Selene

Roman statue of Selene

Perge, c. 2nd century CE. Source: Antalya Museum

Selene & Endymion

A ROMAN MARBLE MOSAIC PANEL CIRCA 3RD CENTURY A.D. depicting Selene driving her bull-drawn biga, the moon goddess clad in a peplos, her right arm by her side, raising a lit torch in her left that illuminates her lover, the sleeping Endymion, draped only in a mantle, his shepherd's crook in his right hand, with the winged erote Pothos, the god of sexual longing, in the upper right corner, pointing with his right hand at the scene below.

Marble sarcophagus depicting the myth of Selene and Endymion, Ostia, Italy, c. 3rd century CE. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Parthenon. East pediment. Selene

Pheidias' workshop, 437-432 BC
This headless female statue belongs to Selene. The goddess, depicted down to her waist, dives into the sea driving her chariot (Ακρ. 19053) to the west. She is dressed in a belted peplos above which falls her short epiblema. The straps that cross her chest keep her garment in place against the force of the wind. The holes around her waist once received her bronze belt buckle and those on her shoulders the pins that held her garment.

An altar with Selene

Roman altar with a depiction of Selene accompanied by either the Dioscuri or Phospherus and Hesperios (the morning and evening stars) (2nd Century CE); Louvre Museum,

Endymion as a hunter looking at the descending Selene

Fresco from Pompeii, c. 1st century CE

Latmos Mountain Range: Selene's Luna Landscape

It is these mountains that are the setting for the Greek myth of moon goddess Selene, who fell in love with the beautiful sleeping shepherd Endymion, having asked Zeus to grant him eternal youth and beauty. A shrine to Endymion remains to this day.

Selene in a Chariot

Earliest known depiction of Selene in a chariot. It is said that the work portrays the Moon's ascension as the Giants are beaten in the Gigantomachy. Attic red-figure kylix, c. 490–480 BC, by the Brygos Painter.

The archetypal und archaic Anatolian goddess, Cybele, was revered not only throughout Anatolia but also on the neighboring (modern day) Greek islands.

Evidence of her cult can still be seen today in the cave formations and niches carved into hillsides. Her great gift to humanity is the mystery of rebirth.

Many of these caves symbolize the birth canal and end in womb-like forms. On the island of Samos, for example, one enters the caves as if stepping back into the darkness of the womb—not of a biological mother and father, but of the Great Goddess of eternity.

During our journey through Anatolia, we will visit many such places—caves and rock niches where Cybele was likely venerated long before the appearance and unveiling of the many goddesses who later emerged in human consciousness, in our hearts and in our souls.