elene, the goddess of the moon was the daughter of The Titans, Hyperion and Thea, and the sister of Helios, the god of the sun, and of Eos, goddess of the dawn. By Zeus, she had Pandia ("all-bright"), a daughter who was worshipped with her father as festivals in Athens, and Ersa (dew). A lovely woman, Selene wore long wings and a gold diadem, which gave out a soft light; she made her journey across the heavens in a chariot drawn by two white horses or mules. The days of the new and full moon were set aside for her worship. Selene became identified with Artemis, Apollo's sister, as her brother, Helios was with Apollo.

Selene is linked with the legend of the beautiful sleeping youth, Endymion, with whom she fell in love as she watched him forever sleeping on Mount Latmus in Caria. Every night she came down from the skies to kiss him. It is generally believed that Selene herself put him to sleep so that she might be able to kiss him without him knowing. Some legends state that Endymion was the father by Selene of fifty daughters, who symbolically represented the fifty lunar months that elapse between each Olympiad, or Olympic cycle of four years.