🎵 Hymn Greek Complete c. 7th–6th century BCE

Homeric Hymn 32: To Selene

A 20-line hymn to the Moon goddess Selene, whose golden crown lights the dark air and whose immortal radiance embraces the earth — and who once lay with Zeus and bore the lovely Pandia.

About the Poem

The thirty-second Homeric Hymn is a complete 20-line hymn to Selene (Σελήνη), the Moon goddess — the direct companion piece to Hymn 31 (Helios, the Sun). It describes the Moon’s nightly journey: after bathing in the waters of Ocean, Selene dons her shining equipment and drives her long-maned horses at full speed through the mid-month sky, when her orbit is full and her light brightest.

The hymn contains one piece of rare mythological information: Zeus once lay with Selene and she conceived and bore Pandia (Πανδία, “all-bright”) — an otherwise obscure goddess, attested in Athens where she had a minor festival (the Pandia), celebrated as a daughter of Zeus and the Moon.

The closing formula announces a turn to celebrating the race of mortal heroes — suggesting this hymn served as a proem to a lost heroic epic.

Complete Text

Greek (Homeric — opening)

Σελήνην ἀείδεο, Μοῦσαι γλυκύμολποι, Διὸς κοῦραι, ἐπιστάμεναι κλέα ἀοιδῆς· ἐκ τῆς μακρόπτερος αἴγλη οὐρανόθεν χέεται καὶ γαῖαν ἐπιτρέχει· πολλὸν δ’ ἀπ’ αὐτῆς καλὸν ἄγαλμα ἀναλάμπει· χρύσεον γαίει στέφος αὐτῆς, ἴσα δ’ αὐγαὶ τηλαυγέες, ὁπότε Σελήνη λουσαμένη χρόα καλλίμορφον Ὠκεανοῖο ῥοῇσι, τηλαυγέα σὺν θ’ εἵματα ἑσσαμένη δίφρου ἐπεμβεβαυῖα θεσπεσίου…

(Full Greek text at Perseus Digital Library, link below.)

English (Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914 — public domain)

[1] And next, sweet-voiced Muses, daughters of Zeus, well-skilled in song, tell of the long-winged Moon. From her immortal head a radiance is shown from heaven and embraces earth; and great is the beauty that ariseth from her shining light. The air, unlit before, glows with the light of her golden crown, and her rays beam clear, whensoever bright Selene having bathed her lovely body in the waters of Ocean, and donned her far-gleaming, shining team, drives on her long-maned horses at full speed, at eventime in the mid-month: then her great orbit is full and then her beams shine brightest as she increases. So she is a sure token and a sign to mortal men.

Once the Son of Cronos was joined with her in love; and she conceived and bare a daughter Pandia, exceeding lovely amongst the deathless gods.

Hail, white-armed goddess, bright Selene, mild, bright-tressed queen! And now I will leave you and sing the glories of men half-divine, whose deeds minstrels, the servants of the Muses, celebrate with lovely lips.

Selene and the Moon in Greek Thought

Selene is distinct from Artemis (who was sometimes also identified with the moon, especially from the 5th century BCE onwards) and from Hecate (the goddess of the dark moon and crossroads). In early archaic thought they were three separate divinities corresponding to different aspects of the moon:

  • Selene: the visible disc of the full moon, the moon as it appears in the sky
  • Artemis: the hunting goddess who sometimes manifests moonlight as her silver bow
  • Hecate: the dark, hidden moon; the moon’s mysterious and dangerous aspects

The bathing in Ocean before her nightly journey is a standard element of Greek astronomical mythology: the sun and moon were imagined as dipping into the great river Ocean (which encircled the flat earth) before emerging again. For Helios this was a daily dip in the west; for Selene it was the start of her nightly ascent.

“Long-winged” (μακρόπτερος) as an epithet for the Moon is unusual — it appears in Evelyn-White’s translation following the scholarly tradition that this is the reading of the best manuscripts, though the exact sense is debated (perhaps meaning “far-ranging” or “traversing wide paths”).

Citations

Homeric Hymns Selene moon Hyperion Pandia Zeus night radiance Ocean
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