The Muses are the Greek goddesses who preside over the arts
and sciences and inspire those who excel at these pursuits. Daughters of Zeus,
king of the gods, and Mnemosyne ("memory"), they were born at Pieria at the
foot of Mount Olympus. Their nurse, Eupheme, raised them along with her son,
Crotus the hunter, who was transported into the sky as Sagittarius upon his
death. Their name (akin to the Latin mens and English mind)
denotes 'memory' or 'a reminder', since in the earliet times poets, having no
books to read from, relied on their memories. The Romans identified the Muses
with certain obscure Italian water-goddesses, the Camenae.
The original number of muses and their names varies in earlier times as their
evolution blossomed in Greek mythology. At first, three muses were worshipped
on Mount Helicon in Boeotia: Melete ("meditation"), Mneme ("memory"), and Aoede
("song"). Another three were worshipped at Delphi and their names represented
the names of the strings of a lyre: Nete, Mese, and Hypate. Several other
versions were worshipped until the Greeks finally established the nine muses in
mythology as: Calliope,
Clio, Erato,
Euterpe,
Melpomene,
Polyhymnia,
Terpsichore,
Thalia, and
Urania. The Muses had several
epithets which usually referred to
places where they had settled.
Ephialtes and Otus, who also founded Ascra, were the first to sacrifice on
Helicon to the Muses and to call the mountain sacred to the Muses. Sacrifices
to the Muses consisted of libations of water, milk, or honey.
Their companions are the Charities, the Horae, Eros, Dionysus, Apollo,
Aphrodite, Harmonia, and Himerus (Desire). Apollo is the leader of the choir of
the Muses and consequently he has the surname Musagetes. Athena caught and
tamed the winged horse Pegasus and gave him to the Muses. Some of their disciples included the
Sphinx who learned her riddle from the Muses, Aristaeus, who learned the arts
of healing and prophecy from them, and Echo, who was taught by them to play
music.
In Plato's Phaedrus 259c, Socrates says the locusts used to be men before the
birth of the Muses. When song appeared when the Muses were born, some men were
so overcome with delight that they sang constantly, forgetting to eat and drink
until they eventually died. These dead men became locusts with a gift from the
Muses allowing them to sing continuously from their birth until death without
the need of sustenance. When they die, the locust go to the Muses and report
which men on earth honors each, endearing a worshipper to the Muse he follows.
The Muses could be vindictive like in the story of the contest with Thamyris.
Thamyris who excelled in minstrelsy challenged the Muses to a musical contest
at Dorium in Messenia, the agreement being if he won he would take pleasure
from all of them. The Muses won the contest, and bereft Thamyris of his eyes
and minstrelsy.
In another story, the king of Emathia (Macedonia) and his wife Euippe had nine
daughters and named them after the Muses. The daughters entered a contest with
the Muses, were defeated and were metamorphosed by the Muses into birds called
Colymbas, Iynx, Cenchris, Cissa, Chloris, Acalanthis, Nessa, Pipo, and
Dracontis. These names were taken from actual names of birds such as the
wryneck, hawk, jay, duck, goldfinch, and four others with no recognizable
modern equivalents.
In yet another myth, it was said Hera, queen of the gods, persuaded the Sirens,
who were described in early Greek mythology as having the bodies of birds and
heads of beautiful women, to enter a singing contest with the Muses. The Muses
won the competition and then plucked out all of the Sirens' feathers and made
crowns out of them.
Many places were dedicated to the Muses such as the famous Valley of the Muses
- Thespies on the eastern slopes of Mt. Helikon began it's "Mouseai" festivals
in the 6th c. B.C. It was organized every 5 years by the Thespians. Poets and
musicians from all over Greece also participated in various games (epic,
poetry, rapsodia, kithara, aulos, satyric poetry, tragedy and comedy). It was
common for ancient schools to have a shrine to the Muses called mouseion,
the source of the modern word 'museum.' The famous Museum of Alexandria,
founded by Ptolemy I, was a temple dedicated to the Muses. Before poets or
storytellers recited their work, it was customary for them to invoke the
inspiration and protection of the Muses.
