Selasphorus

Selasphorus (ancient Greek Σελασφόρος, "light bearer") is an Epiclesis of several Greek deities, the most tangible here is the goddess Artemis.

Pausanias reports from a temple in the Athens Demos Phlya, in which an altar of Artemis Selasphoros was located. In addition to her, Apollon Dionysodotos, the Ismenian nymphs and Ge also had altars there. [1] Artemis was worshiped elsewhere with the Epiclesis of Phosphorus. Presumably both of them worship Artemis as the one who, in her function as a hunting or wedding deity, wields torches with both hands. [2] Two writings that were supposed to prove a cult of Artemis Salasphoros on the Cycladic island of Pholegandros turned out to be modern forgeries by the forger Konstantinos Simonides.

In his Dionysiaca, Nonnos of Panopolis names Apollon and Hephaistus with the surname Selasphorus. [3] On a papyrus there is also a horoscope in which Selene is called with the epicreading Selasphorus. [4]

Literature

Otto Höfer: Selasphoros. In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Ed.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology. Volume 4, Leipzig 1915, Col. 641f. (Digitized version).
Albert Hartmann: Selasphoros. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classical antiquity science (RE). Volume II A, 1, Stuttgart 1921, column 1133 (digitized version).

Remarks
Pausanias 1, 31, 4.
Cf. Sophocles, Die Trachinierinnen 214; Sophocles, King Oedipus 206f; IG III 268 (inscription from the Athenian Acropolis)
Nonnos, Dionysiaka 27, 253 & 30, 95.
Frederic G. Kenyon: Greek papyri in the British Museum, Volume 1. London, 1893, p. 135.

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