Muses

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses were the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in ancient Greek culture.
The number and names of the Muses differed by region, but from the Classical period the number of Muses was standardized to nine, and their names were generally given as Calliope, Clio, Polyhymnia, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Erato, Melpomene, Thalia, and Urania.
In modern figurative usage, a muse is a person who serves as someone's source of artistic inspiration.

Etymology

The word Muses perhaps came from the o-grade of the Proto-Indo-European root men-, or from root men- since all the most important cult-centres of the Muses were on mountains or hills. R. S. P. Beekes rejects the latter etymology and suggests that a Pre-Greek origin is also possible.

Number and names

The earliest known records of the Muses come from Boeotia. Some ancient authorities regarded the Muses as of Thracian origin. In Thrace, a tradition of three original Muses persisted.
In the first century BC, Diodorus Siculus cited Homer and Hesiod to the contrary, observing:
Diodorus states that Osiris first recruited the nine Muses, along with the satyrs, while passing through Aethiopia, before embarking on a tour of all Asia and Europe, teaching the arts of cultivation wherever he went.
According to Hesiod's account, generally followed by the writers of antiquity, the Nine Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, figuring as personifications of knowledge and the arts, especially poetry, literature, dance and music.
The Roman scholar Varro relates that there are only three Muses: one born from the movement of water, another who makes sound by striking the air, and a third who is embodied only in the human voice. They were called Melete or "Practice", Mneme or "Memory" and Aoide or "Song". The Quaestiones Convivales of Plutarch also report three ancient Muses.
However, the classical understanding of the Muses tripled their triad and established a set of nine goddesses, who embody the arts and inspire creation with their graces through remembered and improvised song and mime, writing, traditional music, and dance. It was not until Hellenistic times that the following systematic set of functions became associated with them, and even then some variation persisted both in their names and in their attributes:
File:Muses sarcophagus Louvre MR880.jpg|thumb|The nine Muses on a Roman sarcophagus —Louvre, Paris|270x270px
According to Pausanias, who wrote in the later second century AD, there were originally three Muses, worshipped on Mount Helicon in Boeotia: Aoide, Melete, and Mneme. Together, these three form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in cult practice.
In Delphi too three Muses were worshipped, but with other names: Nete, Mese, and Hypate, which are assigned as the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument, the lyre.
Alternatively, later they were called Cephisso, Apollonis, and Borysthenis - names which characterize them as daughters of Apollo.
A later tradition recognized a set of four Muses: Thelxinoë, Aoide, Archē, and Melete, said to be daughters of Zeus and Plusia or of Ouranos. One of the people frequently associated with the Muses was Pierus. By some he was called the father of a total of seven Muses, called Neilṓ, Tritṓnē, Asōpṓ, Heptápora, Achelōís, Tipoplṓ, and Rhodía.
Ancient writers often called Boeotia Aonia, and because the Muses often visited Mount Helicon in Boeotia, they were called Aonides and Aoniae Sorores.

Mythology

According to Hesiod's Theogony, they were daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, Titan goddess of memory. Hesiod in Theogony narrates that the Muses brought to people forgetfulness, that is, the forgetfulness of pain and the cessation of obligations.
For Alcman and Mimnermus, they were even more primordial, springing from the early deities Ouranos and Gaia. Gaia is Mother Earth, an early mother goddess who was worshipped at Delphi from prehistoric times, long before the site was rededicated to Apollo, possibly indicating a transfer to association with him after that time.
Sometimes the Muses are referred to as water nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon and with Pieris. It was said that the winged horse Pegasus touched his hooves to the ground on Helicon, causing four sacred springs to burst forth, from which the Muses, also known as pegasides, were born. Athena later tamed the horse and presented him to the Muses.
Classical writers set Apollo as their leader, Apollon Mousēgetēs. In one myth, the Muses judged a contest between Apollo and Marsyas. They also gathered the pieces of the dead body of Orpheus, son of Calliope, and buried them in Leivithra. In a later myth, Thamyris challenged them to a singing contest. They won and punished Thamyris by blinding him and robbing him of his singing ability.
Pausanias records a tradition of two generations of Muses; the first are the daughters of Ouranos and Gaia, the second of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters of Harmonia, which contradicts the myth in which they were dancing at the wedding of Harmonia and Cadmus.

Children

had two sons, Ialemus and Orpheus, with Apollo. In another version of the story, the father of Orpheus was Oeagrus, but Apollo adopted him and taught him the skill of lyre while Calliope trained him in singing.
Linus was said to have been the son of Apollo and one of the Muses, either Calliope or Terpsichore or Urania. Rhesus was the son of Strymon and Calliope or Euterpe.
The sirens were the children of Achelous and Melpomene or Terpsichore. Kleopheme was the daughter of Erato and Malos. Hyacinth was the son of Clio, according to an unpopular account.
Hymenaeus was assigned as Apollo's son by one of the muses, either Calliope, or Clio, or Terpsichore, or Urania. Corybantes were the children of Thalia and Apollo.

Against the Sirens

In the sanctuary of Hera in Coroneia was a statue created by Pythodorus of Thebes, depicting Hera holding the sirens. According to the myth, Hera persuaded the sirens to challenge the Muses to a singing contest. After the Muses won, they are said to have plucked the sirens' feathers and used them to make crowns for themselves. According to Stephanus of Byzantium, the sirens, overwhelmed by their loss, cast off their feathers from their shoulders, turned white and then threw themselves into the sea. As a result, the nearby city was named Aptera and the nearby islands were called the Leukai. John Tzetzes recounts that after defeating the sirens, the Muses crowned themselves with the sirens' wings, except for Terpsichore who was their mother, adding that the city of Aptera named after this event. Furthermore, in one of his letters, Julian the Emperor mentions the Muses' victory over the sirens.

Against the Pierides or Emathides

According to a myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses—alluding to the connection of Pieria with the Muses—Pierus, king of Macedon, had nine daughters he named after the nine Muses, believing that their skills were a great match to the Muses. He thus challenged the Muses to a match, resulting in his daughters, the Pierides, being turned into chattering magpies for their presumption.
Antoninus Liberalis called them the Emathides and wrote that they were transformed into nine different birds: the grebe, the wryneck, the ortolan, the jay, the greenfinch, the goldfinch, the duck, the woodpecker, and the dracontis pigeon.

Cult

The Muses had several temples and shrines in ancient Greece, their two main cult centres being Mount Helikon in Boiotia, which holds the Valley of the Muses, and Pieria in Macedonia.
Strabo wrote:
The cult of the Muses was also commonly connected to that of Apollo.

Emblems

The following table lists the Classical names and attributes of the standard list of the nine Muses, as well as their various associated symbols:

Muse	Attribute	Symbols
Calliope	Epic poetry	Writing tablet, Stylus, Lyre
Clio	History	Scrolls, Books, Cornett, Laurel wreath
Polyhymnia	Mime	Veil, Grapes
Euterpe	Flute	Aulos, panpipes, laurel wreath
Terpsichore	Light verse and dance	Lyre, Plectrum
Erato	Lyric choral poetry	Cithara
Melpomene	Tragedy	Tragic mask, sword, club, kothornos
Thalia	Comedy	Comic mask, Ivy wreath, Shepherd's crook
Urania	Astronomy	Globe and compass

Some Greek writers give the names of the nine Muses as Kallichore, Helike, Eunike, Thelxinoë, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Eukelade, Dia, and Enope.
In Renaissance and Neoclassical art, the dissemination of emblem books such as Cesare Ripa's Iconologia helped standardize the depiction of the Muses in sculpture and painting, so they could be distinguished by certain props. These props, or emblems, became readily identifiable by the viewer, enabling one immediately to recognize the muse and the art with which she had become associated. Here again, Calliope carries a writing tablet; Clio carries a scroll and books; Euterpe carries a double-pipe, the aulos; Erato is often seen with a lyre and a crown of roses; Melpomene is often seen with a tragic mask; Polyhymnia is often seen with a pensive expression; Terpsichore is often seen dancing and carrying a lyre; Thalia is often seen with a comic mask; and Urania carries a pair of compasses and the celestial globe.