The Quaestiones Convivales of Plutarch (46–120 AD) also report three ancient Muses (9.I4.2–4). They were called Melete or "Practice", Mneme or "Memory" and Aoide or "Song". The Roman scholar Varro (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. 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. ĭiodorus 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.Īccording to Hesiod's account ( c. 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. In the first century BC, Diodorus Siculus cited Homer and Hesiod to the contrary, observing: In Thrace, a tradition of three original Muses persisted. Some ancient authorities regarded the Muses as of Thracian origin. The earliest known records of the Muses come from Boeotia (Boeotian muses). Number and names Gustave Moreau: Hesiod and the Muse (1891)- Musée d'Orsay, Paris Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus, c. Beekes rejects the latter etymology and suggests that a Pre-Greek origin is also possible. The word Muses ( Ancient Greek: Μοῦσαι, romanized: Moûsai) perhaps came from the o-grade of the Proto-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), or from root * men- ('to tower, mountain') since all the most important cult-centres of the Muses were on mountains or hills. Preserved in the Ghent University Library.
In modern figurative usage, a muse is a literal person or supernatural force that serves as someone's source of artistic inspiration.Įtymology Print of Clio, made in the 16th-17th century. Melete, Aoede, and Mneme are the original Boeotian Muses, and Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania are the nine Olympian Muses. 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. In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( Ancient Greek: Μοῦσαι, romanized: Moûsai, Greek: Μούσες, romanized: Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. Muse, perhaps Clio, reading a scroll (Attic red-figure lekythos, Boeotia, c. For individual human muses see Category:Muses. For other uses, see Muse (disambiguation). For human sources of inspiration, see Muse (source of inspiration). They have appeared, each with her own particular symbol, in paintings, architecture, and sculpture throughout the centuries."Muse" redirects here. The Muses appeared in paintings and sculptures throughout Greece and beyond, and were often the subject of the red and black pottery which was popular during the 5th and 4th century BCE. The result: his daughters were turned into magpies. For example, according to one myth, King Pierus of Macedon named his nine daughters after the Muses, believing they were more beautiful and talented. Myths regarding challenges to the Muses inevitably end in the challenger losing the challenge and suffering a terrible punishment.
While they were beautiful to behold and wonderfully gifted, their talents were not to be challenged. In legend, the Muses were variously described as living on Mt. The Muses delight the gods and human beings with their songs, dances, and poems and inspire human artists to greater artistic achievements. Each of the Muses is lovely, graceful and alluring, and gifted with a particular artistic talent. They were born after the pair lay together for nine nights in a row. The Muses were the daughters of Zeus, king of gods, and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory.
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