Editing Selene (section)

== Descriptions ==
[[File:Statua di Selene.jpg|thumb|Statue of Selene in white marble, second half of the 3rd century AD]]

Surviving descriptions of Selene's physical appearance and character, apart from those which would apply to the moon itself, are scant. There is no mention of Selene as a goddess in either the ''[[Iliad]]'' or the ''[[Odyssey]]'' of [[Homer]],<ref>Stoll, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UWoBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA61 p. 61].</ref> while her only mention in [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' is as the daughter of [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]] and  [[Theia]], and sister of [[Helios]] and [[Eos]].<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0020.tlg001.perseus-eng1:371-403 371&ndash;374].</ref> She was, however, the subject of one of the thirty-three ''[[Homeric Hymns]]'', which gives the following description:

{{blockquote|And next, sweet voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus, well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged<ref>A winged Selene seems to be unique to this ''Hymn'', see Allen, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0029%3Atext%3Dcomm%3Apoem%3D32 [1<nowiki>]</nowiki> "τανυσίπτερον"].</ref> Moon. From her immortal head a radiance is shown from heaven and embraces earth; and great is the beauty that ariseth from her shining light. The air, unlit before, glows with the light of her golden crown, and her rays beam clear, whensoever bright Selene having bathed her lovely body in the waters of Ocean, and donned her far-gleaming raiment, and yoked her strong-necked, shining team, drives on her long-maned horses at full speed, at eventime in the mid-month: then her great orbit is full and then her beams shine brightest as she increases. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men.
...
Hail, white-armed goddess, bright Selene, mild, bright-tressed queen!<ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Hymn to Selene]]'' (32) 1&ndash;17, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D32 translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White].</ref>}}

Two other sources also mention her hair. The ''Homeric Hymn to Helios'' uses the same epithet ''εὐπλόκαμος'' ("bright-tressed"), used in the above ''Hymn to Selene'' (elsewhere translated as "rich-", "lovely-", or "well-tressed"),<ref>''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Helios]]'' (31) [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg031.perseus-eng1:31 6] ([http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg032.perseus-eng1:32 Evelyn-White: "rich-tressed"]; [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_31_helios/2003/pb_LCL496.215.xml West 2003: "lovely-tressed"]), ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Selene]]'', (32) 18 ([https://www.loebclassics.com/view/homeric_hymns_32_selene/2003/pb_LCL496.219.xml West 2003: "lovely-tressed"]; Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA55 pp. 55&ndash;56: "well-tressed"]). Keightley, describes ''εὐπλόκαμος'', along with ''λευκώλενος'' also used in the ''Hymn to Selene'', "white-armed", as being two of the "usual epithets of the goddesses".</ref> while Epimenides uses the epithet ''ἠυκόμοιο'' ("lovely-haired").<ref>[[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''On Animals'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aelian-characteristics_animals/1958/pb_LCL449.23.xml 12.7]  [= [[Epimenides]] fr. 3B2 [[Hermann Alexander Diels|Diels]] = [https://books.google.com/books?id=B75GgVdxYT0C&pg=PA10 fr. 2 Freeman] ([http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=text:epimenides_of_crete_fragments Online version at Demonax | Hellenic Library]; [[A Greek–English Lexicon]] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Deu)%2Fkomos s.v. εὔκομος].</ref>

In late accounts, Selene (like the moon itself) is often described as having horns.<ref>For a horned Selene see for example: [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''[[Medea (Seneca)|Medea]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-medea/2018/pb_LCL062.323.xml 98], ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-phaedra/2018/pb_LCL062.453.xml 419]; [[Valerius Flaccus (poet)|Valerius Flaccus]], ''Argonautica'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/valerius_flaccus-argonautica/1934/pb_LCL286.415.xml 8.29];  [[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''[[Posthomerica|The Fall of Troy]]'' [https://archive.org/details/falloftroy00quin/page/12/mode/2up 1.147&ndash;149]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [http://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/18/mode/2up 1.221], [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/180/mode/2up 5.163], [http://archive.org/stream/dionysiaca01nonnuoft#page/370/mode/2up 11.186], [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca03nonnuoft/page/466/mode/2up?view=theater 48.583]. For a horned moon see, for example: [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.355.xml 7.179&ndash;180]; [[Aratus]], ''Phaenomena'' [https://topostext.org/work/551#733 733]; [[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0058%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D424 1.436]; [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL498.251.xml 12.1&ndash;3]; [[Tryphiodorus]], ''The Taking of Ilios'' [https://archive.org/details/oppiancolluthust00oppiuoft/page/618/mode/2up?view=theater 514&ndash;519].</ref> The ''[[Orphic Hymns|Orphic Hymn to Selene]]'' addresses her as "O bull-horned Moon", and further describes her as "torch-bearing, ... feminine and masculine, ... lover of horses," and grantor of "fulfillment and favor".<ref>''[[Orphic Hymns|Orphic Hymn to Selene]]'' (Athanassakis and Wolkow, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTo3r8IHy0wC&pg=PA11 p. 11]).</ref> [[Empedocles]], [[Euripides]] and [[Nonnus]] all describe her as γλαυκῶπις (''glaukṓpis'', "bright-eyed", a common epithet of the goddess [[Athena]])<ref>Keightley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YhsYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA56 p. 56]; [[Plutarch]], ''[[Moralia]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-face_which_appears_orb_moon/1957/pb_LCL406.103.xml 929 C&ndash;D] (''Concerning the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon'' 16) [= [[Empedocles]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/empedocles-doctrine/2016/pb_LCL528.481.xml?rskey=gPvh94&result=33 fr. D132 Laks-Most] = fr. B42 Diels-Kranz], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/plutarch-face_which_appears_orb_moon/1957/pb_LCL406.137.xml 934 D] (''Concerning the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon'' 21); [[Euripides]] [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-dramatic_fragments/2008/pb_LCL506.573.xml?rskey=ib6InZ&result=1 fr. 1009] [= Scholia on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'' 1.1280&ndash;1281]; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' [https://archive.org/details/dionysiaca01nonnuoft/page/172/mode/2up?view=theater 5.70].</ref> while in a fragment from a poem, possibly written by [[Pamprepius]], she is called κυανῶπις (''kyanṓpis'', "dark-eyed").<ref>''Select Papyri'' 3.140 Page, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/select_papyri_poetry_elegiac_hexameter_poems/1941/pb_LCL360.567.xml pp. 566, 567].</ref> [[Mesomedes]] of [[Crete]] calls her γλαυκὰ (''glaukà'', "silvery grey").<ref>[[Mesomedes]], ''Hymn to the Sun'' 15 (Psaroudakes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ULNSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 p. 122]).</ref>