The wordMuses (Ancient Greek:Μοῦσαι,romanized: Moûsai) perhaps came from theo-grade of theProto-Indo-European root*men- (the basic meaning of which is 'put in mind' in verb formations with transitive function and 'have in mind' in those with intransitive function),[3] or from root*men- ('to tower, mountain') since all the most important cult-centres of the Muses were on mountains or hills.[4]R. S. P. Beekes rejects the latter etymology and suggests that aPre-Greek origin is also possible.[5]
The earliest known records of the Muses come fromBoeotia (Boeotian muses). Some ancient authorities regarded the Muses as ofThracian origin.[6] In Thrace, a tradition of three original Muses persisted.[7]
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) thatOsiris first recruited the nine Muses, along with thesatyrs, while passing throughAethiopia, before embarking on a tour of all Asia and Europe, teaching the arts of cultivation wherever he went.
The Roman scholarVarro (116–27 BC) 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 calledMelete or "Practice",Mneme or "Memory" andAoide or "Song".[citation needed] TheQuaestiones Convivales ofPlutarch (46–120 AD) also report three ancient Muses (9.I4.2–4).[9][10]
However, theclassical 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 andimprovised song and mime, writing, traditional music, and dance. It was not untilHellenistic 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 ofAncient Elis.
The nine Muses on a Romansarcophagus (second century AD)—Louvre, Paris
According toPausanias, who wrote in the later second century AD, there were originally three Muses, worshipped onMount Helicon inBoeotia:Aoide ('song' or 'tune'),Melete ('practice' or 'occasion'), andMneme ('memory').[12] Together, these three form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art incult practice.
InDelphi too three Muses were worshipped, but with other names:Nete,Mese, andHypate, which are assigned as the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument, thelyre.[13]
A later tradition recognized a set of four Muses:Thelxinoë,Aoide,Archē, andMelete, said to be daughters of Zeus and Plusia or ofOuranos.[15] One of the people frequently associated with the Muses wasPierus. By some he was called the father (by aPimpleian nymph, calledAntiope byCicero) of a total of seven Muses, calledNeilṓ (Νειλώ),Tritṓnē (Τριτώνη),Asōpṓ (Ἀσωπώ),Heptápora (Ἑπτάπορα), Achelōís,Tipoplṓ (Τιποπλώ), andRhodía (Ῥοδία).[16][17]
Ancient writers often calledBoeotiaAonia, and because the Muses often visited Mount Helicon in Boeotia, they were called Aonides and Aoniae Sorores.[18][19]
Thalia, Muse of comedy, holding a comic mask (detail from the "Muses Sarcophagus")Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon (1680) byClaude Lorrain
According toHesiod'sTheogony (seventh century BC), they were daughters ofZeus, king of the gods, andMnemosyne, 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.[20]
ForAlcman andMimnermus, they were even moreprimordial, springing from the early deitiesOuranos andGaia. Gaia isMother Earth, anearly mother goddess who was worshipped atDelphi 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 waternymphs, associated with the springs ofHelicon and withPieris. It was said that the winged horsePegasus touched his hooves to the ground on Helicon, causing four sacred springs to burst forth, from which the Muses, also known aspegasides, were born.[21][22]Athena later tamed the horse and presented him to the Muses (compare the Roman inspiring nymphs of springs, theCamenae, theVölva ofNorse mythology and also theapsaras in the mythology of classicalIndia).
Classical writers setApollo as their leader,Apollon Mousēgetēs ('Apollo Muse-leader').[23] In one myth, the Muses judged a contest between Apollo andMarsyas. They also gathered the pieces of the dead body ofOrpheus, son ofCalliope, and buried them inLeivithra. 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 fromOvid'sMetamorphoses—alluding to the connection of Pieria with the Muses—Pierus, king ofMacedon, 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, thePierides, being turned into chatteringmagpies for their presumption.[24]
Pausanias records a tradition of two generations of Muses; the first are the daughters ofOuranos and Gaia, the second ofZeus andMnemosyne. Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters ofHarmonia (the daughter ofAphrodite andAres), which contradicts the myth in which they were dancing at the wedding ofHarmonia andCadmus.
Calliope had two sons,Ialemus andOrpheus, withApollo. In another version of the story, the father of Orpheus wasOeagrus, but Apollo adopted him and taught him the skill of lyre while Calliope trained him in singing.
Linus was said[25] to have been the son of Apollo and one of the Muses, either Calliope or Terpsichore or Urania.Rhesus was the son ofStrymon and Calliope or Euterpe.
Thesirens were the children ofAchelous and Melpomene or Terpsichore. Kleopheme was the daughter of Erato and Malos.Hyacinth was the son of Clio, according to an unpopular account.[26]
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.[27]
In the sanctuary ofHera inCoroneia 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.[28][29] According toStephanus 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 namedAptera ("featherless") and the nearby islands were called theLeukai ("the white ones").[30]John Tzetzes recounts that after defeating the sirens, the Muses crowned themselves with the sirens' wings, except forTerpsichore who was their mother, adding that the city of Aptera named after this event.[31] Furthermore, in one of his letters,Julian the Emperor mentions the Muses' victory over the sirens.[32]
The Muses had several temples and shrines in ancient Greece, their two main cult centres being Mount Helikon in Boiotia, which holds theValley of the Muses, andPieria inMacedonia.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, theMacedonians hold these places."[33]
The cult of the Muses was also commonly connected to that of Apollo.
InRenaissance andNeoclassical art, the dissemination ofemblem books such asCesare Ripa'sIconologia (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, oremblems, 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, theaulos; 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 songs) is often seen with a pensive expression; Terpsichore (chorus dancing and choral 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.
The Greek wordmousa is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means 'art' or 'poetry'. According toPindar, to "carry amousa" is 'to excel in the arts'. The word derives from theIndo-European root*men-, which is also the source ofGreekMnemosyne andmania,Englishmind,mental andmonitor,Sanskritmantra andAvestanMazda.[52]
The Muses, therefore, were both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech:mousike (whence the English termmusic) 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, byThales, took the form ofdactylic hexameters, as did many works ofpre-Socratic philosophy. BothPlato and thePythagoreans explicitly included philosophy as a sub-species ofmousike.[53] TheHistories ofHerodotus, whose primarymedium of delivery was public recitation, were divided by Alexandrian editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses.
For poet and "law-giver"Solon,[54] 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.
Ancient authors and some later authors and artistsinvoke 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
WhenPythagoras arrived atCroton, his first advice to the Crotoniates was to build a shrine to the Muses at the center of the city, to promote civic harmony and learning. Local cults of the Muses often became associated with springs or with fountains. The Muses were sometimes called Aganippides, a name derived from the sacred springAganippe at the foot ofMount Helicon, whose waters were believed to grant inspiration.[55] Other fountains,Hippocrene andPirene, were also important locations associated with the Muses. Some sources occasionally referred to the Muses as "Corycides" (or "Coryciannymphs") after a cave onMount Parnassos, called theCorycian Cave.Pausanias referred to the Muses by the surnames "Ardalides" or "Ardaliotides", because of a sanctuary to them atTroezen said to have been built by the mythicalArdalus.
The Muses were venerated especially inBoeotia, in theValley of the Muses nearHelicon, and inDelphi and theParnassus, where Apollo became known asMousēgetēs ('Muse-leader') after the sites were rededicated to his cult.
Often Muse-worship was associated with thehero-cults of poets: the tombs ofArchilochus onThasos and ofHesiod andThamyris inBoeotia all played host to festivals in which poetic recitations accompanied sacrifices to the Muses. TheLibrary of Alexandria and its circle of scholars formed around amousaion (i.e., 'museum' or shrine of the Muses) close to the tomb ofAlexander the Great. ManyEnlightenment figures sought to re-establish a "Cult of the Muses" in the 18th century. A famousMasonic lodge in pre-RevolutionaryParis was calledLes 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 wordmuseum (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 ofMount Helicon inBoeotia. There was also another festival which was called Museia, which was celebrated in schools.[56]
InNew 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.[57]
The Muses are explicitly used in modern English to refer to an artistic inspiration,[58] as when one cites one's own artistic muse, and also implicit in words and phrases such asamuse,museum (Latinised frommouseion—a place where the Muses were worshipped),music, andmusing upon.[59] In current literature, the influential role that the Muse plays has been extended to the political sphere.[60]
^At least, this was reported toPausanias in the second century AD.Cfr. Karl Kerényi:The Gods of the Greeks, Thames & Hudson, London 1951, p. 104 and note 284.
^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.
^For this list of names and attributes, see Grimal, s.v. Muses.
^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 alsoAntoninus Liberalis 9.
^Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as inHesiod,Theogony371–374, in theHomeric Hymn to Hermes (4),99–100, Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.
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