses round was poured out milk of kine; and still do men marvelling behold its whiteness. This story seems to have made its way into Roman mythology as well since many of the greatest Roman scholars, from Cicero to Seneca, have written about it. It was only later, when Selene began to be conflated with other lunar goddesses, that she was openly worshiped. Selene was, while not worshiped openly, apparently the object of many spells and invocations addressed to her by young women. She also had a statue, alongside Helios, in the public marketplace of Elis. The legendary Greek poet, Museaus, a mortal, was also said to be the child of Selene from an unknown father. [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. Instead, Zeus collected all the herbs for himself. In the Greek calendar, they used the phases of the moon to calculate a month made up of three ten-day periods. But the Greek cult of Selene grew more and more prevalent towards the end of the Hellenistic period (32331 BCE). Both Epimenides and the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras seem to use the exact words fell from the moon while speaking of the savage Lion of Nemea, Epimenides again using the words fair tressed Selene.. Athena, also spelled Athene, in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva. [98], According to Virgil, Selene also had a tryst with the god Pan, who seduced her with a "snowy bribe of wool". She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. The talkative Myia would sit with Endymion as he slept his eternal sleep, chattering endlesslyso much so that Endymion eventually woke up. [4], The name "Selene" is derived from the Greek noun selas (), meaning "light, brightness, gleam". Her father was the Titan god of heavenly light, while her mother represented the blue color of the sky. [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. The masculine form, Phoebus, was used in reference to either Apollo or. The moon goddess Selene had two siblings the sun and the dawn, also known as Helios and Eos respectively. But in the case of her daughters with Endymion, it is widely known that Selene gave birth to the fifty daughters known as the Menai. Selenes role in this war was not only to fight against the giants. Selene's Role She was the goddess of the moon, which she drove every night across the skies. There is no mention of Selene as a goddess in either the Iliad or the Odyssey of Homer,[22] while her only mention in Hesiod's Theogony is as the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and sister of Helios and Eos. She was said to represent the full moon. ), The name Selene (Greek , translit. [34] She also had a sacred statue (which stood alongside one of her brother Helios) in the public market of Elis.[35]. [7] The Greek word mene, meant the moon, and the lunar month. She was the goddess of the dawn and brought new light to the world every morning. The Titaness Selene was one of three siblings who brought light to the sky. Selene (Greek mythology) The goddess of the Moon. The bull was also one of her symbols and at times it was the bull that she was depicted to be riding. 3 Most Important Characters in Greek Mythology, 5 Awesome Greek Mythology Fiction Books for Kids, Aphrodite Facts: Awesome Facts about the Goddess of Love and Beauty. 10; Pisander, Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (FGrH) 16 frag. Together, they fittingly created three sources of celestial illumination. Worshiped as one of the important celestial lights of the heavens, Selene was also reputedly revered as a deity of agriculture and fertility. Greek mythology, body of stories concerning the gods, heroes, and rituals of the ancient Greeks. The moon goddess and Artemis were occasionally shown as companions. Whether by request or as punishment, Zeus put Endymion into an ageless sleep so he would remain eternally youthful beneath the night sky. the crescent moon, full moon, and dark moon, as delinted by the divisions of the calendar month).[154]. Both of these Goddesses are also associated with Hecate. Along with presiding over dangerous sea creatures, Ceto produced her own set of frightening . In ancient Greek mythology, Selene, is the Titan goddess of the moon and is said to drive her glowing chariot powered by beautiful white horses across the sky each night. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. She was descended . What are Hades Powers that are Really Scary? [58] In some later accounts the chariot was drawn by oxen or bulls. [134], Selene was sometimes associated with childbirth, for it was believed that during the full moon women had the easiest labours; this helped in her identification with the goddess Artemis,[138] as well as other goddesses connected to women's labours. [45] Selene and Zeus were also said to be the parents of Nemea, the eponymous nymph of Nemea, where Heracles slew the Nemean Lion, and where the Nemean Games were held. The sky was dark at night and the sun more lethargic than usual. Selene - The Moon Goddess - Greek Mythology - See U in History Art: Marcus AquinoColor: Rod Fernandes#GreekMythology #Mythology #SeeUinHistory #History #Myth. Her brother Helios shone as the sun, while her sister Eos was the goddess of the dawn. [114] From Pausanias, we learn that Selene and Helios also framed the birth of Aphrodite on the base of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. Virgil, Georgics 3.391ff; Servius on Virgils Georgics 3.391 (citing the second-century BCE poet Nicander as the original source). Selene. Mythopedia, December 07, 2022. https://mythopedia.com/topics/selene. [68] However, the first account of the story comes from the third-century BC Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, which tells of Selene's "mad passion" and her visiting the "fair Endymion" in a cave on Mount Latmus:[69], And the Titanian goddess, the moon, rising from a far land, beheld her [Medea] as she fled distraught, and fiercely exulted over her, and thus spake to her own heart: 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. In some versions, Zeus cursed Endymion because he fell in love with Queen Hera, wife of Zeus. [85][86] Selene gallops sidesaddle in advance, and wears a woolen undergarment and a mantle. 3/4, 1973, pp. According to Hesiods 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). Selene was not the only lunar goddess of the Greeks. [96] Pseudo-Plutarch's On Rivers has Hera collaborating with Selene, "employing magical incantations" to create the Nemean Lion from a chest filled with foam. Selene leaving her chariot, Roman mosaic, Andalusia. 199; Strabo, Geography 14.1.8; Catullus, Odes 66.5; Propertius, Elegies 2.15; Ovid, Heroides 15.89ff, 18.59ff; Seneca, Phaedra 309ff; Hyginus, Fabulae 271; Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 8.28ff; Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 19; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2.325ff, 4.195ff, 7.237ff, and passim; Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica 10.125ff; etc. The crescent moon, full moon, and dark moon corresponded to the three states of being embodied by the Fates. This includes mythical sea monsters, whales, sharks, dragons, and venomous animals. Pan, the god of the wild, supposedly seduced Selene while dressed in a sheepskin. In memory of the beautiful Endymion, the fly still grudges all sleepers their rest and annoys them. 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. From her immortal head a radiance is shown from heaven and embraces earth; and great is the beauty that ariseth from her shining light. In the Homeric Hymn to Selene, she bears the beautiful Pandeic to Zeus, while Alcman says they are the parents of Herse, the dew. The Homeric Hymn 31 sings praises to all the children of Hyperion, referring to Eos as rosy armed Eos and to Helios as tireless Helios.. Her brother Helios shone as the original source ) sky was dark at night and the month., supposedly seduced Selene while dressed in a sheepskin epithets ) Zeus cursed Endymion because he fell in love Queen! Father was the goddess of the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses, and a number of children the name (. Annoys them the bull was also reputedly revered as a deity of agriculture fertility! Blue color of the outdoors mother represented the four-year cycle of the Olympiads 200 ( in... Poet, Museaus, a mortal, was used in reference to either Apollo or being glimpsed through the and... 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Sleep so he would remain eternally youthful beneath the night sky goddess is surrounded by accounts the... ) the goddess of the moon goddess Selene had two siblings the sun more lethargic usual. Not worshiped openly, apparently the object of many spells and invocations addressed to her by women! A young girl invokes Selene in a love-spell 200 ( cited in the scholia on Frogs.
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