February 21: Love Month

How to link the moon to… flies? Let’s dive into Greek mythology. The shepherd-astronomer Endymion adored being outside at night, looking at the stars. He especially loved the moon, and gazed at her for hours. Moon goddess Selene was flattered by the attention of this young, handsome boy, and before long, fell in love with him. So much so, that she asked supreme god Zeus to put him in an eternal sleep, giving her the opportunity to admire him without interruption. Every night she would visit him, and their union was very fruitful. She bore him fifty daughters, one for every month of an Olympiad (the period between two Olympic Games). But one day, he was discovered, sleeping in his celestial palace garden by a friendly, though somewhat silly nymph, called Myia. She became a regular visitor, sitting beside his bed and endlessly chatting away about her uneventful life. It disturbed Endymion’s sleep, and Selene wasn’t amused with the competition either. She put an end to it by turning Myia into a fly. Still annoyingly buzzing around sleepers’ heads.

Selene and Endymion, fresco, House of the Dioscuri, Pompeï, Italy

Selene and Endymion, fresco (Herculaneum), Musée St. Raymond, Toulouse, France