SELENE AND ENDYMION
selena and the shepherd
A shepherd named Endymion, formerly Latmos, lived in the Beşparmak Mountains near Lake Bafa in the Aegean. All Endymion had was his flute.
He was Endymion's only confidant, his only friend.
While the goats and sheep were grazing on the thyme-scented Beşparmak Mountains, Endymion not only sang songs of joy and longing with his pipe, but also made the sounds of black hills, green grass, trees sprinkled with cloud-cloud leaves, birds chirping and water.
In these desolate mountains, no one has seen Endymion playing the flute during the day or lounging in the fresh meadows at night.
Only the light saw the beautiful male body.
The only daughter of Zeus, the god of gods, Selene, the goddess of the moon, fell in love with him. Every night they would bend down and surround the shepherd with their silver light.
The gods resented that an immortal being like themselves should love such a mortal.
They feared that love would give the shepherd immortality.
They went to Zeus and said that his daughter had fallen in love with a mortal, that she had not done her duty and that they wanted to take the life of the shepherd.
Just then, Selene was watching her lover from the sky. Endymion took out his flute and began to play, as he played, Selene was fascinated and surrounded the shepherd with her lights and they became one in the same body.
He managed to leave Endymion, saying that it would be night again and that I would be with my lover.
Zeus, on the other hand, watched his daughter and the shepherd all night.
Actually, he had come there to take the life of the shepherd, but when he saw how much his daughter loved the shepherd, he could not stand it. He made Endymion tiny and hid it in the hollow of a tree in the Five Finger Mountains. Since he could not take his own life, he plunged him into an eternal sleep.
From that day on, Selene illuminated the world with a full moon and continued to search for her beloved Shepherd Endymion.
by Bulent Dündar
