Endymion- Greek DemigodDemigod"The Eternal Sleeper"

The Shepherd on Mount Latmus

Endymion's parentage varies — some called him a son of Zeus by the nymph Calyce, others the son of Aethlius, king of Elis. In some traditions he was a king, but the story that survives centers on a shepherd sleeping on Mount Latmus in Caria. He tended sheep on the mountain's slopes, and when he lay down to rest in the evening, the moonlight fell on his face and Selene could not look away.

Selene's Love

Selene first beheld Endymion asleep on the mountain. Night after night she guided her chariot down from the sky to lie beside him. Apollonius describes how she dropped toward the sleeping man, her light dimming as she abandoned her course. Lucian has Aphrodite teasing her for it — she stops her chariot mid-journey to stare at a shepherd, throwing the whole night sky off schedule.

She could not bear the thought of watching him age and die, and she appealed to Zeus. In some versions, Zeus offered Endymion a choice, and the youth chose eternal sleep over mortality. In others, Selene's plea alone moved the king of the gods. Either way, Zeus cast Endymion into a deathless slumber, preserving his youth forever. In a sacred cave on Mount Latmus, Endymion sleeps on — never aging, never waking — while Selene visits him each night as she crosses the heavens.

The Fifty Daughters

Despite his eternal sleep, Endymion fathered fifty daughters by Selene — the Menae, who personified the fifty lunar months of the four-year Olympiad cycle. Ancient travelers visited a cave on Mount Latmus identified as Endymion's resting place, and Pausanias records that a tomb of Endymion was shown at Olympia, where the Eleans remembered him as one of their ancient kings.