In Greek mythology, Selene (Greek Σελήνη /selɛ́ːnɛː/ 'moon';
Doric Σελάνα; Aeolic Σελάννα) was an archaic lunar deity and
the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia.[1] In Roman
mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon".
Like most moon deities, Selene plays a fairly large role in
her pantheon, which preceded the Olympic pantheon. However,
Selene, a Titan, was eventually largely supplanted by Artemis,
an Olympian; the Romans similarly deemed Luna predecessor to
Diana. In the collection known as the Homeric hymns, there is
a Hymn to Selene (xxxii), paired with the hymn to Helios. In
it, Selene is addressed as "far-winged", an epithet ordinarily
applied to birds. Selene is mentioned in Nonnus, Dionysiaca
48.581; Pausanias 5.1.4; and Strabo 14.1.6...
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（Σελήνη), also called Mene, or Latin Luna, was the goddess
of the moon, or the moon personified into a divine being.
She is called a daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and
accordingly a sister of Helios and Eos (Hes. Theog. 371,
&c.; Apollod. 1.2.2; Schol. ad Pind. Isthm. 5.1, ad Apollon.
Rhod. 4.55); but others speak of her as a daughter of
Hyperion by Euryphaessa (Hom. Hymn. 31. 5), or of Pallas
(Hom. Hymn. in Merc. 99, &c.), or of Zeus and Latona (Schol.
ad Eur. Phoen. 175), or lastly of Helios (Eurip. l.c.; comp.
Hygin. Praef. p. 10, ed. Muncker). She is also called
Phoebe, as the sister of Phoebus, the god of the sun. By
Endymion, whom she loved, and whom she sent to sleep in
order to kiss him, she became the mother of fifty daughters
(Apollod. 1.7.5; Cic. Tusc. 1.38; Catull. 66. 5; Paus.
5.1.2); by Zeus she became the mother of Pandeia, Ersa, and
Nemea (Hom. Hymn. 32. 14 ; Plut. Sympos. iii. in fin.;
Schol. ad Pind. Nem. Hypoth. p. 425, ed. Böckh). Pan also is
said to have had connexion with her in the shape of a white
ram (Verg. G. 3.391). Selene is described as a very
beautiful goddess, with long wings and a golden diadem (Hom.
Hymn. 32. 1, 7), and Aeschylus (Sept. 390) calls her the eye
of night. She rode, like her brother Helios, across the
heavens in a chariot drawn by two white horses, cows, or
mules (Ov. Fast. 4.374, 3.110, Rem. Am. 258 ; Auson. Ep.
5.3; Claudian, Rapt. Proserp. 3.403; Nonn. Dionys. 7.244).
She was represented on the pedestal of the throne of Zeus at
Olympia, riding on a horse or a mule (Paus. 5.11.3); and at
Elis there was a statue of her with two horns (Paus.
6.24.5). In later times Selene was identified with Artemis,
and the worship of the two became amalgamated (Callim. Hymn.
in Dian. 114, 141 ; Soph. Oed. Tyr. 207 ; Plut. Sympos.
l.c.; Catull. 34. 16; Serv. ad Aen. 4.511, 6.118). In works
of art, however, the two divinities are usually
distinguished; the face of Selene being more full and round,
her figure less tall, and always clothed in a long robe; her
veil forms an arch above her head, and above it there is the
crescent. (Hirt, Mythol. Bilderb. p. 38.)
At Rome Luna had a temple on the Aventine. (Liv. 40.2; Ov.
Fast. 3.884.) - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography
and mythology, William Smith, Ed.
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