Statue of Endymion in the Museum of Gustav III in Stockholm and versions of his myth

Endymion is a sleeping shepherd youth, the beloved of the moon goddess Selene. He is the most famous exhibit in the Gustav III Museum of Antiquities in Stockholm, which houses one of the oldest collections of ancient sculpture in Europe. It is sometimes compared to the Vatican Museums, though on the whole, of course, there is nothing in the east wing of the Royal Palace of Sweden quite as outstanding as in the Vatican. Should anyone wonder, the sculpture is freely accessible, in a hall open to everyone, children included.

The myth of Endymion exists in several versions, and the one that appealed to me most is that in which the most beautiful of living youths was put to sleep by the goddess Selene, who had fallen in love with him while gazing down from the heavens and wished to possess him while he slept. You understand? She possessed a sleeping lad, and nothing came of it: nobody was outraged. Several other versions of the myth are likewise bound up with Zeus, Hera or Selene lusting after a boy of astonishing beauty. The sleep of Endymion became a metaphor for deep, unbroken and untroubled slumber. But in fact it is not all that untroubled, is it? Ancient mythology is like that.