"But now she stands out among Lydian women
as sometimes at sunset
rosy-fingered #Selene
surpasses all the stars. And her light
stretches over salt sea
equally and flowerdeep fields.
And the beautiful dew is poured out
and roses bloom and frail
chervil and flowering sweetclover.
But she goes back and forth remembering
gentle Atthis and in longing desire
she bites her tender mind."
Sappho 96
"She [Kallisto] was a hunting companion of Artemis, imitating her dress and remaining under oath a virgin for the goddess. But #Zeus fell in love with her and forced her into bed, taking the likeness, some say, or Artemis, others, of Apollon."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.100
The dual deity Mawu-Lisa came to the #Fon pantheon from the Aja people. In the dual Mawu-Lisa, #Mawu is female and Lisa male. Their union is regarded as the basis of the universal order. The Fon identify Mawu with the #moon, night, fertility, motherhood, gentleness, forgiveness, rest, and joy while Lisa is the sun. They are the parents of #Hevioso, God of Thunder.
I read that in Hindu #mythology, Agni, the god of fire is married both to the goddess Svaha and the male Moon god Soma with Agni having a receptive role in this relationship and tha fire (agni) and water (soma), determined the gender of a child. Anyone know if this #bisexual marriage really is a thing in Hindu mythology?
"Not ye had the wakeful dawn put all the stars to flight from heaven, and Luna (the Moon) was beholding the approach of day with fading horn."
Statius, Thebaid 12.1
🏛️ The goddess #Luna in her biga, relief on the Arch of Constantinus, tondo on short west side, 312—315 CE, #Rome
"Whensoever bright #Selene (the Moon) having bathed her lovely body in the waters of Okeanos, and donned her far-gleaming raiment, and yoked her strong-necked, shining team, and drives on her long-maned horses at full speed, at eventime."
Homeric Hymn 32 to Selene
🏛️ Selene and Helios, red figure vase painting, Canosa, Italy, ca. 330 – 310 BCE
"Luna the Moon's course also has a sort of winter and summer solstice; and she emits many streams of influence, which supply animal creatures with nourishment and stimulate their growth and which cause plants to flourish and attain maturity."
Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.14
🏛️ Roman coin depicting moon goddess #Luna with a crab
"Bright Selene (the Moon) having bathed her lovely body in the waters of #Okeanos, and donned her far-gleaming raiment, and yoked her strong-necked, shining team, and drives on her long-maned horses at full speed, at eventime in the mid-month."
Homeric Hymn 32 to Selene
🏛️ Red figure vase painting of #Selene rising from the sea in her chariot
"[Endymion] a man of unrivalled beauty, he was loved by Selene. When he was given a wish of his choice by #Zeus, he chose to remain immortal and unaging in eternal sleep."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.56
"‘So I [#Selene] am not the only one to go astray for love, I that burn for beautiful #Endymion and seek him in the Latmian cave. [...] And now you are as lovesick as myself. The little god of mischief [#Eros] has given you Iason, and many a heartache with him.'"
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.55
🏛️ Selene, Endymion, and Pothos, Roman #mosaic dated ca 3th century CE
"‘Be gracious to me, shining deity,’ I said, ‘and let the rocks of Latmos rise in thy mind! Endymion will not have you austere of heart. Bend, O I pray, your face to aid my secret loves. You, a goddess, did glide from the skies and seek a mortal love.'" #Ovid, Heroides 18.59
🏛️ #Endymion sarcophagus, detail of #Selene, Endymion, #Eros, early 3rd century CE, Roman Marble
"Three nights remained before Luna's [#Selene's] bright horns would meet and form her orb; then when she shone in fullest radiance and with form complete gazed down upon the sleeping lands below." #Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.179
"Hear, O divine queen, light-bringing and splendid #Selene,
Bull-horned #Moon traversing the air in a race with night.
Nocturnal, torch-bearing, maiden of fair stars,
Moon waxing and waning, feminine and masculine,
Glittering lover of horses, mother of time, bearer of fruit."
Orphic Hymn 9 to Selene
🏛️ #Luna-Selene marble statue, dated circa 150-200 CE
"The air, unlit before, glows with the light of her golden crown, and her rays beam clear, whensoever bright Selene [...] donned her far-gleaming raiment, and yoked her strong-necked, shining team, and drives on her long-maned horses at full speed."
Homeric Hymn 32 to Selene
🏛️ #Selene on a kylix, #Attica ca 490 BCE, Brygos Painter
"Selene (the #Moon) at her full and all the signs with which heaven is crowned. Greetings, all you immortal gods everlasting and immortal goddesses!"
Greek Lyric V Anonymous, Fragments 937, Inscription from the shrine of Asklepios at #Epidaurus
"He has this haughty symbol on his shield: a well-crafted sky, ablaze with stars, and the brightness of the full moon (panselene) shining in the center of the shield, the moon that is the most revered of the stars, the eye of night."
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 389
🏛️ Luna-Selene, relief on the pediment at the Roman Baths
"May you [#Luna, the Moon] wear a shining face and, the clouds all scattered, fare on with undimmed horns; when you drive your car through the nightly skies."
Seneca, Phaedra 417
#Selene, the Moon, peeks down from the heavens on her nightly course and sometimes she sees handsome men from up there. For #Endymion, she descended from the skies to have a better look at him in his sleep. Creepy or romantic? What do you think?
🏛️ Selene and Endymion #fresco in the House of Ara Massima, #Pompeii
"You [Helios the Sun], greatest glory of the unclouded sky [...] and you, his sister, ever faring opposite to your brother, Phoebe [Selene the Moon], night-wanderer."
Seneca, Oedipus 250
"May you [#Luna-Selene the Moon] wear a shining face and, the clouds all scattered, fare on with undimmed horns; when you drive your car through the nightly skies."
Seneca, Phaedra 417 ff
🏛️ #Selene in her chariot drawn by bulls across the sky, about 1st CE, British Museum
"Swelled like young Mene's [Selene's] arching chariot-rail when high over Okeanos' fathomless-flowing stream she rises, with the space half filled with light betwixt her bowing horns."
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 1.147
Sculpture of #Selene carved from a cylinder of coarse-grained marble. It shows no traces of reworking. The right hand, which may have held a torch, is missing. She probably adorned a sanctuary, perhaps a domestic one.
Full description in the alt text.
🏛️ Statue of Selene, white marble (Proconnesio), dated 250-300 CE