Source Verification: Selene
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Who are Selene's parents and siblings?
Hesiod names her parents as the Titans Hyperion and Theia, the same pairing that produced her siblings Helios, the sun, and Eos, the dawn - all three share dominion over light in different forms, born of the same single union.
Source: Hesiod, Theogony 371-374
Does Selene have a well-known myth of her own in early Greek sources?
Not really. Hesiod's Theogony introduces her only through her parentage alongside Helios and Eos, without giving her an independent story - her identity in the earliest sources is defined by what she is, the moon crossing the night sky, rather than by anything she does.
Source: Hesiod, Theogony 371-374
What story does Virgil tell about Selene and Pan?
In the Georgics, Virgil recalls that Pan once lured Luna, the moon, into the deep woods by offering her a bribe of snow-white wool - a tale he passes on with an explicit note of uncertainty, introducing it as something to believe only "if ear may trust the tale" rather than as settled fact.
Source: Virgil, Georgics 3.391-393
Where Accounts Differ
- how reliable is the Pan-and-wool story
- Virgil himself flags the Pan-and-wool story as uncertain ("if ear may trust the tale") rather than presenting it as an established fact.
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 371-374
- Virgil, Georgics 3.391-393
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth (1993)