Endymion (mythology)
Endymion ( Greek Ἐνδυμίων ) is in Greek mythology the beautiful and eternally youthful lover of the moon goddess Selene , who was later equated with Artemis (Roman Diana ).
myth
Endymion is a beautiful shepherd, hunter or astronomer in Caria (Asia Minor) or the king of Elis in the Peloponnese . Aethlios (according to some sources also Zeus ) and Kalyke are his parents.
Selene falls in love with Endymion. She puts him in a cave on Mount Latmos in Caria. There she lets him fall into eternal sleep with the help of Zeus, in order to save him from death and thereby give him eternal youth. Every night she comes to him in the cave and fathered a total of fifty daughters with him. The descendants of Endymion as king of Elis are the sons Aitolus , Paion and Epeios and a daughter named Eurykyda . To determine his successor for the throne of Elis, he lets his three sons compete in a race, from which Epeios emerges as the winner.
interpretation
The fact that Selene has fifty daughters with Endymion indicates that she is giving birth to her own moon priestesses, who appear in a community of fifty virgins. This corresponds to the number of months of half a “great year” that comprised eight solar years.
sanctuary
A sanctuary was dedicated to him in Herakleia on Latmos , the founder of which is Endymion. Its semicircular shape with five columns presented is unique in ancient architecture.
presentation
Visual arts
- Diana and Endymion (around 1701) by Francesco Solimena .
- The sleeping Endymion (around 1791) by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson
- Annibale Carracci , Farnesina, around 1600
- Luca Giordano , Endymion, late 17th century
- Nicolas Poussin , Diana and Endymion, around 1630
- Jean-Honoré Fragonard , Diana and Endymion, 1755/56
music
- The opera La Calisto (1651) by Francesco Cavalli combines the myths of Callisto and Endymion, whereby the main characters never meet on stage.
- The opera libretto Endimione (1721), set to music by Johann Christian Bach among others in 1772 , shows an erotic triangular story between Diana, Nice and Endimione, cunningly guided by Cupid's daring work .
- Nicolas Bernier composed the cantata Diane et Endymion on this subject . a. is published in the second volume (Second Livre) of his Cantates Françaises ou musique de chambre . The libretto for this comes from Louis Fuzelier .
Trivia
- In the anime series Sailor Moon , Endymion is portrayed as the prince of the earth who has a relationship with the princess of the moon.
designation
The lunar crater Endymion and the asteroid (342) Endymion are named after him.
literature
- Marc Föcking : Endymion. In: Maria Moog-Grünewald (Ed.): Mythenrezeption. The ancient mythology in literature, music and art from the beginnings to the present (= Der Neue Pauly . Supplements. Volume 5). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2008, ISBN 978-3-476-02032-1 , pp. 253-257.
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Ovid , Heroides xviii, 61-65
- ↑ King of Elis: Pausanias , Description of Greece 5.1.3-4; Libraries of Apollodor 1.7.5-6
- ↑ Hyginus Mythographus Fabulae 271
- ^ Robert von Ranke-Graves , Greek Mythology , K. 64. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg, 2007.
- ↑ A detailed discussion of all mytho-poetic sources can be found in Andreas Leopold Hofbauer , Das Haus mit den Lachenden Windows in: HER (together with René Luckhardt), Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-9503749-8-8
- ↑ Anneliese Peschlow-Bindokat : Herakleia am Latmos. City and surroundings. Homer Kitabevi, Istanbul 2005, ISBN 975-8293-72-9 , pp. 118-119.
- ^ Albert Distelrath: Settling and living in a ruin site. A conservation concept for Herakleia am Latmos. Ege Yayınları, Istanbul 2011, ISBN 978-605-5607-64-7 , pp. 29-30.
- ↑ Solimena: Diana and Endymion