The moon is one of the most widely worshiped aspects in mythology. It is representative of the female principle and there are many goddesses in most pantheons devoted to this luminary. While a lot of allusions to several different moon goddess in Sailor Moon, the moon goddess most closely tied to the tale is the Greek goddess Selene (the Grecian version of Luna).

Selene was the daughter of the titans Hyperion and Theia and sister to the sun, Helios and Eos, the dawn. She is described as a young and beautifully pale woman who rides the silver chariot of the moon across the sky each night. She is portrayed by artists and poets, to be dressed in robes with half the moon on her head and to carry a torch.

Selene had many lovers. Her union with Pan produced a herd of sacred white oxen. An affair with Zeus was rumored to have created the dreaded Nemean lion. But her most famous lover was a mortal named Endymion. Endymion was a shepherd whom the goddess spotted on her nightly journey across the sky. She loved him so much that she asked Zeus to allow her love to choose his own destiny. Endymion decided that he wanted to be young forever and to fall into an eternal sleep. Every night there after, Selene visited her slumbering lover and kisses him with her rays of light.