Thelxinoe (the heart delighting), Aoede (song), Arche (beginning), and Melete. 7.) As daughters of Zeus and Plusia we find mention of four Muses, viz. c.), or Cephisso, Apollonis, and Borysthenis, which names characterise them as the daughters of Apollo. 14), and at Delphi, where their names were identical with those of the lowest, middle, and highest chord of the lyre, viz. § 1, &c.) Three were also recognised at Sicyon, where one of them bore the name of Polymatheia (Plut. With regard to the number of the Muses, we are informed that originally three were worshipped on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, namely, Melete (meditation), Mneme (memory), and Aoede (song) and their worship and names are said to have been first introduced by Ephialtes and Otus. Praef.) Eupheme is called the nurse of the Muses, and at the foot of Mount Helicon her statue stood beside that of Linus. c.), or of Apollo, or of Zeus and Plusia, or of Zeus and Moneta, probably a mere translation of Mnemosyne or Mneme, whence they are called Mnemonides (Ov. 37), and others daughters of Pierus and a Pimpleian nymph, whom Cicero ( De Nat. § 1) but some call them the daughters of Uranus and Gaea (Schol. The most common notion was, that they were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and born in Pieria, at the foot of Mount Olympus (Hes. The genealogy of the Muses is not the same in all writers. (Respecting the Muses conceived as nymphs see Schol. They were originally regarded as the nymphs of inspiring wells, near which they were worshipped, and bore different names in different places, until the Thraco-Boeotian worship of the nine Muses spread from Boeotia over other parts of Greece, and ultimately became generally established. The Muses, according to the earliest writers, were the inspiring goddesses of song, and, according to later noticus, divinities presiding over the different kinds of poetry, and over the arts and sciences. 23)ĮNCYCLOPEDIA Muse with box, Paestan red-figure lekanis C4th B.C., Musée du Louvre NEILO, TRITONE, ASOPO, HEPTAPORA, AKHELOIS, TIPOPLO, RHODIA (Epicharmis, Tzetzes on Hes. KEPHISO, APOLLONIS, BORYSTHENIS (Eumelus Frag 35, Tzetzes) NETE, MESE, HYPATE (Plutarch Symposium 9.14) MELETE, AODE, ARKHE, THELXINOE (Cicero De Natura Deorum 3.21, Tzetzes on Hes. TERPSIKHORE, ERATO, KALLIOPE, OURANIA (Plato Phaedrus 259) KLEIO, EUTERPE, THALEIA, MELPOMENE, TERPSIKHORE, ERATO, POLYHYMNIA, OURANIA, KALLIOPE (Hesiod Theogony 75, Apollodorus 1.13, Diodorus Siculus 4.7.1, Orphic Hymn 76) PIEROS & ANTIOPE (Cicero De Natura Deorum 3.21, Tzetzes on Hesiod 35) NAMES APOLLON (Eumelus Frag 35, Tzetzes on Hesiod 35) OURANOS (Mimnermos Frag, Pausanias 9.29.1, Cicero De Natura Deorum 3.21) OURANOS & GAIA (Alcman Frag 67, Mnaseas Frag, Diodorus Siculus 4.7.1, Scholiast on Pindar, Aronobius 3.37) MNEMOSYNE (Pindar Paean 7, Terpander Frag 4, Aristotle Frag 842, Plato Theaetetus 191c) ZEUS (Homer Odyssey 8.457, Homeric Hymns 32, et al)

ZEUS & MNEMOSYNE (Hesiod Theogony 1 & 915, Mimnermus Frag, Alcman Frag 8, Solon Frag 13, Apollodorus 1.13, Pausanias 1.2.5, Diodorus Siculus 4.7.1, Orphic Hymns 76 & 77, Antoninus Liberalis 9, Cicero De Natura Deorum 3.21, Arnobius 3.37) There were two alternative sets of Mousai-the three or four Mousai Titanides and the three Mousai Apollonides. In later art each of the nine was assigned her own distinctive attribute. In ancient Greek vase painting the Mousai were depicted as beautiful young women with a variety of musical intruments. Later the Mousai were assigned specific artistic spheres: Kalliope (Calliope), epic poetry Kleio (Clio), history Ourania (Urania), astronomy Thaleia (Thalia), comedy Melpomene, tragedy Polymnia (Polyhymnia), religious hymns Erato, erotic poetry Euterpe, lyric poetry and Terpsikhore (Terpsichore), choral song and dance. They were also goddesses of knowledge, who remembered all things that had come to pass.

THE MOUSAI (Muses) were the goddesses of music, song and dance, and the source of inspiration to poets. Muse, Muses, Of Song Muse with barbiton, Paestan red-figure lekanis C4th B.C., Musée du Louvre

Love muse of poetry