The Nine Muses
Μοῦσαι
The Muses
• The Muses are the daughters of
Zeus and Mnemosyne
• The Muses are nymphs of the arts
and sciences, inspire all artists,
poets, philosophers, and musicians
• Were companions of Apollo
• They also preside over memory,
as does their mother
• Each Muse presided over a
particular form of literature, art or
science….
Calliope
Eloquence and Epic poetry
• Name means ‘fine voice’
• Often depicted seated with a stylus
and wax tablets
• Chief of the Muses
• She is said to be the mother of
Orpheus, Hymen and Ialemus,
Rhesus and Lynus
• Homer’s inspiration for Illiad and
the Oddysey
Melpomene
Tragedy
• Name comes from Greek
melpein, ‘to sing’, she is known to
have a beautiful singing voice
• Often seen with a tragedy mask,
not a severed head, wearing
cothurnus, she wears the crown of
cypress on her head and
sometimes hold a club or knife
covered in blood
Polyhymnia
Rhetoric, Lyric, Oratory, Sacred Song, Agriculture and Pantomime
• Serious and pensive
• Seen holding a finger to her
mouth, a flower, a pearl crown,
holding a sceptre, resting on a
pillar and veiled by a long white
cloak
• Inventor of the lyre
• Brings fame to writers
ERato
Love poetry
• Name derived from eros (love),
and her name translates as
‘passionate’
• Represented in art with a myrtle
bush, roses, holding a lyre or a
bow, and sometimes with a golden
arrow
• Mother of Azan to Arcas
Clio
History
• Name derived from Greek kleos,
‘Glory’
• Had one son, Hyacinth with the
Macedonian king, Pierus
• Often depicted as a virgin with a
laurel wreath, a trumpet, a book,
and holding a parchment scroll or
an overabundance of tablets
Terpsichore
Choral singing and dance
• Said to be the mother of the Sirens
to Achelous
• Provides the origin of the term
terpsichorean, meaning ‘relating to
dance’
• Represented seated as a young
woman crowned with a garland of
flowers, holding a lyre, or dancing
Euterpe
Music
• Referred to a ‘the Giver of Delight’
• Impregnated by river-god
Strymon, gave birth to Rhesus who
was killed by Diomedes at Troy
• Sometimes credited with inventing
the flute, rather than the satyr
Marsyas
• Depicted as a maid with a flower
garland, and her flute
Thalia
Comedy and Pastoral poetry
• A rustic Muse whose name means,
‘blossoming’
• Gave birth to the Corybantes
(dancers who worshipped
Phygrian goddess Cybele), the
father was Apollo
• Portrayed with a comic mask,
shephard’s staff, a wreath of ivy
and wearing ankle boots
• Shares her name with the Grace,
Haphaestus’ daughter and a
Nereid
Urania
Astronomy and astrology
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Name means ‘heavenly’
Can see the future in the stars
Always looks toward the heavens
Associated with the Universe and
Holy Spirit
• Often seen with a globe, a peg, a
bar and standing on a turtle, which
is a Greek symbol for silence
Sources
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http://olympianmythology.blogspot.com/2005/03/muses.html
http://hunter.apana.org.au/~gallae/pantheon/myth/muses.htm
http://www.loggia.com/myth/muses.html
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/MUSES.html
http://www.winterscapes.com/sannion/muses.htm
http://www.waltm.net/muse.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Muses
http://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/MFA/Apollo_and_the_Muses_2.jpg
http://www.vroma.org/images/raia_images/muse.melpomene.jpg