Muses
conceptNine sister goddesses who inspired all forms of art, literature, and knowledge. Every poet, musician, and thinker invoked the Muses before creating.
The Myth
The nine Muses were daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne (Memory). Each presided over a different art or field of knowledge: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (love poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (hymns), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy).
The Muses dwelt on Mount Helicon, where the spring Hippocrene (created by Pegasus's hoof) provided divine inspiration. They also frequented Pieria and Mount Parnassus near Delphi. Apollo led them as Musagetes, the leader of the Muses.
Every Greek poet began their work with an invocation to the Muses. Homer opened the Iliad with "Sing, O Muse, of the wrath of Achilles" and the Odyssey with "Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many ways." The belief was that artistic inspiration was not generated by the artist but channeled through them from divine sources.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The word "museum" literally means "seat of the Muses" — a place dedicated to the arts and sciences they inspired.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Apollo (Light)
godApollo was the most complex Olympian — god of light, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, plague, and...
Apollo
godGod of light, music, poetry, and prophecy. Apollo embodied the Greek ideal of youthful masculine...
Helicon
placeThe Boeotian mountain sacred to the Muses and Apollo, home to the springs of Hippocrene and...
Mount Parnassus
placeMount Parnassus was the mountain above Delphi sacred to Apollo and the Muses — the symbolic home of...
Calliope
nymphCalliope was the chief of the nine Muses, presiding over epic poetry — she inspired Homer and was...
Mnemosyne
titanThe Titaness who personified memory, mother of the nine Muses. Without Mnemosyne, there could be no...
Mount Olympus (Sacred)
placeThe highest mountain in Greece and mythological home of the twelve Olympian gods, whose...
Pegasus (Winged)
creaturePegasus was the immortal winged horse born from Medusa's blood whose hoof-strike created the...
Titan Mnemosyne (Memory)
titanThe Titaness of memory who lay with Zeus for nine nights and bore the nine Muses, making her the...
Zeus
godSupreme ruler of the Olympian gods and lord of the sky. Zeus overthrew his father Kronos and...
Katabasis of Orpheus
conceptOrpheus's descent to the Underworld to retrieve Eurydice, whose loss at the threshold of return...
Apollo Loxias
godAn epithet of Apollo meaning "the Oblique One," referring to the deliberately ambiguous nature of...