The ancient Greek myth of Endymion and Selene is one of the famous love stories that has inspired several artists and writers throughout the centuries.
Like all great love stories, the tale of the handsome shepherd and the Eros-stricken goddess includes drama, darkness, and death, although the latter also involves immortal sleep.
The tale of Endymion and Selene has resonated with people for millennia. Renaissance artists vigorously took up the story of Endymion, and the image of the Moon goddess Selene visiting the eternally sleeping mortal has often been re-imagined.
Endymion was said to have been a very handsome young man, the most beautiful mortal. Selene (Σελήνη, the Greek word for the Moon) was the goddess of the Moon, and yet, the mortal young man was so handsome that even a goddess was mesmerized by his looks.
One day Endymion was out hunting and continued until the sun set. He continued to pursue his prey until the bright moon rose in the sky. And as it peacefully hung in the firmament, the Moon goddess turned her gaze to the Earth. She looked down and saw him. And he her. And then something strange happened. They were bound in a way only the most powerful of spells can achieve.
But Endymion was human and therefore prone to aging and ultimately he would die. Selene could not bear the thought of this cruel fate. So she went to Zeus and begged him to let him sleep forever in the ageless sleep so he would never lose his beauty. Zeus took him to heaven and granted him the privilege of remaining ageless and immortal while sleeping.
In this way, Endymion would live in his sleep forever young and Selene would visit the handsome mortal every night and be with him until dawn.
According to a passage in Deipnosophistae, Hypnos, the god of sleep, loved Endymion and kept his eyes wide open while Endymion slept, so that he and Selene could gaze at each other without interruption.
The ancient Greek myth of Endymion and Selene has long been cherished as a tale of eternal beauty and undying love, yet could there be more to it than meets the eye?
Is it simply the allure of physical perfection that binds Selene to Endymion, or does this myth speak to something deeper—perhaps a subtle reflection on how beauty, often revered above all else, can overshadow more enduring qualities like character and soul?
Could Selene’s desire to preserve Endymion’s flawless appearance for eternity, at the cost of his very life, hint at the price of such obsession? And as he sleeps forever, untouched by time, could it be that Endymion’s eternal beauty comes at the expense of the life and experiences that make us truly human?
Perhaps immortality, though often desired, comes with its own cost—the absence of growth, change, and the ability to fully appreciate each moment, knowing it can never return or might be our last. In this ageless story, might the gods be quietly prompting us to question whether perfection and immortality is truly a gift or, in the end, a curse?
There are multiple versions of the ancient Greek love story between Endymion and Selene. In one version, after the two lovers came together, Zeus offered Endymion the opportunity to choose his destiny. Endymion chose immortality and youth in eternal slumber, knowing that Selene would be with him every night in this way. He was laid out in a cave on Mount Latmos in Caria, Western Anatolia, where his lunar lover would visit him each night.
According to a later variation of the ancient Greek love story, transmitted by the Roman poet Ovid and other later poets, Endymion was a shepherd of unparalleled beauty who lived in Caria. Selene saw him one night sleeping in a cave in Latmos and fell in love with him. She visited him every night while he was asleep, but worried that as a mortal he would grow old and die. She begged Zeus to let him sleep forever in the ageless sleep so he would never lose it. Zeus took him to heaven and granted him the privilege of remaining ageless and immortal while sleeping.
According to another version, Endymion fell asleep while tending his sheep and Selene saw him, and couldn’t resist his handsome face, so she seized him. The Moon goddess bore Endymion fifty daughters, as many as the lunar months that intervened between each ancient Olympiad. The fifty daughters were collectively known as the Menai. They were lunar goddesses, each representing one lunar month, and there were fifty months between each Olympic Games.
Other reasons are cited for Endymion’s eternal sleep. One suggests that Zeus offered Endymion anything he desired, and Endymion chose eternal, ageless sleep for himself. Alternatively, it is proposed that Zeus condemned Endymion to eternal slumber as a punishment for making advances toward his wife, the goddess Hera.
Several artists of the Renaissance era—and from later periods—were fascinated by the ancient Greek love story and portrayed the everlasting myth of Selene and Endymion, the goddess and the mortal man.
Gérard de Lairesse, Domingo Álvarez Enciso, Nicolas Poussin, Andrey Ivanov, Carle Van Loo, Gaspare Diziani, Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, Januarius Zick, Sebastiano Ricci, Johann Carl Loth, Luca Giordano, George Frederic Watts, and several others depicted the famous myth on canvas.
