01 · The stories
Myths & defining acts
Falls in love with Endymion (Apollodorus 1.7.5) and bears him fifty daughters (Pausanias 5.1.4).
02 · Sacred lineage
Family & relations
In Hesiod, Selene is a child of Hyperion and Theia, with Helios and Eos (Theogony 371–374). In Pausanias's account, the Moon fell in love with Endymion and bore him fifty daughters (5.1.4).
Greek literary genealogies and Roman cult identities are not interchangeable. Explore the family tree and its traditions.
03 · Places of devotion
Abode & sacred sites
The sky; modern reference works list a temple of Luna on the Aventine in Rome.
04 · Two traditions
Greek & Roman perspectives
The Greek perspective
In Apollodorus, the Moon fell in love with Endymion, who chose to sleep forever and remain deathless and ageless (Library 1.7.5). The Homeric Hymn to Selene (32) addresses her as the Moon.
The Roman perspective
Modern reference works describe the cult and temples of Luna in Rome, including a temple on the Aventine.
05 · Extensive analysis
A closer reading
In the sources cited here, Selene's best-known story is her love for Endymion, told briefly by Apollodorus and Pausanias. The Homeric Hymn praises her radiance.
06 · Primary sources
What the sources say
These are the main ancient passages behind this entry, with what each one actually says.
- Hesiod, Theogony lines 371–374
Theia bears great Helius, clear Selene and Eos.
Read the passage - Homeric Hymn, To Selene (32) opening lines
The Muses are asked to tell of the long-winged Moon, from whose immortal head a radiance shines from heaven.
Read the passage - Apollodorus, Library book 1, chapter 7, section 5
As Endymion was of surpassing beauty, the Moon fell in love with him; Zeus allowed him to choose, and he chose to sleep forever, deathless and ageless.
Read the passage - Pausanias, Description of Greece book 5, chapter 1, section 4
The Moon, they say, fell in love with Endymion and bore him fifty daughters.
Read the passage - Wikipedia, Luna (goddess), a modern summary section on cult and temples
Describes the cult and temples of Luna in Rome, including the temple on the Aventine.
Read the passage
07 · Story & deeper insight
Selene, Luna and the sleeping Endymion
Endymion receives the possibility of enduring sleep without ageing, and Selene is associated with love for the beautiful sleeper. Ancient accounts disagree about his parentage, his status and the exact arrangement of his fate. The familiar image of the moon goddess approaching him unites those traditions through a quiet encounter outside ordinary waking life.
The apparent tenderness has an unresolved tension. Endymion remains beautiful and protected from change, yet sleep also removes his active participation. The myth links desire to preservation: what the lover wants to keep can be immobilised rather than allowed to develop. That is an interpretation of the image, not a single explicit ancient moral.
Roman Luna embodies the moon in a religious setting with its own sanctuaries and practices. She should not automatically be merged with Diana in every context, even though ancient writers and later artists could connect them. Endymion's story offers a way to think about cyclical return, nocturnal presence and the difference between an enduring image and an ordinary human relationship.