Mythology on Selene


I wrote this in the seventh grade. My facts have been checked over by two historians so I am quite sure they are true. If they are not and you have some new additons you would like to add, feel free to email me with them and I will most certianly give you credit when/if I add them.
Selene
By: Shannon Lee
Posted: 4/28/03

For my Greek/ Roman mythology report, I chose to do the Greek goddess Selene. In the following, I include many important and detailed facts about this particular goddess.

Selene is the principal goddess of the moon. She was worshiped at the new and full moons. Her parents were the Titans Hyperion and Theia. She, like her brother Helios, drove her chariot across the sky once Helios, the sun god, finished his ride. When she finished her ride, she rested in the sea to away her brother?s return. This represented the rise and fall of the sun and moon.

Selene is most known for the romantic story about how she fell in love with a handsome mortal man by the name of Endymion. He was a farmer boy for Asia Minor. Every night she would visit him. One night she did not come to visit him. It was said that she wanted him to never age so she put him into an eternal sleep to forever keep his youth. There was also another version of this, It was said the Selene begged Zeus, the king of gods, to let Endymion have a choice and he chose eternal sleep.

Though Endymion was to sleep forever, that did not stop Selene and him from having children. Selene seduced him in his sleep and she soon gave birth to 50 known daughters. Endymion rested in a cave on Mount Latmus.

In Hellenistic Greece, Selene fused together with Artemis, who was the goddess of wild animals, hunting, vegetation and childbirth. Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, the Twin sister of Apollo. In the Roman mythology, they equated her with Luna. Luna means moon and therefore was the name of Selene is this mythology.

The popular show Sailor Moon dictates to us that the main character is supposed to be a reincarnated version of Selene. It also tells us that the gods or representatives of those gods of Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Saturn and earth have each been reincarnated in this show.