Selene (Titan Moon)
titanThe Titan goddess who drove the silver chariot of the moon across the night sky, daughter of Hyperion and Theia.
The Myth
Selene was the Titan goddess of the moon, daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister to Helios and Eos. Each night she drove her silver chariot drawn by two white horses across the sky, her pale light illuminating the world between sunset and dawn. Her greatest myth is her love for the mortal shepherd Endymion. Selene saw him sleeping on Mount Latmus and fell so deeply in love that she asked Zeus to grant him eternal sleep so he would never age or die. Zeus complied, and Endymion sleeps forever in a cave on Latmus while Selene visits him nightly — a poetic explanation for why the moon seems to pause over certain mountains. She bore Endymion fifty daughters, sometimes identified with the fifty months of the Olympiad. Selene was gradually merged with Artemis and Hecate in later Greek religion, becoming one face of the triple-goddess of the moon.
Fun Fact
The element selenium was named after Selene because it was found alongside tellurium, which is named after the Earth.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Hyperion
titanTitan of light and father of the sun, moon, and dawn. Hyperion was one of the original twelve...
Hyperion (Titan Sun)
titanThe Titan of heavenly light who fathered Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon), and Eos (Dawn) — the three...
Theia
titanTheia was the Titaness of sight and shining light — mother of the Sun, Moon, and Dawn.
Theia (Titaness of Sight)
titanThe Titaness of sight and shining who endowed gold, silver, and gems with their radiance and lustre.
Endymion
heroEndymion was a beautiful shepherd whom the moon goddess Selene loved so deeply that she asked Zeus...
Eos
godThe rosy-fingered goddess of the dawn who rose each morning to open the gates of heaven for her...
Helios (Sun God)
godHelios was the Titan god who drove the chariot of the sun across the sky each day — seeing...
Selene
godThe Titaness who personified the moon, driving her silver chariot across the night sky. She fell in...
Selene (Moon)
godSelene was the Titaness who drove the silver chariot of the moon across the night sky — she loved...
Eos (Titan Dawn)
titanThe rosy-fingered goddess of dawn who opened the gates of heaven each morning for her brother...
Helios (Titan Witness)
titanThe Titan who drove the sun chariot across the sky each day and saw everything that happened on...
Titan Mnemosyne (Memory)
titanThe Titaness of memory who lay with Zeus for nine nights and bore the nine Muses, making her the...