A traveler on the road to Eleusis once looked up and saw a silver chariot crossing the night sky. That was Selene. A Roman farmer, offering spelt and salt to the moon at the crossroads, called her Luna. They were the same celestial body, but the two cultures saw it through different eyes. Selene and Luna are distinct lunar goddesses from Greek and Roman religion respectively, each with her own mythology, iconography, and cult practices. Selene drove a chariot, Luna oversaw the calendar, and their worship reflected the priorities of their peoples.
What Are Selene and Luna?
Selene is the Greek goddess of the moon, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, sister of Helios (the sun) and Eos (the dawn). She is described in Hesiod’s Theogony (circa 700 BCE) as driving a silver chariot across the sky each night. Luna is her Roman counterpart, a goddess of the moon whose name simply means “moon” in Latin. While the Romans identified Luna with Selene after contact with Greek culture, Luna had her own native cult and temple on the Aventine Hill, predating the full assimilation.
Where Do Their Stories Come From?
Selene appears in the earliest Greek sources. The Homeric Hymn to Selene (likely 7th–6th century BCE) calls her “bright Selene” and describes her chariot drawn by two white horses or oxen. She is also the lover of the mortal Endymion, whom she visited each night as he slept eternally in a cave on Mount Latmus. This myth is recorded by Apollonius of Rhodes in the Argonautica (3rd century BCE) and later by Ovid in the Heroides.
Luna’s origins are less mythic and more civic. The Roman historian Livy (59 BCE–17 CE) records that a temple to Luna was dedicated on the Aventine in 490 BCE, during a famine. The temple was associated with the Lunae festival, a day of rest and purification tied to the new moon. Unlike Selene, Luna had no major love myth; her role was calendrical and agricultural. The Roman poet Horace (65–8 BCE) invokes Luna as “queen of the sky” in his Carmen Saeculare, but she remains a power rather than a personality.
That difference in narrative depth is the first clue: the Greeks gave Selene a story, the Romans gave Luna a function.
How the Two Goddesses Were Pictured
Selene’s iconography is unmistakable. On Greek vase paintings from the 5th century BCE, she rides a chariot with two white horses, a crescent moon on her brow or a torch in her hand. The Selene and Endymion sarcophagus reliefs (Roman copies of Greek originals) show her descending from the chariot to kiss the sleeping youth. She is often winged, representing her swift passage across the sky.
Luna appears on Roman coins and reliefs with a crescent moon behind her shoulders, sometimes holding a torch or a rudder (symbolizing her guidance of the night). On the Ara Pacis (13–9 BCE), Luna is shown riding a chariot alongside Sol, the sun god, in a balanced cosmic pair. Roman art tends to pair her with Sol in a symmetrical composition, reflecting the Roman emphasis on order and duality.
The key visual difference: Selene is always in motion, descending or driving. Luna is often static, a figure of authority.
What Each Goddess Symbolized
Selene represented the moon as a living, wandering presence. Her monthly cycle was linked to the menstrual cycle and to the tides, though the Greeks did not fully articulate the tidal connection until later. She was also a goddess of night, magic, and liminality. In the Orphic Hymns (compiled 2nd–3rd century CE), Selene is invoked as “horned goddess, queen of the night, mother of dreams.” She was sometimes conflated with Hecate and Artemis, but originally she was distinct: Artemis was the huntress and maiden, Hecate the underworld torch-bearer, Selene the moon itself.
Luna symbolized the moon as a regulator of time and agriculture. The Roman calendar was lunar in origin, and the kalendae (first day of the month) was sacred to Juno and Luna. Farmers planted and harvested by the moon’s phases. Luna’s temple on the Aventine stood near the Lupercal and the Ficus Ruminalis, linking her to the founding myths of Rome. She was a civic goddess, not a personal one.
In practice, a Greek might pray to Selene for a safe night journey or for love magic. A Roman would offer to Luna for a good harvest or for the proper timing of a ritual.
How They Were Worshipped
Selene had few temples in Greece. Pausanias (2nd century CE) mentions an altar to Selene in Elis and a sanctuary on Mount Taygetus. Her worship was often domestic: women would place offerings of honey cakes and wine at the new moon. The Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus (3rd century CE) records that the Greeks offered “moon-shaped cakes” called selenai to Selene. These were made of cheese, honey, and flour, baked into crescents.
Luna’s worship was more institutional. The temple on the Aventine was one of the few Roman temples dedicated to a single celestial deity. The Lunae festival involved a public sacrifice of a white cow, and the flamen (priest) of Luna wore a crescent crown. Private households would offer spelt, salt, and wine to Luna at the new moon, often at a small household altar.
The Roman poet Tibullus (1st century BCE) describes a lover praying to Luna for the return of his beloved: “Luna, queen of the silent night, hear my prayer.” This suggests that Luna, like Selene, was invoked in love magic. But the Roman state cult kept her firmly in the public sphere.
Selene vs Luna: The Key Differences
The two goddesses diverged in three main areas:
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Mythology: Selene has a rich personal myth (Endymion, her Titan lineage, her role in the Titanomachy). Luna has no myth beyond her birth from the primordial gods (in Roman cosmogony, she was born from Chaos or from the union of Aether and Dies).
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Cult: Selene was worshipped in small, local cults and household rites. Luna had a state temple, a festival, and a priestly college. The Romans integrated her into the official religion; the Greeks kept Selene at the margins.
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Associations: Selene was linked to magic, dreams, and the underworld (through Hecate). Luna was linked to the calendar, agriculture, and the state. Selene’s crescent was a symbol of night; Luna’s crescent was a symbol of time.
That said, by the late Roman Empire, the two had merged in the minds of many. The De Dea Syria (2nd century CE) treats Selene and Luna as the same goddess. The Neoplatonists, especially Proclus (5th century CE), used “Selene” and “Luna” interchangeably in their commentaries on Plato’s Timaeus.
Common Misconceptions
“Selene and Luna are the same goddess with different names.” Not originally. They arose independently in two cultures. The Romans identified Luna with Selene after contact with Greece, but Luna’s cult predates that identification by centuries.
“Selene is just the moon, not a goddess.” In early Greek thought, Selene was both the moon and its divine personification. The Homeric Hymn calls her “the moon herself.” This is a common feature of ancient religion: the celestial body and the deity were not separated.
“Luna was only worshipped by farmers.” While her agricultural role was strong, Luna was also invoked in love magic, childbirth, and nocturnal rituals. The Carmen Saeculare shows her as a cosmic queen.
“Selene was the same as Artemis.” This is a late conflation. In classical Greece, Artemis was a virgin huntress with no lunar chariot. The identification became common in the Hellenistic period, especially in Asia Minor, but it was never universal.
FAQ
Were Selene and Luna ever worshipped together? Yes, in the Roman Empire, especially in mystery cults. The Mithraic liturgy (4th century CE) invokes both Selene and Luna as aspects of the same lunar power. Some inscriptions from Rome show dedications to “Selene Luna.”
How do Selene and Luna relate to Hecate? Hecate was a separate goddess of crossroads and magic, often associated with the dark moon. In late antiquity, Hecate was sometimes called “Selene” in her underworld aspect, but the three remained distinct in traditional cult.
What offerings were given to Selene vs Luna? Selene received honey cakes, wine, and milk. Luna received spelt, salt, and white animals. Both accepted incense and prayers at the new moon.
Closing
Selene and Luna are two windows onto the same night sky. One moves through myth, the other through ritual. For the practitioner, the distinction is not academic: it shapes how we approach the moon in our own work. If you are drawn to the story of Endymion and the silver chariot, Selene may be your guide. If you prefer the measured rhythm of the calendar and the farmer’s prayer, Luna awaits.
For further exploration, see our deity hub for more lunar figures, the glossary of lunar deities for related terms, and our guide on working with Selene in modern practice.