Endymion

Endymion was a beautiful young man of Elis whom the Moon loved. In the best-known version Zeus let him choose his fate, and he chose to sleep for ever, deathless and ageless. He was also remembered as an early king of Elis, who set his sons a race at Olympia to decide who would rule after him.

Parentage

Apollodorus says that Calyce and Aethlius had a son Endymion, who led Aeolians from Thessaly and founded Elis, “but some say that he was a son of Zeus” (Apollodorus, Library 1.7.5). Pausanias makes Aethlius the first to rule the land, the son of Zeus and of Protogeneia, daughter of Deucalion, and the father of Endymion (Pausanias 5.1.3). So Zeus is Endymion’s grandfather in the commoner account, and his father only in the variant.

Endymion and Selene

The Eternal Sleep

Endymion was of surpassing beauty, and the Moon fell in love with him. Apollodorus continues that Zeus allowed him to choose what he wished, and he chose to sleep for ever, remaining deathless and ageless (Apollodorus, Library 1.7.5). The place of the meeting was the Latmian cave: in Apollonius’ Argonautica the Moon says that she does not wander to the Latmian cave alone, nor alone burn for fair Endymion (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.57–58). Plato uses the sleeping Endymion in an argument: if falling asleep were never followed by waking, everything would end up asleep like him, and his sleep would mean nothing (Plato, Phaedo 72c).

Their Children

Pausanias reports that the Moon bore Endymion fifty daughters (Pausanias 5.1.4). He adds that others, with greater probability, said Endymion took a wife, called Asterodia, or Cromia, daughter of Itonus, or Hyperippe, daughter of Arcas, and that all agreed that he was the father of Paeon, Epeius, Aetolus and a daughter, Eurycyda (Pausanias 5.1.4). Apollodorus gives Aetolus a Naiad nymph or Iphianassa as mother (Apollodorus, Library 1.7.6).

Endymion, King of Elis

Endymion set his sons a race at Olympia for the throne. Epeius won and took the kingdom, and his subjects were first called Epeans. Aetolus stayed at home, while Paeon, vexed at his defeat, went into the farthest exile, and the land beyond the river Axius was named Paeonia after him (Pausanias 5.1.4–5). Aetolus later killed Apis, son of Phoroneus, and fled to the Curetian country, which he named Aetolia after himself (Apollodorus, Library 1.7.6). Strabo quotes the inscription on a statue the Aetolians set up to Aetolus, which calls him the son of Endymion, reared beside the Alpheius near the race-courses of Olympia, who took the land of the Curetes with the spear (Strabo 10.3.2).

The Tomb of Endymion

The sources disagree about where Endymion ended. The Eleans showed his tomb, and Pausanias places it at the end of the stadium at Olympia, at the starting place for the runners (Pausanias 5.1.5, 6.20.9). The people of Heracleia near Miletus said he retired to Mount Latmus, where there was a shrine of Endymion (Pausanias 5.1.5), and Strabo describes his sepulchre in a cave near Latmus (Strabo 14.1.8).

Endymion Sources

Apollodorus, Library 1.7.5–6; Pausanias 5.1.3–5, 6.20.9; Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.57–58; Plato, Phaedo 72c; Strabo 10.3.2, 14.1.8.

See Also: Zeus, Selene, Aethlius, Epeius, Aetolus, Elis