Muses

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)
"Muse" redirects here. For other uses, see Muse (disambiguation). For human muses, see Muse (person) and Category:Muses.
Muse, perhaps Clio, reading a scroll (Attic red-figure lekythos, Boeotia, c. 430 BC)

In

romanized: Moûsai, Greek: Μούσες, romanized: Múses) are 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.[1]

In modern figurative usage, a muse is a

person who serves as someone's source of artistic inspiration
.

Etymology

Print of Clio, made in the 16th-17th century. Preserved in the Ghent University Library.[2]

The word Muses (

Pre-Greek origin is also possible.[5]

Number and names

Gustave Moreau: Hesiod and the Muse (1891)—Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Pen and brown ink sketch of Apollo and the Muses enjoying music
Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus, c. 1650, by Johann Christoph Storer. Held at National Gallery of Art

The earliest known records of the Muses come from Boeotia (Boeotian muses). Some ancient authorities regarded the Muses as of Thracian origin.[6] In Thrace, a tradition of three original Muses persisted.[7]

In the first century BC, Diodorus Siculus cited Homer and Hesiod to the contrary, observing:

Writers similarly disagree also concerning the number of the Muses; for some say that there are three, and others that there are nine, but the number nine has prevailed since it rests upon the authority of the most distinguished men, such as Homer and Hesiod and others like them.[8]

Diodorus states (Book I.18) 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 (c. 600 BC), generally followed by the writers of antiquity, the Nine Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (i.e., "Memory" personified), figuring as personifications of knowledge and the arts, especially poetry, literature, dance and music.

The Roman scholar

Aoide or "Song".[citation needed] The Quaestiones Convivales of Plutarch (46–120 AD) also report three ancient Muses (9.I4.2–4).[9][10]

However, the

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:

Mosaic with symbols of each Muse and Mnemosyne, 1st century BC, Archaeological Museum of Ancient Elis.
The nine Muses on a Roman sarcophagus (second century AD)—Louvre, Paris

According to

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.[13]

Alternatively, later they were called Cephisso, Apollonis, and Borysthenis - names which characterize them as daughters of Apollo.[14]

A later tradition recognized a set of four Muses:

Aoide, Archē, and Melete, said to be daughters of Zeus and Plusia or of Ouranos.[15]
One of the people frequently associated with the Muses was Pierus. By some he was called the father (by a Pimpleian nymph, called Antiope by Cicero) of a total of seven Muses, called Neilṓ (Νειλώ), Tritṓnē (Τριτώνη), Asōpṓ (Ἀσωπώ), Heptápora (Ἑπτάπορα), Achelōís, Tipoplṓ (Τιποπλώ), and Rhodía (Ῥοδία).[16][17]

Mythology

Thalia, Muse of comedy, holding a comic mask (detail from the "Muses Sarcophagus")
Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon (1680) by Claude Lorrain

According to Hesiod's Theogony (seventh century BC), 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.[18]

For

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

apsaras in the mythology of classical India
).

Classical writers set

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.

According to a myth from

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 jays (with κίσσα often erroneously translated as 'magpies') for their presumption.[22]

Harmonia and Cadmus
.

Children

Calliope 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[23] 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.

Corybantes
were the children of Thalia and Apollo.

Cult

The Muses had several temples and shrines in ancient Greece, their two main cult centres being Mount Helikon in Boiotia and Pieria in Makedonia. Strabo wrote:

"Helikon, not far distant from Parnassos, rivals it both in height and in circuit; for both are rocky and covered with snow, and their circuit comprises no large extent of territory. Here are the temple of the Mousai and Hippukrene and the cave of the Nymphai called the Leibethrides; and from this fact one might infer that those who consecrated Helikon to the Mousai were Thrakians, the same who dedicated Pieris and Leibethron and Pimpleia [in Pieria] to the same goddesses. The Thrakians used to be called Pieres, but, now that they have disappeared, the Makedonians hold these places."[24]

The cult of the Muses was also commonly connected to that of Apollo.

Emblems

Polyhymnia, the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn and eloquence as well as agriculture and pantomime.

The following table lists the Classical names and attributes of the standard list of the nine Muses:[25] as well as their various associated symbols.

Muse Attribute Symbols
Calliope Epic poetry Writing tablet, Stylus, Lyre [citation needed]
Clio History Scrolls, Books, Cornett, Laurel wreath [citation needed]
Polyhymnia
Mime
Grapes (referring to her as an agricultural goddess) [citation needed
]
Euterpe Flute
panpipes, laurel wreath [citation needed
]
Terpsichore Light verse and dance Lyre, Plectrum [citation needed]
Erato Lyric choral poetry
Cithara (an ancient Greek musical instrument in the lyre family) [citation needed
]
Melpomene Tragedy
Kothornos (boots)[citation needed
]
Thalia Comedy
Ivy wreath, Shepherd's crook [citation needed
]
Urania Astronomy (Christian poetry in later times)[citation needed]
compass [citation needed
]

Some Greek writers give the names of the nine Muses as

Helike, Eunike, Thelxinoë, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Eukelade, Dia, and Enope.[26]

In Renaissance and Neoclassical art, the dissemination of emblem books such as Cesare Ripa's Iconologia (1593 and many further editions) 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 (epic poetry) carries a writing tablet; Clio (history) carries a scroll and books; Euterpe (song and elegiac poetry) carries a double-pipe, the aulos; Erato (lyric poetry) is often seen with a lyre and a crown of roses; Melpomene (tragedy) is often seen with a tragic mask; Polyhymnia (sacred poetry) is often seen with a pensive expression; Terpsichore (choral dance and song) is often seen dancing and carrying a lyre; Thalia (comedy) is often seen with a comic mask; and Urania (astronomy) carries a pair of compasses and the celestial globe.

Functions

In society

Thalia, by Eustache Le Sueur
, c. 1652–1655

The Greek word mousa is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means 'art' or 'poetry'. According to

Indo-European root *men-, which is also the source of Greek Mnemosyne and mania, English mind, mental and monitor, Sanskrit mantra and Avestan Mazda.[27]

Melpomene, Erato, and Polyhymnia, by Eustache Le Sueur, c. 1652–1655

The Muses, therefore, were both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech: mousike (whence the English term music) was just "one of the arts of the Muses". Others included science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, and especially art, drama, and inspiration. In the archaic period, before the widespread availability of books (scrolls), this included nearly all of learning. The first Greek book on astronomy, by

medium
of delivery was public recitation, were divided by Alexandrian editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses.

For poet and "law-giver" Solon,[29] the Muses were "the key to the good life"; since they brought both prosperity and friendship. Solon sought to perpetuate his political reforms by establishing recitations of his poetry—complete with invocations to his practical-minded Muses—by Athenian boys at festivals each year. He believed that the Muses would help inspire people to do their best.

In literature

Melpomene and Polyhymnia, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico

Ancient authors and some later authors and artists invoke Muses when writing poetry, hymns or epic history. Ancient authors invocations often occur near the beginning of their work. It asks for help or inspiration from the Muses, or simply invites the Muse to sing directly through the author.

Originally, the invocation of the Muse was an indication that the speaker was working inside the poetic tradition, according to the established formulas. For example:

These things declare to me from the beginning,

ye Muses who dwell in the house of Olympus,

and tell me which of them first came to be.

— Hesiod (c. 700 BCE), Theogony (Hugh G. Evelyn-White translation, 2015)

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns

driven time and again off course, once he had plundered

the hallowed heights of Troy.

—Homer (c. 700 - 600 BCE), in Book I of The Odyssey (Robert Fagles translation, 1996)

O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate;

What goddess was provok'd, and whence her hate;

For what offence the Queen of Heav'n began

To persecute so brave, so just a man; [...]

—Virgil (c. 29 - 19 BCE), in Book I of the Aeneid (John Dryden translation, 1697)

Besides Homer and Virgil, other famous works that included an invocation of the Muse are the first of the carmina by

Inferno (Canto II), Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (Book II), Shakespeare's Henry V (Act 1, Prologue), his 38th sonnet, and Milton's Paradise Lost
(openings of Books 1 and 7).

In cults and modern museums

The Car of History, a chariot clock by Carlo Franzoni, 1819, depicting Clio (housed in the National Statuary Hall Collection of the United States Capitol)

When

Mount Parnassos, called the Corycian Cave. Pausanias referred to the Muses by the surnames "Ardalides" or "Ardaliotides", because of a sanctuary to them at Troezen said to have been built by the mythical Ardalus
.

The Muses were venerated especially in

Parnassus
, where Apollo became known as Mousēgetēs ('Muse-leader') after the sites were rededicated to his cult.

Often Muse-worship was associated with the

Les Neuf Soeurs ('The Nine Sisters', that is, the Nine Muses); Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Danton
, and other influential Enlightenment figures attended it. As a side-effect of this movement the word museum (originally, 'cult place of the Muses') came to refer to a place for the public display of knowledge.

Museia (Μούσεια) was a festival dedicated to Muses which was held every fifth year on the lower slopes of Mount Helicon in Boeotia. There was also another festival which was called Museia, which was celebrated in schools.[30]

Places named after the Muses

In New Orleans, Louisiana, there are streets named for all nine. It is commonly held that the local pronunciation of the names has been colorfully anglicized in an unusual manner by the "Yat" dialect. The pronunciations are actually in line with the French, Spanish, and Creole roots of the city.[31]

Modern use in the arts

Further information:
Muse (source of inspiration)

The Muses are explicitly used in modern English to refer to an artistic inspiration,[32] as when one cites one's own artistic muse, and also implicit in words and phrases such as amuse, museum (Latinised from mouseion—a place where the Muses were worshipped), music, and musing upon.[33] In current literature, the influential role that the Muse plays has been extended to the political sphere.[34]

Gallery

Genealogy

The Muses's family tree, according to Hesiod's Theogony[35]
UranusGaiaPontus
Hyperion
TheiaCriusEurybia
The RiversThe OceanidsHeliosSelene[36]EosAstraeusPallasPerses
Phoebe
HestiaHeraHadesZeusLetoAsteria
DemeterPoseidon
Asia)[37]
Mnemosyne(Zeus)Themis
Epimetheus
The Horae
CLIOTHALIATERPSICHOREPOLYHYMNIACALLIOPE
EUTERPEMELPOMENEERATOURANIA

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Grimal, s.v. Muses.
  2. ^ "Clio". lib.ugent.be. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
  3. ^ West 2007, p. 34.
  4. ^ * A. B. Cook (1914), Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Vol. I, p. 104, Cambridge University Press.
  5. ^ R. S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 972.
  6. ISBN 9781108016155
    .
  7. ^ At least, this was reported to Pausanias in the second century AD. Cfr. Karl Kerényi: The Gods of the Greeks, Thames & Hudson, London 1951, p. 104 and note 284.
  8. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.7.1–2 (on-line text)
  9. ^ See also the Italian article on this writer.
  10. ^ Susan Scheinberg, in reporting other Hellenic maiden triads in "The Bee Maidens of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes", references Diodorus, Plutarch and Pausanias - Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 83 (1979:1–28), p. 2.
  11. ^ For this list of names and attributes, see Grimal, s.v. Muses.
  12. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.29.1–9.29.2
  13. ^ Plutarch Symposium 9.14
  14. ^ Eumelus fr. 35 as cited from Tzetzes on Hesiod, 23; Tzetzes on Hesiod, Works and Days 6
  15. ^ Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.53, Epicharmis, Tzetzes on Hes. 23
  16. ^ Epicharmis, Tzetzes on Hes. 23
  17. ^ Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Musae" .
  18. ^ Collective work by scholars and expertise (1980). Επιστήμη & Ζωή (Printed ed.). Greece: CHATZIAKOVOU S.A. pp. Vol.13, p.151.
  19. ^ "Elysium Gates - Historical Pegasus". Archived from the original on 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
  20. ^ Ovid, Heroides 15.27: "the daughters of Pegasus" in the English translation; Propertius, Poems 3.1.19: "Pegasid Muses" in the English translation.
  21. ^ For example, Plato, Laws 653d.
  22. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.677–78: "Now their previous eloquence also remained in the birds, as well as their strident chattering and their great zeal for speaking." See also Antoninus Liberalis 9.
  23. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca 1.3.2
  24. ^ Strabo, Geography 9. 2. 25 (trans. Jones)
  25. ^ As given by Grimal, s.v. Muses,
  26. ^ Tzetzes, Scholia in Hesiodi Opera 1,23
  27. ^ Calvert Watkins, ed., The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 3d ed., p. 56.
  28. ^ Strabo 10.3.10.
  29. ^ Solon, fragment 13.
  30. ^ A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin, Ed., Museia
  31. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: NOLA.com. "How to pronounce New Orleans Muses Streets" – via YouTube.
  32. ^ "muse". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) Mainly 1b, 2
  33. OED
    derives "amuse" from French a- ("from") and muser, "to stare stupidly or distractedly".
  34. ^ Sorkin, Adam J. (1989) Politics and the Muse. Studies in the Politics of Recent American Literature. Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Bowling Green OH.
  35. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 132–138, 337–411, 453–520, 901–906, 915–920; Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.
  36. ^ Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, Theogony 371–374, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), 99–100, Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.
  37. Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, Theogony 351, was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according to Apollodorus, 1.2.3
    , another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.
  38. Cleito
    .
  39. ^ In Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. 444–445 n. 2, 446–447 n. 24, 538–539 n. 113) Prometheus is made to be the son of Themis.

References

External links

Wikisource has the text of The New Student's Reference Work article "Muses".
Look up Muse#English or Muse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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