Muses: Difference between revisions
Tag: shouting |
upd |
||
(813 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown) | |||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{ |
{{Short description|Inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts}} |
||
{{hatnote group| |
|||
[[File:Musae.png|thumbnail|The nine muses: Clio, Thalia, Erato, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Calliope, Terpsichore, Urania, Melpomene]] |
|||
{{Redirect|Muse}} |
|||
{{Greek myth (personified)}} |
|||
{{For|human muses|Muse (person)|:Category:Muses (persons)}} |
|||
}} |
|||
[[File:Muse reading Louvre CA2220.jpg|thumb|Muse, perhaps [[Clio]], reading a scroll (Attic red-figure [[lekythos]], [[Boeotia]], {{circa|430 BC}})]] |
|||
In [[ancient Greek religion]] and [[Greek mythology|mythology]], the '''Muses''' ({{langx|grc|Μοῦσαι|Moûsai}}, {{langx|el|Μούσες|Múses}}) are the [[Artistic inspiration|inspirational]] goddesses of [[literature]], [[science]], and [[the arts]]. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the [[poetry]], [[lyric poetry|lyric songs]], and [[myth]]s that were related orally for centuries in ancient Greek culture. |
|||
The number and names of the Muses differed by region, but from the [[Classical Greece|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 (Muse)|Thalia]], and [[Urania]].<ref>Grimal, s.v. Muses.</ref> |
|||
The '''Muses''' ([[Ancient Greek]] {{Polytonic|αἱ μοῦσαι}}, ''hai moũsai'':<ref>[[Greek language|Modern Greek]] οι μούσες, ''i moúses''.</ref> perhaps from the [[Indo-European ablaut#Ablaut in Proto-Indo-European|o-grade]] of the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root *''men-'' "think"<ref>from which ''mind'' and ''mental'' are also derived; so ''OED''</ref>) in [[Greek mythology]], poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths. The compliment to a real woman who inspires creative endeavor is a later idea. |
|||
In modern figurative usage, a '''muse''' is a [[Muse (source of inspiration)|person who serves as someone's source of artistic inspiration]]. |
|||
== Origins == |
|||
==Etymology== |
|||
In [[Boeotia]], the homeland of Hesiod, a tradition persisted<ref>Reported to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in the second century AD (noted in [[Karl Kerenyi]], ''The Gods of the Greeks'', 1951, p.104 and note 284. Kerenyi offers the suggestion, from Hesiod's own practice, that their names had been ''Melete'', "practicing", ''Mneme'', "remembering", and ''Aoide'', "singing".</ref> that the Muses had once been three in number. [[Diodorus Siculus]], quotes Hesiod to the contrary, observing: |
|||
[[File:Afbeelding van Clio.jpg|thumb|308x308px|Print of Clio, made in the 16th–17th century. Preserved in the [[Ghent University Library]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Clio|url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:B3CC4648-A6A8-11E6-B1A4-293ED43445F2#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-3760,-343,12270,6851|access-date=2020-09-28|website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>]] |
|||
The word ''Muses'' ({{langx|grc|Μοῦσαι|Moûsai}}) perhaps came from the [[Indo-European ablaut#Proto-Indo-European|o-grade]] of the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root {{Lang|ine-x-proto|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),{{Sfn|West|2007|p=34}} or from root {{Lang|ine-x-proto|men-}} ('to tower, mountain') since all the most important cult-centres of the Muses were on mountains or hills.<ref>* A. B. Cook (1914), ''Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion'', Vol. I, p. 104, Cambridge University Press.</ref> [[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]] rejects the latter etymology and suggests that a [[Pre-Greek]] origin is also possible.<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 972.</ref> |
|||
== Number and names == |
|||
<blockquote>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.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], 4.7.1–2 ([http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4A.html#7 on-line text])</ref></blockquote> |
|||
[[File:Hesiod and the Muse.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Gustave Moreau]]: ''Hesiod and the Muse'' (1891)—[[Musée d'Orsay]], Paris|left]] |
|||
[[File:Johann Christoph Storer, Apollo and the Muses on Mount Parnassus, c. 1650, NGA 127331.jpg|alt= Pen and brown ink sketch of Apollo and the Muses enjoying music|thumb|upright|''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 [[Thracians|Thracian]] origin.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds2oBKF_FrUC|title= The Growth of Literature|publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 9781108016155|author= H. Munro Chadwick, Nora K. Chadwick|year= 2010}}</ref> In Thrace, a tradition of three original Muses persisted.<ref>At least, this was reported to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in the second century AD. ''Cfr.'' Karl Kerényi: ''The Gods of the Greeks'', Thames & Hudson, London 1951, p. 104 and note 284.</ref> |
|||
The Muses, the personification of knowledge and the arts, especially literature, dance and music, are the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (memory personified). Hesiod's account and description of the Muses was the one generally followed by the writers of antiquity. It was not until Roman times that the following functions were assigned to them, and even then there was some variation in both their names and their attributes: Calliope -epic poetry; Clio -history; Euterpe -flutes and lyric poetry; Thalia -comedy and pastoral poetry; Melpomene -tragedy; Terpsichore -dance; Erato -love poetry; Polyhymnia -sacred poetry; Urania -astronomy. |
|||
In the first century BC, [[Diodorus Siculus]] cited [[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]] to the contrary, observing: |
|||
Three ancient Muses were also reported in [[Plutarch]]'s ''Quaestiones Conviviviales'' (9.I4.2–4).<ref>Diodorus, Plutarch and Pausanias are all noted by Susan Scheinberg, in reporting other Hellenic maiden triads, in "The Bee Maidens of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes" ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', '''83''' (1979:1–28) p. 2.</ref> The Roman scholar [[Varro]] relates that there are only three Muses: one who is 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 [[Melete]] or Practice, [[Mneme]] or Memory and [[Aoide]] or Song. |
|||
{{blockquote|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.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], 4.7.1–2 ([http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4A.html#7 on-line text])</ref>}} |
|||
Diodorus states (Book I.18) that [[Osiris]] first recruited the nine Muses, along with the [[satyr]]s, while passing through [[Aethiopia]], before embarking on a tour of all Asia and Europe, teaching the arts of cultivation wherever he went. |
|||
However the Classical understanding of the muses tripled their triad, set at nine goddesses, who embody the arts and inspire creation with their graces through remembered and [[improvised]] song and stage, writing, traditional music, and dance. |
|||
According to Hesiod's account ({{Circa|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. |
|||
[[File:Muse reading Louvre CA2220.jpg|225px|thumb|left|Muse reading a scroll, perhaps [[Clio]]. Attic red-figure lekythos, Boeotia c. 435–425 BC, in the ''Louvre'']] |
|||
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. They were called [[Melete]] or "Practice", [[Mneme]] or "Memory" and [[Aoide]] or "Song".{{Citation needed|reason=There's no reference to where Varro says that.|date=June 2023}} The ''Quaestiones Convivales'' of [[Plutarch]] (46–120 AD) also report three ancient Muses (9.I4.2–4).<ref>See also the Italian article on [[:it:Plutarco|this writer]].</ref><ref>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.</ref> |
|||
In one myth, King [[Pierus]], king of [[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 [[magpie]]s<ref>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.</ref> <!--Can we get a reference for jackdaws? and [[jackdaw]]s--> for their presumption. |
|||
However, the [[Classical antiquity|classical]] 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 and [[improvised]] song and mime, writing, traditional music, and dance. It was not until [[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: |
|||
Sometimes they are referred to as water [[nymph]]s, associated with the springs of [[Mount Helicon|Helicon]] and with [[Pieria (prefecture)|Pieris]]. It was said that the winged horse [[Pegasus]] touched his hooves to the ground on Helicon, causing four sacred springs to burst forth, from which the muses were born.[http://www.elysiumgates.com/mt_olympus/histpegasus.html] [[Athena]] later tamed the horse and presented him to the muses. |
|||
[[File:Nine muses and mnemosyne symbols disc from elis greece.jpg|thumb|upright|Mosaic with symbols of each Muse and Mnemosyne, 1st century BC, Archaeological Museum of [[Ancient Elis]].]] |
|||
The Olympian myths set [[Apollo]] as their leader, ''Apollon Mousagetēs''. Not only are the Muses explicitly used in modern English to refer to an [[artistic inspiration]], as when one cites one's own artistic muse, but they also are implicit in words and phrases such as "a''muse''", "''muse''um" (Latinised from mouseion—a place where the muses were worshipped), "''mus''ic", and "''mus''ing upon".<ref>''[[OED]]'' derives "''amuse"'' from French ''a'' ("from") + ''muser'', "to stare stupidly" or distractedly.</ref> |
|||
{{block indent|1=<nowiki /> |
|||
According to [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' (7th century BCE), they were daughters of [[Zeus]], the second generation king of the gods, and the offspring of [[Mnemosyne]], goddess of memory. For [[Alcman]] and [[Mimnermus]], they were even more [[Greek primordial gods|primordial]], springing from the early deities, [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] and [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]. Gaia is [[Mother goddess|Mother Earth]], an [[Mother Nature|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. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] records a tradition of two generations of Muses; the first being daughters of [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] and [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]], the second of [[Zeus]] and [[Mnemosyne]]. Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters of [[Harmonia (Greek goddess)|Harmonia]] (the daughter of [[Aphrodite]] and [[Ares]]) which contradicts the myth in which they were dancing at the wedding of [[Harmonia (Greek goddess)|Harmonia]] and [[Cadmus]]. This later inconsistency is an example of how clues to the true dating, or chronology, of myths may be determined by the appearance of figures and concepts in Greek myths.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} |
|||
* [[Calliope]] ([[epic poetry]]) |
|||
* [[Clio]] (history) |
|||
* [[Polyhymnia]] ([[hymn]]) |
|||
* [[Euterpe]] (flute) |
|||
* [[Terpsichore]] (light verse and dance) |
|||
* [[Erato]] (lyric choral poetry) |
|||
* [[Melpomene]] (tragedy) |
|||
* [[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]] (comedy) |
|||
* [[Urania]] (astronomy, astrology, and space)<ref>For this list of names and attributes, see Grimal, s.v. Muses.</ref> |
|||
}} |
|||
[[File:Muses sarcophagus Louvre MR880.jpg|thumb|The nine Muses on a Roman [[sarcophagus]] (second century AD)—[[Louvre]], Paris|270x270px]] |
|||
Compare the Roman inspiring nymphs of springs, the [[Camenae]], the [[Völva]] of [[Norse Mythology]] and also the [[apsaras]] in the mythology of classical [[India]]. |
|||
According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], who wrote in the later second century AD, there were originally three Muses, worshipped on [[Mount Helicon]] in [[Boeotia]]: [[Aoide]] ('song' or 'tune'), [[Melete]] ('practice' or 'occasion'), and [[Mneme]] ('memory').<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://topostext.org/work/213#9.29.1 9.29.1–9.29.2]</ref> Together, these three form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in [[cult (religion)|cult practice]]. |
|||
In [[Delphi]] too three Muses were worshipped, but with other names: [[Nete (mythology)|Nete]], [[Mese (mythology)|Mese]], and [[Hypate]], which are assigned as the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument, the [[lyre]].<ref>Plutarch Symposium 9.14</ref> |
|||
==Muses in myth== |
|||
[[File:Francesco_del_Cossa_001.jpg|thumb|250px | left | [[Polyhymnia]], the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred [[hymn]] and [[eloquence]] as well as agriculture and [[pantomime]].]] |
|||
Alternatively, later they were called [[Cephisso]], [[Apollonis]], and [[Borysthenis]] - names which characterize them as daughters of [[Apollo]].<ref>[[Eumelus of Corinth|Eumelus]] fr. 35 as cited from [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] on [[Hesiod]], 23; Tzetzes on Hesiod, ''Works and Days'' 6</ref> |
|||
According to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in the later 2nd century AD,<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 9.29.1.</ref> there were three original Muses, worshiped on [[Mount Helicon]] in [[Boeotia]]: '''[[Aoidē]]''' ("song" or "tune"), '''[[Meletē]]''' ("practice" or "occasion"), and '''[[Mnēmē]]''' ("memory"). Together, these three form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in [[cult (religion)|cult practice]]. In [[Delphi]] three Muses were worshiped as well, but with other names: '''[[Nētē]]''', '''[[Mesē]]''', and '''[[Hypatē]]''', which are assigned as the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument, the [[lyre]]. Alternatively they later were called '''[[Cēphisso]]''', '''[[Apollonis]]''', and '''[[Borysthenis]]''', whose names characterize them as daughters of [[Apollo]]. |
|||
A later tradition recognized a set of four Muses: [[Thelxinoë]], [[Aoide]], [[Arche (mythology)|Archē]], and [[Melete]], said to be daughters of Zeus and Plusia or of [[Uranus (mythology)|Ouranos]].<ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/137#3.53 3.53], Epicharmis, ''Tzetzes on Hes''. 23</ref> |
|||
One of the people frequently associated with the Muses was [[Pierus]]. By some he was called the father (by a [[Pimpleia]]n nymph, called [[Antiope (Greek myth)|Antiope]] by [[Cicero]]) of a total of seven Muses, called {{Lang|grc-latn|Neilṓ|italic=no}} ({{Lang|grc|Νειλώ}}), {{Lang|grc-latn|Tritṓnē|italic=no}} ({{Lang|grc|Τριτώνη}}), {{Lang|grc-latn|Asōpṓ|italic=no}} ({{Lang|grc|Ἀσωπώ}}), {{Lang|grc-latn|Heptápora|italic=no}} ({{Lang|grc|Ἑπτάπορα}}), Achelōís, {{Lang|grc-latn|Tipoplṓ|italic=no}} ({{Lang|grc|Τιποπλώ}}), and {{Lang|grc-latn|Rhodía|italic=no}} ({{Lang|grc|Ῥοδία}}).<ref>Epicharmis, ''Tzetzes on Hes''. 23</ref><ref> |
|||
[[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=musae-bio-1 "Musae" ].</ref> |
|||
== Mythology == |
|||
One of the persons frequently associated with the Muses was [[Pierus]]. By some he was called the father (by a [[Pimpleia]]n nymph: called [[Pierus|Antiope]] by Cicero) of a total of seven Muses, called Neilo (Νειλώ), Tritone (Τριτώνη), Asopo (Ἀσωπώ), Heptapora (Ἑπτάπορα), [[Achelois]], Tipoplo (Τιποπλώ), and Rhodia (Ῥοδία).<ref>[http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Mousai.html TheoiProject: Muses]</ref> |
|||
[[File:Thalia sarcophagus Louvre Ma475.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]], Muse of comedy, holding a comic mask (detail from the "Muses Sarcophagus")]] |
|||
[[File:Claude Lorrain Apollo Muses.jpg|thumb|right|''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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Collective work by scholars and expertise|title=Επιστήμη & Ζωή|publisher=CHATZIAKOVOU S.A.|year=1980|location=Greece|pages=Vol.13, p.151|edition=Printed}}</ref> |
|||
For [[Alcman]] and [[Mimnermus]], they were even more [[Greek primordial gods|primordial]], springing from the early deities [[Uranus (mythology)|Ouranos]] and [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]. Gaia is [[Mother goddess|Mother Earth]], an [[Mother Nature|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. |
|||
In one myth, the Muses judged a contest between [[Apollo]] and [[Marsyas]]. They also gathered the pieces of the dead body of [[Orpheus]], son of [[Calliope]], and buried them. 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. |
|||
Sometimes the Muses are referred to as water [[nymph]]s, associated with the springs of [[Mount Helicon|Helicon]] and with [[Pieria (prefecture)|Pieris]]. It was said that the winged horse [[Pegasus]] touched his hooves to the ground on Helicon, causing four sacred springs to burst forth, from which the Muses, also known as [[pegasides]], were born.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elysiumgates.com/mt_olympus/histpegasus.html|title=Elysium Gates - Historical Pegasus|access-date=2010-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616103044/http://www.elysiumgates.com/mt_olympus/histpegasus.html|archive-date=2009-06-16|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Heroides]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/heroidesamores00ovid#page/182/mode/2up 15.27]: "the daughters of Pegasus" in the English translation; [[Propertius]], ''Poems'' [https://archive.org/stream/propertiuswithen00propuoft#page/176/mode/2up 3.1.19]: "Pegasid Muses" in the English translation.</ref> [[Athena]] later tamed the horse and presented him to the Muses (compare the Roman inspiring nymphs of springs, the [[Camenae]], the [[Völva]] of [[Norse Mythology]] and also the [[apsaras]] in the mythology of classical [[India]]). |
|||
Though the Muses, when taken together, form a complete picture of the subjects proper to poetic art, the association of specific Muses with specific art forms is a later innovation. The Muses were not assigned standardized divisions of poetry with which they are now identified until late [[Hellenistic]] times. |
|||
Classical writers set [[Apollo]] as their leader, {{Lang|grc-latn|Apollon Mousēgetēs}} ('Apollo Muse-leader').<ref>For example, Plato, ''Laws'' 653d.</ref> In one myth, the Muses judged a contest between Apollo and [[Marsyas]]. They also gathered the pieces of the dead body of [[Orpheus]], son of [[Calliope]], and buried them in [[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. |
|||
==Emblems of the Muses== |
|||
According to a myth from [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]''—alluding to the connection of Pieria with the Muses—[[Pierus]], king of [[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 (mythology)|Pierides]]'', being turned into chattering [[jay]]s (with {{Lang|grc|κίσσα}} often erroneously translated as '[[magpie]]s'<!--Can we get a reference for jackdaws? and [[jackdaw]]s-->) for their presumption.<ref>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.</ref> |
|||
[[Image:Eustache Le Sueur 002.jpg|thumb|right|The Muses [[Clio]], [[Euterpe]], and [[Thalia (muse)|Thalia]], by [[Eustache Le Sueur]]]] |
|||
[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] records a tradition of two generations of Muses; the first are the daughters of [[Uranus (mythology)|Ouranos]] and Gaia, the second of [[Zeus]] and [[Mnemosyne]]. Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters of [[Harmonia (Greek goddess)|Harmonia]] (the daughter of [[Aphrodite]] and [[Ares]]), which contradicts the myth in which they were dancing at the wedding of [[Harmonia (Greek goddess)|Harmonia]] and [[Cadmus]]. |
|||
{| class="wikitable" border="1" align="rleft" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em" |
|||
===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 of Thrace|Linus]] was said<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]]. ''Bibliotheca 1.3.2''</ref> to have been the son of Apollo and one of the Muses, either Calliope or Terpsichore or Urania. [[Rhesus of Thrace|Rhesus]] was the son of [[Strymon (mythology)|Strymon]] and Calliope or Euterpe. |
|||
The [[siren (mythology)|sirens]] were the children of [[Achelous]] and Melpomene or Terpsichore. Kleopheme was the daughter of Erato and Malos. [[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinth]] was the son of Clio, according to an unpopular account.<ref name="Pseudo-Apollodorus 1.3.3">[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.3.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=3&highlight=Hyacinth 1.3.3]</ref> |
|||
[[Hymen (god)|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.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.4 1.3.4]</ref> |
|||
==Cult== |
|||
The Muses had several temples and shrines in ancient Greece, their two main cult centres being Mount Helikon in Boiotia, which holds the [[Valley of the Muses]], and [[Pieria (regional unit)|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."<ref>Strabo, Geography 9. 2. 25 (trans. Jones)</ref> |
|||
The cult of the Muses was also commonly connected to that of Apollo. |
|||
==Emblems== |
|||
[[File:Anonimo Ferrarese by Francesco del Cossa.jpg|thumb|upright|[[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,<ref>As given by Grimal, s.v. Muses,</ref> as well as their various associated symbols: |
|||
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0 0 1em 1em;" |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
! Muse |
! Muse |
||
! Attribute |
|||
! Domain |
|||
! |
! Symbols |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Calliope]] |
| [[Calliope]] |
||
| [[Epic poetry]] |
| [[Epic poetry]] |
||
| [[Wax tablet|Writing tablet]], [[Stylus]], [[Lyre]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Miate |first1=Liana |title=Calliope |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Calliope/ |website=World History Encyclopedia |access-date=6 November 2024}}</ref><ref>[[File:The Muse Calliope by Eustache Le Sueur.jpg|thumb|The Muse Calliope by Eustache Le Sueur]]</ref> |
|||
| [[Wax tablet|Writing tablet]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Clio]] |
| [[Clio]] |
||
| |
| History |
||
| [[Scroll]]s, [[Book]]s, [[Cornett]], [[Laurel wreath]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Car of History Clock |url=https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/car-history-clock |website=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=6 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Clio |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Clio-Greek-mythology |website=Encyclopedia Brittanica |access-date=6 November 2024}}</ref> |
|||
| [[Scroll]]s |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[ |
| [[Polyhymnia]] |
||
| [[mime#Ancient Greece and Rome|Mime]] |
|||
| [[Love poetry]] |
|||
| [[Veil]], [[Grapes]] (referring to her as an agricultural goddess)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gill |first1=N.S. |title=Who Were the 9 Greek Muses? |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/the-greek-muses-119788 |website=ThoughtCo |access-date=6 November 2024}}</ref><ref>[[File:La musa Polimnia probably by Francesco del Cossa.jpg|thumb|Polyhymnia, the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn and eloquence as well as agriculture and pantomime]]</ref> |
|||
| [[Cithara]] (an [[ancient Greek]] [[musical instrument]] in the [[lyre]] family) |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Euterpe]] |
| [[Euterpe]] |
||
| Flute |
|||
| [[Song]] and [[Elegiac poetry]] |
|||
| [[Aulos]] (an [[ancient Greek]] [[musical instrument]] like a flute), [[panpipes]], [[laurel wreath]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Euterpe (music, lyric poetry) (from the Tarocchi series D: Apollo and the Muses, #18)|url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.432.18|author=Master of the E-Series Tarocchi|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=van Hoogstraten |first1=Samuel |title=Euterpe de Reedewikster |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1856-0614-222 |website=The British Museum |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref> |
|||
| [[Aulos]] (an [[ancient Greek]] [[musical instrument]] like a flute) |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[ |
| [[Terpsichore]] |
||
| Light verse and dance |
|||
| [[Tragedy]] |
|||
| [[Lyre]], [[Plectrum]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Atsma |first1=Aaron |title=Terpsichore |url=https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaTerpsikhore.html|website=Theoi|publisher=Theoi Project |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Nattier |first1=Jean-Marc |title=Terpsichore, Muse of Music and Dance |url=https://www.famsf.org/artworks/terpsichore-muse-of-music-and-dance |website=Fine Art Museums of San Francisco |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref> |
|||
| [[Theatre of ancient Greece#Masks|Tragic mask]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| |
|[[Erato]] |
||
|[[Greek lyric|Lyric choral poetry]] |
|||
| [[Hymns]] |
|||
|[[Cithara]] (an [[ancient Greek]] [[musical instrument]] in the [[lyre]] family)<ref>[[File:Erato monte calvo.jpg|thumb|Erato monte calvo]]</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wedgwood |first1=Josiah |title=Erato |url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/43804/erato |website=Royal Collection Trust |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref> |
|||
| [[Veil]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[ |
| [[Melpomene]] |
||
| [[ |
| [[Greek tragedy|Tragedy]] |
||
| [[Theatre of ancient Greece#Masks|Tragic mask]], [[Sword]] (or any kind of [[blade]]), [[Club (weapon)|Club]], [[buskins|Kothornos]] (boots)<ref>{{cite web |last1=de Bry |first1=Johann Theodor |title=Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy |url=https://www.artic.edu/artworks/157142/melpomene-muse-of-tragedy-plate-8-from-parnassus-biceps |website=Art Institute of Chicago |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Atsma |first1=Aaron |title=Melpomene |url=https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaMelpomene.html |website=Theoi |publisher=Theoi Project |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref> |
|||
| [[Lyre]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Thalia ( |
| [[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]] |
||
| [[Comedy]] |
| [[Ancient Greek comedy|Comedy]] |
||
| [[Theatre of ancient Greece#Masks|Comic mask]], [[Ivy]] wreath, [[Shepherd's crook]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Thaia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Thalia-Greek-mythology |website=Encyclopedia Brittanica |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Nattier |first1=Jean-Mark |title=Thalia, Muse of Comedy |url=https://www.famsf.org/artworks/thalia-muse-of-comedy |website=Fine Art Museums of San Francisco |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref> |
|||
| [[Theatre of ancient Greece#Masks|Comic mask]] |
|||
|- |
|- |
||
| [[Urania]] |
| [[Urania]] |
||
| [[Ancient Greek astronomy|Astronomy]] ([[Christian poetry]] in later times)<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dolloff |first1=Matthew |title=Mediating the muse : Milton and the metamorphoses of Urania |journal=The University of Texas Libraries |date=August 2006 |pages=14 |url=https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/enwiki/api/core/bitstreams/4538a78e-3f82-4b4a-a192-3abaa8ebe0e5/content |access-date=6 November 2024}}</ref> |
|||
| [[Astronomy]] |
|||
| [[Globe]] and [[Compass (drafting)|compass]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Goltzius |first1=Hendrik |title=Urania, The Muse of Astronomy |url=https://www.artic.edu/artworks/267830/urania-the-muse-of-astronomy-from-the-nine-muses |website=Art Institute of Chicago |date=1592 |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Atsma |first1=Aaron |title=Urania |url=https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaOurania.html |website=Theoi |publisher=Theoi Project |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref> |
|||
| [[Globe]] and [[Compass (drafting)|compass]] |
|||
|- |
|||
|} |
|} |
||
Some Greek writers give the names of the nine Muses as [[Kallichore (mythology)|Kallichore]], [[Helike (mythology)|Helike]], Eunike, [[Thelxinoë]], Terpsichore, Euterpe, Eukelade, [[Dia (mythology)|Dia]], and Enope.<ref>[[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''Scholia in Hesiodi Opera'' 1,23</ref> |
|||
In [[Renaissance]] and [[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical]] art, the dissemination of [[emblem book]]s such as [[Cesare Ripa]]'s ''Iconologia'' (1593 and many further editions) helped standardize the depiction of Muses in sculptures or paintings, who could be distinguished by certain props, together with which they became [[emblem]]s readily identifiable by the viewer, enabling one immediately to recognize the art with which they had become bound. Calliope (epic poetry) carries a writing tablet; Clio (history) carries a scroll and books; Erato (love/erotic poetry) is often seen with a lyre and a crown of roses; Euterpe (lyric poetry) carries a flute, the ''[[aulos]]''; 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. |
|||
In [[Renaissance]] and [[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical]] art, the dissemination of [[emblem book]]s 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 [[emblem]]s, 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. |
|||
[[Image:Musas01.jpg|thumb|''Melpomene and Polyhymnia'', [[Palacio de Bellas Artes]], Mexico]] |
|||
==Functions== |
|||
===Function in society=== |
|||
===In society=== |
|||
Greek ''mousa'' is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means "art" or "poetry". In [[Pindar]], to "carry a ''mousa''" is "to excel in the arts". The word probably is derived from the Indo-European root ''men-'', which is also the source of Greek ''[[Mnemosyne]]'', English "mind", "mental" and "memory" and Sanskrit "mantra". |
|||
[[File:Eustache Le Sueur - The Muses - Clio, Euterpe and Thalia - WGA12611.jpg|thumb|''[[Clio]], [[Euterpe]], and [[Thalia (muse)|Thalia]]'', by [[Eustache Le Sueur]], c. 1652–1655|left]] |
|||
The Greek word {{Lang|grc-latn|mousa}} is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means 'art' or 'poetry'. According to [[Pindar]], to "carry a {{Lang|grc-latn|mousa}}" is 'to excel in the arts'. The word derives from the [[Indo-European]] root {{Lang|ine-x-proto|men-}}, which is also the source of [[Greek language|Greek]] ''[[Mnemosyne]]'' and {{Lang|grc-latn|mania}}, [[English language|English]] ''mind'', ''mental'' and ''monitor'', [[Sanskrit]] ''[[mantra]]'' and [[Avestan]] {{Lang|ae-latn|Mazda}}.<ref>Calvert Watkins, ed., The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 3d ed., p. 56.</ref> |
|||
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 [[Thales]], was set in [[dactylic hexameter]], as were many works of [[pre-Socratic]] philosophy; both [[Plato]] and the [[Pythagoras|Pythagoreans]] explicitly included philosophy as a sub-species of ''mousike''.<ref>[[Strabo]] 10.3.10.</ref> The ''Histories'' of [[Herodotus]], whose primary medium of delivery was public recitation, were divided by Alexandrian editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses. |
|||
[[File:Le Sueur, Eustache - Melpomène, Érato et Polymnie - 1652 - 1655.jpg|thumb|''[[Melpomene]], [[Erato]], and [[Polyhymnia]]'', by Eustache Le Sueur, c. 1652–1655]] |
|||
For poet and "law-giver" [[Solon]],<ref>Solon, fragment 13.</ref> 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. It was believed that the muses would help inspire people to do their best. |
|||
PANDA PANDA PANDA PANDA PANDA |
|||
The Muses, therefore, were both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech: {{Lang|grc-latn|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 [[Thales]], took the form of [[dactylic hexameter]]s, as did many works of [[pre-Socratic]] philosophy. Both [[Plato]] and the [[Pythagoras|Pythagoreans]] explicitly included philosophy as a sub-species of {{Lang|grc-latn|mousike}}.<ref>[[Strabo]] 10.3.10.</ref> The ''Histories'' of [[Herodotus]], whose primary [[Medium (art)|medium]] of delivery was public recitation, were divided by Alexandrian editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses. |
|||
===Function in literature=== |
|||
For poet and "law-giver" [[Solon]],<ref>Solon, fragment 13.</ref> 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. |
|||
The Muses typically are invoked at or near the beginning of an ancient epic poem or classical Greek hymn. They have served as aids to an author of prose, too, sometimes represented as ''the true speaker'', for whom an author is merely a mouthpiece.<ref>This is an ancient convention: the Mesopotamian epic ''[[Atra-Hasis]]'' is represented as dictated by the Goddess in a dream-vision.</ref> Originally, the invocation of the Muse was an indication that the speaker was working inside the poetic tradition, according to the established formulas. Seven classic examples are: |
|||
===In literature=== |
|||
[[Image:Moreau, Gustave - Hésiode et la Muse - 1891.jpg|225px|thumb|[[Gustave Moreau]], ''Hesiod and the Muse'' (1891)—[[Musée d'Orsay]], Paris]] |
|||
[[File:Musas01.jpg|thumb|upright|''Melpomene and Polyhymnia'', [[Palacio de Bellas Artes]], Mexico]] |
|||
Ancient authors and some later authors and artists [[invocation|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. |
|||
:[[Homer]], in Book I of ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'': |
|||
::"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." ([[Robert Fagles]] translation, 1996) |
|||
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: |
|||
:[[Virgil]], in Book I of the ''[[Aeneid]]'': |
|||
::O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate; |
|||
::What goddess was provok'd, and whence her hate; |
|||
::For what offense the Queen of Heav'n began |
|||
::To persecute so brave, so just a man; [...] |
|||
::([[John Dryden]] translation, 1697) |
|||
<blockquote>These things declare to me from the beginning, |
|||
:[[Catullus]], in Carmen I: |
|||
::"And so, have them for yourself, whatever kind of book it is, |
|||
::and whatever sort, oh patron Muse |
|||
::let it last for more than one generation, eternally." |
|||
::(Student translation, 2007) |
|||
ye Muses who dwell in the house of Olympus, |
|||
:[[Dante Alighieri]], in Canto II of [[The Divine Comedy#Inferno|The Inferno]]: |
|||
::O Muses, O high genius, aid me now! |
|||
::O memory that engraved the things I saw, |
|||
::Here shall your worth be manifest to all! |
|||
::(Anthony Esolen translation, 2002) |
|||
and tell me which of them first came to be. |
|||
[[Image:Marble Muse.jpg|thumb|225px|''Muse'' (Erato?), marble, unknown American artist, ''c'' 1820) ([[Baltimore Museum of Art]])]] |
|||
— [[Hesiod]] (c. 700 BCE), ''[[Theogony]]'' (Hugh G. Evelyn-White translation, 2015) |
|||
:[[John Milton]], opening of Book 1 of ''[[Paradise Lost]]'': |
|||
::Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit |
|||
::Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste |
|||
::Brought death into the World, and all our woe, |
|||
::With loss of Eden, till one greater Man |
|||
::Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, |
|||
::Sing, Heavenly Muse, [...] |
|||
Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns |
|||
:[[William Shakespeare]], Act 1, Prologue of ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'': |
|||
::Chorus: O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend |
|||
::The brightest heaven of invention, |
|||
::A kingdom for a stage, princes to act |
|||
::And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! |
|||
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered |
|||
:[[Geoffrey Chaucer]], in Book II of [[Troilus and Criseyde]]: |
|||
::O lady myn, that called art Cleo, |
|||
::Thow be my speed fro this forth, and my Muse, |
|||
::To ryme wel this book til I haue do; |
|||
::Me nedeth here noon othere art to vse. |
|||
::ffor-whi to euery louere I me excuse |
|||
::That of no sentement I this endite, |
|||
::But out of Latyn in my tonge it write. |
|||
the hallowed heights of Troy. |
|||
[[Shakespeare's sonnets|Shakespeare's Sonnet]] 38 invokes the Tenth Muse:<ref>[http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/38.html Shakespeare, Sonnet 38.]</ref> |
|||
:—[[Homer]] (c. 700 - 600 BCE), in Book I of ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'' ([[Robert Fagles]] translation, 1996)</blockquote> |
|||
<blockquote> |
<blockquote>O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate; |
||
What goddess was provok'd, and whence her hate; |
|||
While thou dost breathe, that pour'st into my verse <br> |
|||
Thine own sweet argument?"</blockquote> |
|||
For what offence the Queen of Heav'n began |
|||
The poet asks, and in the opening of the [[sestet]] calls upon his muse: |
|||
To persecute so brave, so just a man; [...] |
|||
<blockquote>"Be thou the tenth Muse, ten times more in worth <br> |
|||
:—[[Virgil]] (c. 29 - 19 BCE), in Book I of the ''[[Aeneid]]'' ([[John Dryden]] translation, 1697)</blockquote> |
|||
Than those old nine which rhymers invocate."</blockquote> |
|||
Besides Homer and Virgil, other famous works that included an invocation of the Muse are the first of the ''carmina'' by [[Catullus]], [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' and ''[[Amores (Ovid)|Amores]]'', [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[The Divine Comedy#Inferno|Inferno]]'' (Canto II), [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer's]] ''[[Troilus and Criseyde]]'' (Book II), [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' (Act 1, Prologue), his 38th [[Shakespeare's sonnets|sonnet]], and [[John Milton|Milton's]] ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' (openings of Books 1 and 7). |
|||
<!-- |
<!-- |
||
Modern invocations of the Muses have appeared in a variety of literary and adult video sources. The Muses are [[Burlesque|burlesqued]] in the 1980 feature film ''[[Xanadu (film)|Xanadu]]'' (and its 2007 [[Xanadu (musical)|Broadway musical adaptation]]), which place Terpsichore and Clio, respectively, in the leading role under the pseudonym |
Modern invocations of the Muses have appeared in a variety of literary and adult video sources. The Muses are [[Burlesque|burlesqued]] in the 1980 feature film ''[[Xanadu (film)|Xanadu]]'' (and its 2007 [[Xanadu (musical)|Broadway musical adaptation]]), which place Terpsichore and Clio, respectively, in the leading role under the pseudonym "Kira". The Muses were also reduced to five in the 1997 Disney film ''Hercules'', and narrated the story through gospel music. Those five were Clio, Thalia, Melpomene, Calliope, and Terpischore. |
||
--> |
--> |
||
In modern English usage, ''muse'' (non capitalized but deriving from the classical Muses) can refer in general to a person who inspires an artist, writer, or musician.<ref>"[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muse muse]". The [[Webster's Dictionary|Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary]]. Retrieved February 15, 2009.</ref> |
|||
=== |
===In cults and modern museums=== |
||
[[File:Car of history.jpg|thumb|upright|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 [[Pythagoras]] arrived at [[Crotone|Croton]], 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 themselves were sometimes called Aganippids because of their association with a fountain called [[Aganippe]]. Other fountains, [[Hippocrene]] and [[Pirene (fountain)|Pirene]], were also important locations associated with the Muses. Some sources occasionally referred to the Muses as "Corycides" (or "Corycian [[nymph]]s") after a cave on [[Parnassos|Mount Parnassos]], called the [[Corycian Cave]]. [[Pausanias (geographer)|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 [[Boeotia]], in the [[Valley of the Muses]] near [[Mount Helicon|Helicon]], and in [[Delphi]] and the [[Parnassus]], where Apollo became known as {{Lang|grc-latn|Mousēgetēs}} ('Muse-leader') after the sites were rededicated to his cult. |
|||
[[File:Muses sarcophagus Louvre MR880.jpg|thumb|left|250px|"Muses [[Sarcophagus]]" shows nine Muses and their attributes - marble, early 2nd century AD, Via Ostiense - ''[[Louvre]]'']] |
|||
Often Muse-worship was associated with the [[Greek hero cult|hero-cults]] of poets: the tombs of [[Archilochus]] on [[Thasos]] and of [[Hesiod]] and [[Thamyris]] in [[Boeotia]] all played host to festivals in which poetic recitations accompanied sacrifices to the Muses. The [[Library of Alexandria]] and its circle of scholars formed around a {{Lang|grc-latn|mousaion}} (i.e., '[[museum]]' or shrine of the Muses) close to the tomb of [[Alexander the Great]]. Many [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] figures sought to re-establish a "Cult of the Muses" in the 18th century. A famous [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] lodge in pre-Revolutionary [[Paris, France|Paris]] was called [[Les Neuf Soeurs]] ('The Nine Sisters', that is, the Nine Muses); [[Voltaire]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Georges Danton|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. |
|||
When [[Pythagoras]] arrived at [[Crotone|Croton]], 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. |
|||
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.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DM%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Dmusea-cn A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin, Ed., Museia]</ref> |
|||
Local cults of the Muses often became associated with springs or with fountains. The Muses themselves were sometimes called Aganippids because of their association with a fountain called [[Aganippe]]. Other fountains, [[Hippocrene]] and [[Pirene (fountain)|Pirene]], were also important locations associated with the Muses. Some sources occasionally referred to the Muses as "Corycides" (or "Corycian [[nymph]]s") after a cave on [[Parnassos|Mount Parnassos]], called the [[Corycian Cave]]. |
|||
=== Places named after the Muses === |
|||
The Muses were venerated especially in [[Boeotia]], in the [[Valley of the Muses]] near [[Mount Helicon|Helicon]], and in [[Delphi]] and the [[Parnassus]], where Apollo became known as ''Mousagetes'' ("Muse-leader") after the sites were rededicated to his cult. |
|||
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 [[New Orleans English|"Yat"]] dialect. The pronunciations are actually in line with the French, Spanish, and Creole roots of the city.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/WbICHD5LZCc Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190530100731/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbICHD5LZCc Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbICHD5LZCc|title=How to pronounce New Orleans Muses Streets|last=NOLA.com|date=10 November 2016 |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> |
|||
== Modern use in the arts == |
|||
Often Muse-worship was associated with the [[Greek hero cult|hero-cults]] of poets: the tombs of [[Archilochus]] on [[Thasos]] and of [[Hesiod]] and [[Thamyris]] in [[Boeotia]] all played host to festivals in which poetic recitations accompanied sacrifices to the Muses. |
|||
{{Expand section|date=January 2022|reason=this section could be greatly expanded, and probably merits its own article.}}<!--See {{ill|Muse (inspiration)|fr|Muse (inspiration)|de|Muse (Beziehung)|ru|Муза (источник вдохновения)}}--> |
|||
{{further|Muse (source of inspiration)}} |
|||
[[Image:Musas.jpg|thumb|Nine Muses dancing with Apollo, by [[Baldassare Peruzzi]]]] |
|||
The Muses are explicitly used in modern English to refer to an artistic inspiration,<ref>{{OED|muse|id=124057}} Mainly 1b, 2</ref> as when one cites one's own artistic muse, and also implicit in words and phrases such as ''amuse'', ''museum'' (Latinised from {{Lang|grc-latn|mouseion}}—a place where the Muses were worshipped), ''music'', and ''musing upon''.<ref>''[[OED]]'' derives "amuse" from French ''a-'' ("from") and ''muser'', "to stare stupidly or distractedly".</ref> In current literature, the influential role that the Muse plays has been extended to the political sphere.<ref>Sorkin, Adam J. (1989) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Avf8SaqIAUIC ''Politics and the Muse. Studies in the Politics of Recent American Literature.''] Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Bowling Green OH.</ref> |
|||
== Gallery == |
|||
The [[Library of Alexandria]] and its circle of scholars formed around a ''mousaion'' ('''"[[museum]]"''' or shrine of the Muses) close to the tomb of [[Alexander the Great]]. |
|||
<gallery mode="packed"> |
|||
File:Terpsichore - Jean-Marc Nattier.jpg|[[Terpsichore]] |
|||
File:Erato.jpg|[[Erato]] |
|||
File:Follower of Guido Reni - Clio, Muse of History.jpg|[[Clio]] |
|||
File:Thalia MET ap74.48.jpg|[[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]] |
|||
File:Muse of cortona.png|[[Polyhymnia]] |
|||
File:Calliope.jpg|[[Calliope]] |
|||
File:Antonio Zucchi - Apollo and the Muses, 1767.jpg|[[Apollo and the Muses]] |
|||
File:Johann Heinrich Tischbein - The Nine Muses - Euterpe (Music), 1782.jpg|[[Euterpe]] |
|||
File:Simon Vouet - Parnassus or Apollo and the Muses (detail) - WGA25374.jpg|[[Parnassus]] |
|||
File:Uranie et Melpomène - 1680-1681 Louis de Boullogne.jpg|[[Urania]] and [[Melpomene]] |
|||
</gallery> |
|||
== Genealogy == |
|||
Many [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] figures sought to re-establish a "Cult of the Muses" in the 18th century. A famous [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] lodge in pre-Revolutionary [[Paris, France|Paris]] was called [[Les Neuf Soeurs]] ("the nine sisters", that is, the nine Muses) - [[Voltaire]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Georges Danton|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. |
|||
{{chart top|The Muses's family tree, according to Hesiod's ''Theogony''<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+132 132–138], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337 337–411], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+453 453–520], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+901 901–906, 915–920]; Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.</ref>|collapsed=no}} |
|||
===The Muse-poet=== |
|||
{{chart/start}} |
|||
{{chart|}} |
|||
[[File:Thalia sarcophagus Louvre Ma475.jpg|thumb|Thalia, muse of comedy, holding a comic mask - detail of “Muses Sarcophagus”, the nine Muses and their attributes; marble, early second century AD, Via Ostiense - ''Louvre'']] |
|||
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | |URA |y|GAI |~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|y|PON|URA=[[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]]|GAI=[[Gaia]]|PON=[[Pontus (mythology)|Pontus]]}} |
|||
{{chart|,|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | |!}} |
|||
The British poet [[Robert Graves]] popularized the concept of the Muse-poet in modern times. His concept was based on pre-12th century traditions of the Celtic poets, the tradition of the medieval troubadours who celebrated the concept of [[courtly love]], and the [[romantic poets]]. |
|||
{{chart|!|OCE |y|TET | | | |HYP |y|THE | | | | |CRI |y|EUR|OCE=[[Oceanus]]|TET=[[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]|HYP=[[Hyperion (mythology)|Hyperion]]|THE=[[Theia]]|CRI=[[Crius]]|EUR=[[Eurybia (mythology)|Eurybia]]}} |
|||
{{chart|!| |,|-|^|-|.| | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| | | |,|-|-|^|v|-|-|-|.}} |
|||
<blockquote>No Muse-poet grows conscious of the Muse except by experience of a woman in whom the Goddess is to some degree resident; just as no Apollonian poet can perform his proper function unless he lives under a monarchy or a quasi-monarchy. A Muse-poet falls in love, absolutely, and his true love is for him the embodiment of the Muse... |
|||
{{chart|!|RIV | |OCE | |HEL | |SEL | |EOS | |AST | |PAL | |PER |RIV=<small>The [[Potamoi|Rivers]]</small>|OCE=<small>The [[Oceanids]]</small>|HEL=[[Helios]]|SEL=[[Selene]]<ref>Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+371 371–374], in the ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn]] to Hermes'' (4), [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+4+99&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138 99–100], Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.</ref>|EOS=[[Eos]]|AST=[[Astraeus]]|PAL=[[Pallas (Titan)|Pallas]]|PER=[[Perses (Titan)|Perses]]}} |
|||
{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}} |
|||
But the real, perpetually obsessed Muse-poet distinguishes between the Goddess as manifest in the supreme power, glory, wisdom, and love of woman, and the individual woman whom the Goddess may make her instrument... |
|||
{{chart|)|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | |}} |
|||
{{chart|!| | | | |CRO |y|RHE | | | | | | | |COE |y|PHO | | |COE=[[Coeus]]|PHO=[[Phoebe (mythology)|Phoebe]]|CRO=[[Cronus]]|RHE=[[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]]}} |
|||
The Goddess abides; and perhaps he will again have knowledge of her through his experience of another woman...<ref>[[Robert Graves]], ''[[The White Goddess]]'', a historical grammar of poetic myth.</ref></blockquote> |
|||
{{chart|!| |,|-|v|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|v|-|.| | | | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | }} |
|||
{{chart|!|HES |!|HER | |HAD |!|ZEU | | | |LET | |AST | |HES=[[Hestia]]|HER=[[Hera]]|HAD=[[Hades]]|ZEU=[[Zeus]]|LET=[[Leto]]|AST=[[Asteria (Titaness)|Asteria]]}} |
|||
===The "tenth Muse"=== |
|||
{{chart|!| | | |!| | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}} |
|||
[[File:Parnaso 05.jpg|thumb|right|Muses in [[Raphael Sanzio|Raphael]]'s ''[[The Parnassus|Parnassus]]'' (1511)]] |
|||
{{chart|!| | |DEM | | | | | |POS | | | | | | | | | | | | | |DEM=[[Demeter]]|POS=[[Poseidon]]}} |
|||
{{chart|!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |}} |
|||
The archaic poet [[Sappho]] of [[Lesbos]] was given the compliment of being called "the tenth Muse" by [[Plato]]. The phrase has become a somewhat conventional compliment paid to female poets since. In Callimachus' "Aetia", the poet refers to Queen [[Berenike]], wife of Ptolemy II, as a "Tenth Muse", dedicating both the "Coma Berenikes" and the "Victoria Berenikes" in Books III–IV. French critics have acclaimed a series of ''dixième Muses'' who were noted by [[William Rose Benet]] in ''The Reader's Encyclopedia'' (1948): Marie Lejars de Gournay (1566–1645), [[Antoinette Deshoulières]] (1633–1694), [[Madeleine de Scudéry]] (1607–1701), and [[Delphine Gay]] (1804–1855). |
|||
{{chart|`|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.}} |
|||
{{chart| | | | |IAP |y|CLY | | | | | |MNE |~|y|~|ZEU |~|y|~|THE |IAP=[[Iapetus (mythology)|Iapetus]]|CLY=[[Clymene (wife of Iapetus)|Clymene]] (or [[Asia (mythology)|Asia]])<ref>According to [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+507 507–511], Clymene, one of the [[Oceanid]]s, the daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]], at [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+351 351], was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according to [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D3 1.2.3], another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.</ref>|MNE=[[Mnemosyne]]|ZEU=(Zeus)|THE=[[Themis]]}} |
|||
[[Anne Bradstreet]], a [[Puritan]] poet of [[New England]], was honored with this title after the publication of her poems in [[London]] in 1650, in a volume titled by the publisher as ''[[The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America]]''. This also was the first volume of [[American poetry]] ever published. |
|||
{{chart| |,|-|-|-|v|-|^|-|v|-|-|-|.| | | | | | |!| | | | | |!}} |
|||
{{chart|ATL | |MEN | |PRO | |EPI | | | | | | ! | | | | |HOR |ATL=[[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]]<ref>According to [[Plato]], ''[[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg032.perseus-eng1:113d 113d–114a], Atlas was the son of [[Poseidon]] and the mortal [[Cleito]].</ref>|MEN=[[Menoetius (Greek mythology)|Menoetius]]|PRO=[[Prometheus]]<ref>In [[Aeschylus]], ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.445.xml 444–445 n. 2], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.467.xml 446–447 n. 24], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-prometheus_bound/2009/pb_LCL145.539.xml 538–539 n. 113]) Prometheus is made to be the son of [[Themis]].</ref>|EPI=[[Epimetheus (mythology)|Epimetheus]]|HOR=<small>The [[Horae]]</small>}} |
|||
[[Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz]], a Mexican poet, is well known in the Spanish literary world as the tenth Muse. |
|||
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | | |,|-|v|-|v|-|v|-|+|-|v|-|v|-|v|-|.}} |
|||
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | |CLE|!|THAL|!|TERP|!|POL|!|CAL|CLE='''[[Clio|CLIO]]'''|THAL='''[[Thalia (Muse)|THALIA]]'''|TERP='''[[Terpsichore|TERPSICHORE]]'''|POL='''[[Polyhymnia|POLYHYMNIA]]'''|CAL='''[[Calliope|CALLIOPE]]'''}} |
|||
[[Gabriele d'Annunzio]]'s 1920 Constitution for the [[Free State of Fiume]] was based on the nine Muses and invoked [[Energeia]] (energy) as "the tenth Muse". In 1924, [[Karol Irzykowski]] published a monograph on cinematography entitled "The Tenth Muse" ("Dziesiąta muza"). Analyzing [[silent film]], he pronounced his definition of cinema: "It is the visibility of man's interaction with reality". |
|||
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | |!| | | |! | | | |!| | |}} |
|||
{{chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | |EUT | |MEL | |ERA | |URA | | | | |EUT='''[[Euterpe|EUTERPE]]'''|MEL='''[[Melpomene|MELPOMENE]]'''|ERA='''[[Erato|ERATO]]'''|URA='''[[Urania|URANIA]]'''}} |
|||
In ''The Tenth Muse: A historical study of the opera libretto'' Patrick J. Smith<ref>Smith, Patrick J., (1970) ''The Tenth Muse: A historical study of the opera libretto'', New York, Alfred. A. Knopf</ref> implicitly suggests that the libretto be considered as the tenth muse. The claim, if made explicit, is that the relation of word and music as constituted by the libretto is not only of significant import, but that the critical appreciation of that relation constitutes a crucial element in the understanding of opera. |
|||
{{chart/end}} |
|||
{{chart bottom}} |
|||
==See also== |
==See also== |
||
* [[Apsara]] |
|||
* [[Artistic inspiration]] |
|||
* [[Divine inspiration]] |
|||
* [[Leibethra]] |
* [[Leibethra]] |
||
* [[Pimpleia]] |
* [[Pimpleia]] |
||
* [[Saraswati]] |
|||
* [[Muses in popular culture]] |
|||
== |
==Notes== |
||
<!--<nowiki> |
<!--<nowiki> |
||
See [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref> and </ref> tags, and the template below. |
See [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref> and </ref> tags, and the template below. |
||
</nowiki>--> |
</nowiki>--> |
||
{{ |
{{Reflist|30em}} |
||
== References == |
|||
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Muses, The|volume=19|pages=59–60}} |
|||
* Grimal, Pierre, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-631-20102-1}}. [https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas0000grim/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive]. |
|||
*{{Cite book|last=West|first=Martin L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZXrJA_5LKlYC|title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth|date=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-928075-9|language=en|author-link=Martin Litchfield West}} |
|||
==External links== |
==External links== |
||
{{NSRW Poster|Muses}} |
|||
* [http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/result.htm?alt=Muses Muses in the ancient art] |
|||
{{wiktionary|Muse#English|Muse}} |
|||
{{commons category|Muses}} |
|||
{{wikiquote}} |
|||
* [http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/result.htm?alt=Muses Muses in ancient art]; ancientrome.ru |
|||
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000129 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 1,000 images of the Muses)] |
|||
{{Muses}} |
|||
{{Greek religion}} |
{{Greek religion}} |
||
{{Greek mythology (deities)}} |
{{Greek mythology (deities)}} |
||
{{Authority control}} |
|||
[[Category:Music and singing goddesses]] |
|||
[[Category:Wisdom goddesses]] |
|||
[[Category:Muses (mythology)| ]] |
|||
[[Category:Children of Zeus]] |
|||
[[Category:Arts goddesses]] |
[[Category:Arts goddesses]] |
||
[[Category:Dance goddesses]] |
|||
[[Category:Knowledge goddesses]] |
|||
[[Category:Greek goddesses]] |
[[Category:Greek goddesses]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:Women of Apollo]] |
||
[[Category:Greek mythology]] |
[[Category:Musicians in Greek mythology]] |
||
[[Category: |
[[Category:Olympian deities]] |
||
[[Category:Muses| ]] |
|||
[[Category:Offspring of Zeus]] |
|||
[[af:Muse]] |
|||
[[ar:إلهات الإلهام]] |
|||
[[ast:Muses]] |
|||
[[az:Muzalar]] |
|||
[[bn:মিউজ]] |
|||
[[be:Музы]] |
|||
[[be-x-old:Музы]] |
|||
[[bg:Музи]] |
|||
[[bs:Muza]] |
|||
[[br:Muzezed]] |
|||
[[ca:Muses]] |
|||
[[cs:Múzy]] |
|||
[[da:Muse]] |
|||
[[de:Muse (Mythologie)]] |
|||
[[et:Muusad]] |
|||
[[el:Μούσες]] |
|||
[[es:Musa]] |
|||
[[eo:Muzoj]] |
|||
[[fa:الهه شعر و موسیقی]] |
|||
[[fr:Muses]] |
|||
[[gl:Musa]] |
|||
[[ko:무사 (신화)]] |
|||
[[hy:Մուսաներ]] |
|||
[[hr:Muza]] |
|||
[[id:Musai]] |
|||
[[is:Menntagyðjur]] |
|||
[[it:Muse (divinità)]] |
|||
[[he:מוזה]] |
|||
[[ka:9 მუზა]] |
|||
[[sw:Muza]] |
|||
[[la:Musae]] |
|||
[[lb:Mus (Mythologie)]] |
|||
[[lt:Mūzos]] |
|||
[[lij:Muse]] |
|||
[[li:Muze]] |
|||
[[hu:Múzsák]] |
|||
[[mk:Музи]] |
|||
[[nl:Muzen]] |
|||
[[ja:ムーサ]] |
|||
[[no:Muse]] |
|||
[[nn:Muse]] |
|||
[[nds:Muse (Mythologie)]] |
|||
[[pl:Muzy]] |
|||
[[pt:Musa]] |
|||
[[ro:Muze]] |
|||
[[ru:Музы]] |
|||
[[sq:Muza]] |
|||
[[simple:Muse]] |
|||
[[sk:Múza]] |
|||
[[sl:Muza]] |
|||
[[sr:Музе]] |
|||
[[sh:Muze]] |
|||
[[fi:Muusa]] |
|||
[[sv:Muserna]] |
|||
[[tl:Musa (mitolohiya)]] |
|||
[[th:มิวส์]] |
|||
[[tr:Müzler]] |
|||
[[uk:Музи]] |
|||
[[vi:Muse]] |
|||
[[zh:缪斯]] |
Latest revision as of 08:38, 21 December 2024
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. 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
[edit]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),[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 a Pre-Greek origin is also possible.[5]
Number and names
[edit]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 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. They were called Melete or "Practice", Mneme or "Memory" and 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 classical 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 and improvised song and mime, writing, traditional music, and dance. It was not until 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:
- Calliope (epic poetry)
- Clio (history)
- Polyhymnia (hymn)
- Euterpe (flute)
- Terpsichore (light verse and dance)
- Erato (lyric choral poetry)
- Melpomene (tragedy)
- Thalia (comedy)
- Urania (astronomy, astrology, and space)[11]
According to Pausanias, who wrote in the later second century AD, there were originally three Muses, worshipped on Mount Helicon in Boeotia: Aoide ('song' or 'tune'), Melete ('practice' or 'occasion'), and Mneme ('memory').[12] Together, these three form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in 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: Thelxinoë, 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
[edit]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 Alcman and Mimnermus, they were even more primordial, springing from the early deities Ouranos and 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 nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon and with Pieris. It was said that the winged horse Pegasus touched his hooves to the ground on Helicon, causing four sacred springs to burst forth, from which the Muses, also known as pegasides, were born.[19][20] Athena later tamed the horse and presented him to the Muses (compare the Roman inspiring nymphs of springs, the Camenae, the Völva of Norse Mythology and also the apsaras in the mythology of classical India).
Classical writers set Apollo as their leader, Apollon Mousēgetēs ('Apollo Muse-leader').[21] In one myth, the Muses judged a contest between Apollo and Marsyas. They also gathered the pieces of the dead body of Orpheus, son of Calliope, and buried them in 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 Ovid's Metamorphoses—alluding to the connection of Pieria with the Muses—Pierus, king of 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]
Pausanias records a tradition of two generations of Muses; the first are the daughters of Ouranos and Gaia, the second of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters of Harmonia (the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares), which contradicts the myth in which they were dancing at the wedding of Harmonia and Cadmus.
Children
[edit]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.[24]
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.[25]
Cult
[edit]The Muses had several temples and shrines in ancient Greece, their two main cult centres being Mount Helikon in Boiotia, which holds the Valley of the Muses, 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."[26]
The cult of the Muses was also commonly connected to that of Apollo.
Emblems
[edit]The following table lists the Classical names and attributes of the standard list of the nine Muses,[27] as well as their various associated symbols:
Muse | Attribute | Symbols |
---|---|---|
Calliope | Epic poetry | Writing tablet, Stylus, Lyre[28][29] |
Clio | History | Scrolls, Books, Cornett, Laurel wreath[30][31] |
Polyhymnia | Mime | Veil, Grapes (referring to her as an agricultural goddess)[32][33] |
Euterpe | Flute | Aulos (an ancient Greek musical instrument like a flute), panpipes, laurel wreath[34][35] |
Terpsichore | Light verse and dance | Lyre, Plectrum[36][37] |
Erato | Lyric choral poetry | Cithara (an ancient Greek musical instrument in the lyre family)[38][39] |
Melpomene | Tragedy | Tragic mask, Sword (or any kind of blade), Club, Kothornos (boots)[40][41] |
Thalia | Comedy | Comic mask, Ivy wreath, Shepherd's crook[42][43] |
Urania | Astronomy (Christian poetry in later times)[44] | Globe and compass[45][46] |
Some Greek writers give the names of the nine Muses as Kallichore, Helike, Eunike, Thelxinoë, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Eukelade, Dia, and Enope.[47]
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
[edit]In society
[edit]The Greek word mousa is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means 'art' or 'poetry'. According to Pindar, to "carry a mousa" is 'to excel in the arts'. The word derives from the Indo-European root *men-, which is also the source of Greek Mnemosyne and mania, English mind, mental and monitor, Sanskrit mantra and Avestan Mazda.[48]
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 Thales, took the form of dactylic hexameters, as did many works of pre-Socratic philosophy. Both Plato and the Pythagoreans explicitly included philosophy as a sub-species of mousike.[49] The Histories of Herodotus, whose primary 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,[50] 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
[edit]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 Catullus, Ovid's Metamorphoses and Amores, Dante's 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
[edit]When Pythagoras arrived at Croton, 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 themselves were sometimes called Aganippids because of their association with a fountain called Aganippe. Other fountains, Hippocrene and Pirene, were also important locations associated with the Muses. Some sources occasionally referred to the Muses as "Corycides" (or "Corycian nymphs") after a cave on 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 Boeotia, in the Valley of the Muses near Helicon, and in Delphi and the Parnassus, where Apollo became known as Mousēgetēs ('Muse-leader') after the sites were rededicated to his cult.
Often Muse-worship was associated with the hero-cults of poets: the tombs of Archilochus on Thasos and of Hesiod and Thamyris in Boeotia all played host to festivals in which poetic recitations accompanied sacrifices to the Muses. The Library of Alexandria and its circle of scholars formed around a mousaion (i.e., 'museum' or shrine of the Muses) close to the tomb of Alexander the Great. Many Enlightenment figures sought to re-establish a "Cult of the Muses" in the 18th century. A famous Masonic lodge in pre-Revolutionary Paris was called 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.[51]
Places named after the Muses
[edit]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.[52]
Modern use in the arts
[edit]This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2022) |
The Muses are explicitly used in modern English to refer to an artistic inspiration,[53] 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.[54] In current literature, the influential role that the Muse plays has been extended to the political sphere.[55]
Gallery
[edit]Genealogy
[edit]The Muses's family tree, according to Hesiod's Theogony[56] |
---|
See also
[edit]- Apsara
- Artistic inspiration
- Divine inspiration
- Leibethra
- Pimpleia
- Saraswati
- Muses in popular culture
Notes
[edit]- ^ Grimal, s.v. Muses.
- ^ "Clio". lib.ugent.be. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
- ^ West 2007, p. 34.
- ^ * A. B. Cook (1914), Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, Vol. I, p. 104, Cambridge University Press.
- ^ R. S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 972.
- ^ H. Munro Chadwick, Nora K. Chadwick (2010). The Growth of Literature. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108016155.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.7.1–2 (on-line text)
- ^ See also the Italian article on this writer.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.29.1–9.29.2
- ^ Plutarch Symposium 9.14
- ^ Eumelus fr. 35 as cited from Tzetzes on Hesiod, 23; Tzetzes on Hesiod, Works and Days 6
- ^ Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.53, Epicharmis, Tzetzes on Hes. 23
- ^ Epicharmis, Tzetzes on Hes. 23
- ^ Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Musae" .
- ^ Collective work by scholars and expertise (1980). Επιστήμη & Ζωή (Printed ed.). Greece: CHATZIAKOVOU S.A. pp. Vol.13, p.151.
- ^ "Elysium Gates - Historical Pegasus". Archived from the original on 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
- ^ Ovid, Heroides 15.27: "the daughters of Pegasus" in the English translation; Propertius, Poems 3.1.19: "Pegasid Muses" in the English translation.
- ^ For example, Plato, Laws 653d.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca 1.3.2
- ^ Apollodorus, 1.3.3
- ^ Apollodorus, 1.3.4
- ^ Strabo, Geography 9. 2. 25 (trans. Jones)
- ^ As given by Grimal, s.v. Muses,
- ^ Miate, Liana. "Calliope". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^
- ^ "Car of History Clock". Architect of the Capitol. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ "Clio". Encyclopedia Brittanica. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ Gill, N.S. "Who Were the 9 Greek Muses?". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^
- ^ Master of the E-Series Tarocchi. "Euterpe (music, lyric poetry) (from the Tarocchi series D: Apollo and the Muses, #18)". Cleveland Museum of Art.
- ^ van Hoogstraten, Samuel. "Euterpe de Reedewikster". The British Museum. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Atsma, Aaron. "Terpsichore". Theoi. Theoi Project. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Nattier, Jean-Marc. "Terpsichore, Muse of Music and Dance". Fine Art Museums of San Francisco. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^
- ^ Wedgwood, Josiah. "Erato". Royal Collection Trust. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ de Bry, Johann Theodor. "Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy". Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Atsma, Aaron. "Melpomene". Theoi. Theoi Project. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ "Thaia". Encyclopedia Brittanica. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Nattier, Jean-Mark. "Thalia, Muse of Comedy". Fine Art Museums of San Francisco. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Dolloff, Matthew (August 2006). "Mediating the muse : Milton and the metamorphoses of Urania". The University of Texas Libraries: 14. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ Goltzius, Hendrik (1592). "Urania, The Muse of Astronomy". Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Atsma, Aaron. "Urania". Theoi. Theoi Project. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Tzetzes, Scholia in Hesiodi Opera 1,23
- ^ Calvert Watkins, ed., The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 3d ed., p. 56.
- ^ Strabo 10.3.10.
- ^ Solon, fragment 13.
- ^ A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin, Ed., Museia
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: NOLA.com (10 November 2016). "How to pronounce New Orleans Muses Streets" – via YouTube.
- ^ "muse". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) Mainly 1b, 2
- ^ OED derives "amuse" from French a- ("from") and muser, "to stare stupidly or distractedly".
- ^ 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.
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 132–138, 337–411, 453–520, 901–906, 915–920; Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.
- ^ 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.
- ^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 507–511, Clymene, one of the 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.
- ^ According to Plato, Critias, 113d–114a, Atlas was the son of Poseidon and the mortal Cleito.
- ^ 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
[edit]- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 59–60.
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. Internet Archive.
- West, Martin L. (2007). Indo-European Poetry and Myth. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-928075-9.