Fire in the Blood

Author’s NoteThe Divine Selene, who was also called Mene by the Ancient Greeks, with her ‘golden crown illuminated the shadowy night!’ Every evening when her brother Helios the God of sunlight had finished his journey she ‘rose in the sky on her chariot drawn by shining steeds’. She loved Endymion the King of Elis whose tomb is still shown at Olympia and to whom Selene bore fifty daughters. Endymion was hunting one day on Mount Latima, when he lay down to rest in a cool grotto where he fell asleep. Selene saw him and, captivated by his beauty, stole a kiss while he slept. Endymion asked Zeus to grant him immortality and eternal youth. Zeus consented on condition he reposed eternally asleep. Still Selene comes faithfully night after night silently to see her sleeping lover. It is thus that the rays of the amorous moon caress us sleeping mortals. Selene was loved by Pan, who took the shape of a white ram and drew her into the depths of a wood in Arcadia. Pandia, a daughter of Zeus and sister of Erse, the dew, was remarkable for her beauty among immortals.