Selene

In classical Greek cosmology Selene is described as a daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia and sister to Helios (the Sun) and Eos (the Dawn). As a member of that divine family she occupies the role of the lunar figure who traverses the night sky; later antiquity sometimes conflated her with other lunar goddesses such as Artemis and Hecate, while Roman practice treated her equivalent as Luna.

Classical hymns and poetic descriptions present Selene as a radiant, crowned goddess who drives a chariot yoked to long-maned horses. She is described with epithets such as 'white-armed,' 'bright-tressed,' 'bull-horned' (crescent), 'torch-bearing,' 'bright-eyed' and 'silvery grey,' and in Homeric description a radiance from her immortal head embraces the earth.

Selene's primary function is the movement and illumination of the Moon: she drives a moon-chariot across the heavens, her course and waxing mark the month's progression and serve as a 'sure token and a sign to mortal men.' Poetic and Orphic sources attribute to her the granting of favor and fulfillment in verse and portray her in mythic romances (notably with Endymion and other lovers), but classical sources frame her chiefly as the celestial personification whose beams wax and wane and whose visibility signals calendrical time.