InGreek mythology,Erato (/ˈɛrətoʊ/;Ancient Greek:Ἐρατώ) is one of the GreekMuses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root asEros, asApollonius of Rhodes playfully suggested in the invocation to Erato that begins Book III of hisArgonautica.[1]
Erato is the Muse of lyric poetry, particularly erotic poetry, and mimic imitation. In theOrphic hymn to the Muses, it is Erato who charms the sight. Since theRenaissance she has mostly been shown with a wreath ofmyrtle androses, holding alyre, or a smallkithara, a musical instrument often associated withApollo.[2] InSimon Vouet's representations, two turtle-doves are eating seeds at her feet. She is sometimes depicted holding a golden arrow, symbolizing "eros", the feeling she inspires in everybody; at times she is accompanied byEros, holding a torch.
Erato was named with the other muses inHesiod'sTheogony. She was also invoked at the beginning of a lost poem,Rhadine (Ῥαδινή), that was referred to and briefly quoted byStrabo.[5] The love story ofRhadine made her supposed tomb on the island ofSamos a pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers in the time ofPausanias[6] and Erato was linked again with love inPlato'sPhaedrus;[7] nevertheless, even in the third century BC, when Apollonius wrote, the Muses were not yet as inextricably linked to specific types of poetry as they became.[8]
Erato is also invoked at the start of book 7 ofVirgil'sAeneid, which marks the beginning of the second half or "Iliadic" section of the poem.
^InGeography 8.3.20; Strabo's attribution of the poem toStesichorus was refuted by H. J. Rose, "Stesichoros and the Rhadine-Fragment",The Classical Quarterly26.2 (April 1932), pp. 88–92.
Pseudo-Apollodorus.The Library. Translated by Sir James George Frazer. 2 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4.Online version andGreek text at the Perseus Digital Library.
Hesiod.Theogony. InThe Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann. 1914.Online version andGreek text at the Perseus Digital Library.
