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As we’ve seen in many mythologies, the sun and the moon were believed to have been physical
representations of actual deities. In other accounts, the gods would ferry the sun and
the moon across the sky as a means to explain why and how the sun and the moon appeared in different
places in the sky, depending on the time of day. To the ancient Egyptians, this was the sun god Ra,
who in his barge would ferry the sun across the sky before being swallowed up by the underworld
to commence nightfall. The Greeks had a similar notion with Helios,
the sun god, who in his chariot (much like Ra’s barge) would soar across the sky in the
same pattern as the sun was believed to. The same was also true of Selene, a deity who the
Greeks believed also commandeered a chariot and orchestrated the movement of the moon itself.
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Unfortunately, there do not exist descriptions of Selene which have survived from the ancient world,
other than her appearance as the moon of course. In a Homeric Hymn, only her role and
some miscellaneous information is revealed to us, where we are told “And next, sweet voiced Muses,
daughters of Zeus, well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged Moon. From her immortal head
a radiance is shown from heaven and embraces earth; and great is the beauty that ariseth
from her shining light. 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. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men.”
Going from this passage, we can see that much of Selene’s physicalities are not actually detailed,
though from other hymns, she is attributed with having ‘lovely hair’ which is both long
and worn in locks. In an Orphic Hymn meanwhile, she is described as maintaining horns as well as
carrying with her a torch. As far as classical artwork goes, Selene maintains some consistent
characteristics including an arched veil over her head, a torch in her hand and a crescent
moon featured behind her head or as an accessory upon her hair. Selene however has also changed
over the years, sometimes appearing long haired, short haired and with varying degrees of beauty
and colour. Like the moon, it seems that she too changed in appearance - sometimes appearing full,
sometimes half and sometimes crescent shaped. One mythological tale speaks of Selene’s mother Theia
attempting to clothe her daughter, but each time she knits her a garment, Selene changes shape.
Her name ‘Selene’ was believed to have been derived from the Greek noun ‘Selas’, meaning
‘light or brightness’ - a possible reference to how bright and luminescent the moon can appear.
In other traditions, she was known as the Greek ‘Mene’,
which also happened to mean moon. With this, it’s easy to see that to some,
Selene wasn’t just a deity who was responsible for the moon, but that she was the moon incarnate.
As mentioned, Selene was the daughter of The Titaness Theia, who had married the
Titan Hyperion, both of whom maintained a realm of influence over light. Her siblings were Helios and
Eos, the former being the Titan God of the Sun and the latter being the Titan Goddess of the Dawn.
Much like her brother Helios, who drove the sun, Selene was responsible for driving the moon,
which is how the ancient Greeks explained the moon’s ever changing positioning in the sky.
In some interpretations, Selene was believed to ride on a horse, or drove a silver chariot
that was drawn by either winged horses or oxen. Again, like her brother, this was also the case,
for Helios was believed to herald the sun across the sky in a similar chariot of his own.
As far as the Mythology goes, Selene does appear in several well known tales,
the first and foremost being her romantic involvement with the mortal Endymion. The story
goes that on her journey across the night’s sky, Selene spotted Endymion sleeping and believed him
to be the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Every night, she was said to descend from the sky
to be with Endymion, though because of her duty as the moon, she was forced to be apart from him.
So with this, Selene visited Zeus and asked him to grant Endymion eternal sleep, so that
she might be able to visit him forever. Indeed, though she could not speak to him or have any real
interaction with the sleeping Endymion ever again, it did prevent him from growing old and dying.
In his sleeping state, she could also continue to at least see him and thus,
also prevent him from finding another love and living his life without her. You might argue that
Selene acts selfishly in her efforts to maintain her romance and that essentially freezing Endymion
asleep ultimately robs him of his own decision and life. But there are those who see the more
romantic side of the story and champion Selene as a tragic character, who knew because of her duty
and status as a God, she could never be with Endymion and be happy, much less be with him
forever considering his mortality. So she chooses the only happiness she can maintain
and that is to preserve him in a suspended animation, arguably neither living or dead.
Of course, the tale has since spawned many different versions and because of the nature
of the original text, which is fragmentary and inconclusive, the story itself is open to
interpretation. In other versions of this story, Endymion was a son of Zeus and that granted him
the luxury of being able to choose how to die. With this, Endymion chose the most peaceful
option he could think of, which was to die in his sleep. In another version, the eternal sleep is a
punishment from Zeus because Endymion had tried it on with his wife Hera. In either account, it would
appear that Selene can continue to be seen as a tragic character at the whims of the circumstances
around her. She is denied her love by Zeus on both occasions, either owing to the fact that
Zeus forces Endymion to choose his death or forces the death upon him. In another version, Endymion
was believed to have rejected Selene and so, her request that he be put to sleep forever was to
maintain the facade that they could be lovers and so that she could kiss him in his sleep.
Syrian satirist Lucian of Samosata tells us of a different version where Selene fights
for the affections of Endymion against a girl named Muia. Muia, who was mortal, was able to
spend more time with Endymion but because she was so talkative, she kept Endymion awake at night.
Enraged over Muia’s closeness to Endymion and irritated that she had kept him awake,
Selene transforms the girl into a fly. Supposedly, the girl still exists in the form of this fly,
bothering those who are trying to sleep with conversation.
Going by other stories, Zeus once again has his way with whatever woman he wants
by having children with Selene. These include Pandia, Ersa and Nemea the nymph.
But if you know of any other myths containing Selene then
feel free to let me know in the comments below.
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With all that being said, I hope you all have a good evening and I’ll see you in the next one.
Until next time!