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Selene

Mythology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Titan goddess personifying the moon, daughter of Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios and Eos. Famous for her eternal love of the mortal shepherd Endymion, whom she visits nightly.

Detailed Definition
Selene drives her moon chariot across the night sky and is famed for her love of the mortal Endymion. She represents the moon’s gentle, watchful presence. In poetry, she evokes nocturnal beauty, eternal longing, and the quiet passage of time.
Example
Example in poetry:
Selene, moon goddess, abducts Endymion in the Homeric Hymn to Selene; In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, she mourns Endymion’s eternal sleep; Virgil references Selene’s chariot in Georgics; Theocritus alludes to Selene’s love in Idylls; Renaissance poetry uses Selene to symbolize chaste longing; Modern verse reclaims Selene as a figure of female desire.
Additional Notes
Selene, Titan goddess of the moon, drives a chariot across the night sky; her love for Endymion is iconic—often conflated with Artemis or Hecate in later poetry—ideal for nocturnal, romantic, or cyclical imagery; her name gives us “selenology” (moon science).
Also Known As
Moon Goddess Silver Charioteer Luna Moon
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