Muses

<p>The <b>Muses</b> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/ˈmjuːzᵻz/</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">Ancient Greek</a>: Μοῦσαι, <i>Moũsai</i>; perhaps from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_ablaut#Proto-Indo-European" title="Indo-European ablaut">o-grade</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language" title="Proto-Indo-European language">Proto-Indo-European</a> root *<i>men-</i> "think"<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup>) in Greek mythology are the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_inspiration" title="Artistic inspiration">inspirational</a> goddesses of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature" title="Literature">literature</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science" title="Science">science</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_arts" title="The arts">the arts</a>. </p>

<p>

They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry" title="Poetry">poetry</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyric_poetry" title="Lyric poetry">lyric songs</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth" title="Myth">myths</a> that were related orally for centuries in these ancient cultures. </p>

<p>

They were later adopted by the Romans as a part of their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon_%28religion%29" title="Pantheon (religion)">pantheon</a>.</p>

<p>

In current English usage, "muse" can refer in general to a person who inspires an artist, writer, or musician.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup>

<h2>Number and names</h2>

<p>The earliest known records of the Nine Muses are from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeotia" title="Boeotia">Boeotia</a>, the homeland of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesiod" title="Hesiod">Hesiod</a>. Some ancient authorities thought that the Nine Muses were of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thracians" title="Thracians">Thracian</a> origin.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup> There, a tradition persisted that the Muses had once been three in number.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup> In the first century BC, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diodorus_Siculus" title="Diodorus Siculus">Diodorus Siculus</a> quotes Hesiod to the contrary, observing:</p>

<p>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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer" title="Homer">Homer</a> and Hesiod and others like them.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup></p>

</blockquote>

<p>Diodorus also states (Book I.18) that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris" title="Osiris">Osiris</a> first recruited the nine Muses, along with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyr" title="Satyr">Satyrs</a> or male dancers, while passing through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia" title="Ethiopia">Ethiopia</a>, 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus" title="Zeus">Zeus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemosyne" title="Mnemosyne">Mnemosyne</a> (i. e. "Memory" personified), figuring as personifications of knowledge and the arts, especially literature, dance and music.

The Roman scholar <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varro" class="mw-redirect" title="Varro">Varro</a> (116–27 BC) 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 again called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melete" title="Melete">Melete</a> or "Practice", <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mneme" title="Mneme">Mneme</a> or "Memory" and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aoide" title="Aoide">Aoide</a> or "Song". Three ancient Muses were also reported in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch" title="Plutarch">Plutarch</a>'s (46–120 AD) <i>Quaestiones Convivales</i><sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-6">[6]</a></sup> (9.I4.2–4).<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup></p>

</div>

<div class="thumbcaption">The nine muses on a Roman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcophagus" title="Sarcophagus">sarcophagus</a> (second century AD)—<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre" title="Louvre">Louvre</a>, Paris</div>

</div>

<p>However, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_antiquity" title="Classical antiquity">classical</a> 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised" class="mw-redirect" title="Improvised">improvised</a> song and mime, writing, traditional music, and dance. It was not until <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic" class="mw-redirect" title="Hellenistic">Hellenistic</a> times that the following systematic set of functions was assigned to them, and even then there was some variation in both their names and their attributes: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliope" title="Calliope">Calliope</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry" title="Epic poetry">epic poetry</a>), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clio" title="Clio">Clio</a> (history), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euterpe" title="Euterpe">Euterpe</a> (flutes and lyric poetry), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalia_%28Muse%29" title="Thalia (Muse)">Thalia</a> (comedy and pastoral poetry), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melpomene" title="Melpomene">Melpomene</a> (tragedy), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terpsichore" title="Terpsichore">Terpsichore</a> (dance), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erato" title="Erato">Erato</a> (love poetry), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhymnia" title="Polyhymnia">Polyhymnia</a> (sacred poetry), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania" title="Urania">Urania</a> (astronomy).

According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pausanias%28geographer%29" title="Pausanias (geographer)">Pausanias</a> in the later second century AD,<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-8">[8]</a></sup> there were three original Muses, worshiped on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Helicon" title="Mount Helicon">Mount Helicon</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeotia" title="Boeotia">Boeotia</a>: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aoid%E1%B8%97&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Aoidḗ (page does not exist)">Aoidḗ</a> ("song" or "tune"), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mel%C3%A9t%C4%93&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Melétē (page does not exist)">Melétē</a> ("practice" or "occasion"), and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mn%E1%B8%97m%C4%93&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Mnḗmē (page does not exist)">Mnḗmē</a> ("memory"). Together, these three form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult%28religion%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Cult (religion)">cult practice</a>. In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi" title="Delphi">Delphi</a> three Muses were worshiped as well, but with other names: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=N%E1%B8%97t%C4%93&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Nḗtē (page does not exist)">Nḗtē</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=M%C3%A9s%C4%93&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Mésē (page does not exist)">Mésē</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H%C3%BDpat%C4%93&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Hýpatē (page does not exist)">Hýpatē</a>, which are assigned as the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyre" title="Lyre">lyre</a>. Alternatively they later were called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephisso" title="Cephisso">Kēphisṓ</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apoll%C5%8Dn%C3%ADs&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Apollōnís (page does not exist)">Apollōnís</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Borysthen%C3%ADs&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Borysthenís (page does not exist)">Borysthenís</a>, which names characterize them as daughters of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo" title="Apollo">Apollo</a>. In later tradition, a set of four Muses were recognized: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thelxin%C3%B3%C4%93&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Thelxinóē (page does not exist)">Thelxinóē</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aoid%E1%B8%97&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Aoidḗ (page does not exist)">Aoidḗ</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arche%28mythology%29" title="Arche (mythology)">Archē</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mel%C3%A9t%C4%93&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Melétē (page does not exist)">Melétē</a>, said to be daughters of Zeus and Plusia or of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus%28mythology%29" title="Uranus (mythology)">Uranus</a>.

One of the people frequently associated with the Muses was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierus" title="Pierus">Pierus</a>. By some he was called the father (by a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimpleia" title="Pimpleia">Pimpleian</a> nymph, called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiope" class="mw-disambig" title="Antiope">Antiope</a> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero" title="Cicero">Cicero</a>) of a total of seven Muses, called Neilṓ (Νειλώ), Tritṓnē (Τριτώνη), Asōpṓ (Ἀσωπώ), Heptápora (Ἑπτάπορα), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Achel%C5%8D%C3%ADs&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Achelōís (page does not exist)">Achelōís</a>, Tipoplṓ (Τιποπλώ), and Rhodía (Ῥοδία).<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup></p>

<h2>Mythology</h2>

<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesiod" title="Hesiod">Hesiod</a>'s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theogony" title="Theogony">Theogony</a></i> (seventh century BC), they were daughters of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus" title="Zeus">Zeus</a>, the second generation king of the gods, and the offspring of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemosyne" title="Mnemosyne">Mnemosyne</a>, goddess of memory. For <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcman" title="Alcman">Alcman</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimnermus" title="Mimnermus">Mimnermus</a>, they were even more <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_primordial_gods" class="mw-redirect" title="Greek primordial gods">primordial</a>, springing from the early deities, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus%28mythology%29" title="Uranus (mythology)">Uranus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia%28mythology%29" title="Gaia (mythology)">Gaia</a>. Gaia is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_goddess" title="Mother goddess">Mother Earth</a>, an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Nature" title="Mother Nature">early mother goddess</a> who was worshipped at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi" title="Delphi">Delphi</a> from prehistoric times, long before the site was rededicated to Apollo, possibly indicating a transfer to association with him after that time.</p>

</div>

<div class="thumbcaption"><i>Apollo and the Muses on Mount Helicon</i> (1680) by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Lorrain" title="Claude Lorrain">Claude Lorrain</a></div>

</div>

<p>Sometimes the Muses are referred to as water <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymph" title="Nymph">nymphs</a>, associated with the springs of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Helicon" title="Mount Helicon">Helicon</a> and with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieria_%28prefecture%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Pieria (prefecture)">Pieris</a>. It was said that the winged horse <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus" title="Pegasus">Pegasus</a> touched his hooves to the ground on Helicon, causing four sacred springs to burst forth, from which the muses were born.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-10">[10]</a></sup> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena" title="Athena">Athena</a> later tamed the horse and presented him to the muses. (Compare the Roman inspiring nymphs of springs, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camenae" title="Camenae">Camenae</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6lva" title="Völva">Völva</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_Mythology" class="mw-redirect" title="Norse Mythology">Norse Mythology</a> and also the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsaras" class="mw-redirect" title="Apsaras">apsaras</a> in the mythology of classical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India">India</a>.)

Classical writers set <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo" title="Apollo">Apollo</a> as their leader, <i>Apollon Mousagetēs</i> ("Apollo Muse-leader").<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-11">[11]</a></sup> In one myth, the Muses judged a contest between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo" title="Apollo">Apollo</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsyas" title="Marsyas">Marsyas</a>. They also gathered the pieces of the dead body of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus" title="Orpheus">Orpheus</a>, son of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliope" title="Calliope">Calliope</a>, and buried them. In a later myth, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thamyris" title="Thamyris">Thamyris</a> 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid" title="Ovid">Ovid</a>'s <i>Metamorphoses</i>—alluding to the connection of the Muses with Pieria—King <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierus" title="Pierus">Pierus</a>, king of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedon" class="mw-redirect" title="Macedon">Macedon</a>, 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 <i>Pierides</i>, being turned into chattering <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magpie" title="Magpie">magpies</a> for their presumption.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-12">[12]</a></sup>

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pausanias%28geographer%29" title="Pausanias (geographer)">Pausanias</a> records a tradition of two generations of Muses; the first are the daughters of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus%28mythology%29" title="Uranus (mythology)">Uranus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia%28mythology%29" title="Gaia (mythology)">Gaia</a>, the second of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeus" title="Zeus">Zeus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemosyne" title="Mnemosyne">Mnemosyne</a>. Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonia%28Greek_goddess%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Harmonia (Greek goddess)">Harmonia</a> (the daughter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite" title="Aphrodite">Aphrodite</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ares" title="Ares">Ares</a>), which contradicts the myth in which they were dancing at the wedding of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonia_%28Greek_goddess%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Harmonia (Greek goddess)">Harmonia</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmus" title="Cadmus">Cadmus</a>.</p>

</div>

<div class="thumbcaption">Thalia, muse of comedy, holding a comic mask (detail from the “Muses Sarcophagus”)</div>

</div>

<h2>Emblems</h2>

</div>

<div class="thumbcaption"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhymnia" title="Polyhymnia">Polyhymnia</a>, the Muse of sacred <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry" title="Poetry">poetry</a>, sacred <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymn" title="Hymn">hymn</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eloquence" title="Eloquence">eloquence</a> as well as agriculture and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantomime" title="Pantomime">pantomime</a>.</div>

</div>

<tr>

<th>Domain</th>

<th>Emblem</th>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliope" title="Calliope">Calliope</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_poetry" title="Epic poetry">Epic poetry</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet" title="Wax tablet">Writing tablet</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylus" title="Stylus">Stylus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyre" title="Lyre">Lyre</a></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History" title="History">History</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scroll" title="Scroll">Scrolls</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book" title="Book">Books</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornet" title="Cornet">Cornet</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel_wreath" title="Laurel wreath">Laurel wreath</a></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euterpe" title="Euterpe">Euterpe</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music" title="Music">Music</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song" title="Song">Song</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyric_Poetry" class="mw-redirect" title="Lyric Poetry">Lyric Poetry</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aulos" title="Aulos">Aulos</a> (an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">ancient Greek</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_instrument" title="Musical instrument">musical instrument</a> like a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flute" title="Flute">flute</a>), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panpipes" class="mw-redirect" title="Panpipes">panpipes</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel_wreath" title="Laurel wreath">laurel wreath</a></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erato" title="Erato">Erato</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_poetry" class="mw-redirect" title="Love poetry">Love poetry</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cithara" title="Cithara">Cithara</a> (an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek" title="Ancient Greek">ancient Greek</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_instrument" title="Musical instrument">musical instrument</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyre" title="Lyre">lyre</a> family)</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melpomene" title="Melpomene">Melpomene</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy" title="Tragedy">Tragedy</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_ancient_Greece#Masks" title="Theatre of ancient Greece">Tragic mask</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword" title="Sword">Sword</a> (or any kind of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade" title="Blade">blade</a>), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_%28weapon%29" title="Club (weapon)">Club</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buskins" class="mw-redirect" title="Buskins">Kothornos</a> (boots)</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhymnia" title="Polyhymnia">Polyhymnia</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymns" class="mw-redirect" title="Hymns">Hymns</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veil" title="Veil">Veil</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapes" class="mw-redirect" title="Grapes">Grapes</a> (referring to her as an agricultural goddess)</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terpsichore" title="Terpsichore">Terpsichore</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance" title="Dance">Dance</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyre" title="Lyre">Lyre</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plectrum" title="Plectrum">Plectrum</a></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalia_%28muse%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Thalia (muse)">Thalia</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy" title="Comedy">Comedy</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_ancient_Greece#Masks" title="Theatre of ancient Greece">Comic mask</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd%27s_crook" title="Shepherd's crook">Shepherd's crook</a> (the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville" title="Vaudeville">vaudeville</a> act of pulling someone off the stage with a hook is a reference to Thalia's crook), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy" class="mw-redirect" title="Ivy">Ivy</a> wreath</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania" title="Urania">Urania</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy" title="Astronomy">Astronomy</a></td>

<td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe" title="Globe">Globe</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass_%28drafting%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Compass (drafting)">compass</a></td>

</tr>

</tbody></table>

<p>Some Greek writers give the names of the nine Muses as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kallichore%28mythology%29" title="Kallichore (mythology)">Kallichore</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helike%28mythology%29" title="Helike (mythology)">Helike</a>, Eunike, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelxino%C3%AB" title="Thelxinoë">Thelxinoë</a>, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Eukelade, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dia_%28mythology%29" title="Dia (mythology)">Dia</a>, and Enope.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-13">[13]</a></sup>

In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance" title="Renaissance">Renaissance</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoclassicism" title="Neoclassicism">Neoclassical</a> art, the dissemination of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emblem_book" title="Emblem book">emblem books</a> such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Ripa" title="Cesare Ripa">Cesare Ripa</a>'s <i>Iconologia</i> (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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emblem" title="Emblem">emblems</a>, became readily identifiable by the viewer, enabling one immediately to recognize the Muse and the art with which they 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 flute, the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aulos" title="Aulos">aulos</a></i>; 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.</p>

<h2>Functions</h2>

</div>

<div class="thumbcaption">The Muses <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clio" title="Clio">Clio</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euterpe" title="Euterpe">Euterpe</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalia_%28muse%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Thalia (muse)">Thalia</a>, by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustache_Le_Sueur" title="Eustache Le Sueur">Eustache Le Sueur</a></div>

</div>

<h3>In society</h3>

<p>Greek <i>mousa</i> is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means "art" or "poetry". According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pindar" title="Pindar">Pindar</a>, to "carry a <i>mousa</i>" is "to excel in the arts". The word probably derives from the Indo-European root <i>men-</i>, which is also the source of Greek <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mnemosyne" title="Mnemosyne">Mnemosyne</a></i>, English "mind", "mental" and "memory" and Sanskrit "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantra" title="Mantra">mantra</a>"<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" >[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</sup>.

The Muses, therefore, were both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech: <i>mousike</i> (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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thales" title="Thales">Thales</a>, took the form of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dactylic_hexameter" title="Dactylic hexameter">dactylic hexameters</a>, as did many works of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Socratic" class="mw-redirect" title="Pre-Socratic">pre-Socratic</a> philosophy. Both <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras" title="Pythagoras">Pythagoreans</a> explicitly included philosophy as a sub-species of <i>mousike</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-14">[14]</a></sup> The <i>Histories</i> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotus" title="Herodotus">Herodotus</a>, 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" <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solon" title="Solon">Solon</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-15">[15]</a></sup> 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.</p>

</div>

<div class="thumbcaption">The Muses <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melpomene" title="Melpomene">Melpomene</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erato" title="Erato">Erato</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhymnia" title="Polyhymnia">Polyhymnia</a>, by Eustache Le Sueur</div>

</div>

<h3>Invoking the Muse in literature</h3>

<p>Ancient authors and their imitators <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invocation" title="Invocation">invoke</a> Muses when writing poetry, hymns or epic history. The invocation occurs 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:</p>

<dl>

<dd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer" title="Homer">Homer</a>, in Book I of <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey" title="Odyssey">The Odyssey</a></i>:

<dl>

<dd>"Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns</dd>

<dd>driven time and again off course, once he had plundered</dd>

<dd>the hallowed heights of Troy." (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fagles" title="Robert Fagles">Robert Fagles</a> translation, 1996)</dd>

</dl>

</dd>

<dd><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil" title="Virgil">Virgil</a>, in Book I of the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeneid" title="Aeneid">Aeneid</a></i>:

<dl>

<dd>O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate;</dd>

<dd>What goddess was provok'd, and whence her hate;</dd>

<dd>For what offense the Queen of Heav'n began</dd>

<dd>To persecute so brave, so just a man; [...]</dd>

<dd>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dryden" title="John Dryden">John Dryden</a> translation, 1697)</dd>

</dl>

</dd>

</dl>

<p>Besides Homer and Virgil, other famous works that included an invocation of the muse are the first of the <i>carmina</i> by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus" title="Catullus">Catullus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid" title="Ovid">Ovid</a>'s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphoses" title="Metamorphoses">Metamorphoses</a></i> and <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amores%28Ovid%29" title="Amores (Ovid)">Amores</a></i>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Alighieri" title="Dante Alighieri">Dante</a>'s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedy#Inferno" class="mw-redirect" title="The Divine Comedy">Inferno</a></i> (Canto II), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer" title="Geoffrey Chaucer">Chaucer's</a> <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troilus_and_Criseyde" title="Troilus and Criseyde">Troilus and Criseyde</a></i> (Book II), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare" title="William Shakespeare">Shakespeare's</a> <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V%28play%29" title="Henry V (play)">Henry V</a></i> (Act 1, Prologue), his 38th <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_sonnets" title="Shakespeare's sonnets">sonnet</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton" title="John Milton">Milton's</a> <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost" title="Paradise Lost">Paradise Lost</a></i> (opening of Book 1).</p>

</div>

<div class="thumbcaption"><i>Melpomene and Polyhymnia</i>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palacio_de_Bellas_Artes" title="Palacio de Bellas Artes">Palacio de Bellas Artes</a>, Mexico</div>

</div>

<h3>From cults to modern museums</h3>

<p>When <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras" title="Pythagoras">Pythagoras</a> arrived at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crotone" title="Crotone">Croton</a>, 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aganippe" title="Aganippe">Aganippe</a>. Other fountains, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocrene" title="Hippocrene">Hippocrene</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirene_%28fountain%29" title="Pirene (fountain)">Pirene</a>, were also important locations associated with the Muses. Some sources occasionally referred to the Muses as "Corycides" (or "Corycian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymph" title="Nymph">nymphs</a>") after a cave on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnassos" class="mw-redirect" title="Parnassos">Mount Parnassos</a>, called the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corycian_Cave" title="Corycian Cave">Corycian Cave</a>. The Muses were venerated especially in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeotia" title="Boeotia">Boeotia</a>, in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Muses" title="Valley of the Muses">Valley of the Muses</a> near <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Helicon" title="Mount Helicon">Helicon</a>, and in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphi" title="Delphi">Delphi</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnassus" class="mw-redirect" title="Parnassus">Parnassus</a>, where Apollo became known as <i>Mousagetes</i> ("Muse-leader") after the sites were rededicated to his cult.

Often Muse-worship was associated with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_hero_cult" title="Greek hero cult">hero-cults</a> of poets: the tombs of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archilochus" title="Archilochus">Archilochus</a> on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thasos" title="Thasos">Thasos</a> and of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesiod" title="Hesiod">Hesiod</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thamyris" title="Thamyris">Thamyris</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeotia" title="Boeotia">Boeotia</a> all played host to festivals in which poetic recitations accompanied sacrifices to the Muses. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria" title="Library of Alexandria">Library of Alexandria</a> and its circle of scholars formed around a <i>mousaion</i> (i. e. "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum" title="Museum">museum</a>" or shrine of the Muses) close to the tomb of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great" title="Alexander the Great">Alexander the Great</a>. Many <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment" title="Age of Enlightenment">Enlightenment</a> figures sought to re-establish a "Cult of the Muses" in the 18th century. A famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry" title="Freemasonry">Masonic</a> lodge in pre-Revolutionary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris,_France" class="mw-redirect" title="Paris, France">Paris</a> was called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Neuf_Soeurs" class="mw-redirect" title="Les Neuf Soeurs">Les Neuf Soeurs</a> ("The Nine Sisters", that is, the Nine Muses); <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire" title="Voltaire">Voltaire</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin" title="Benjamin Franklin">Benjamin Franklin</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Danton" title="Georges Danton">Danton</a>, 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.</p>

</div>

<div class="thumbcaption"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariot_clock" title="Chariot clock">Chariot clock</a> by Carlo Franzoni, 1819, depicting Clio.</div>

</div>

<h2>Modern use</h2>

<p>Not only are the Muses explicitly used in modern English to refer to an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_inspiration" title="Artistic inspiration">artistic inspiration</a>, as when one cites one's own artistic muse, but they also are implicit in words and phrases such as "amuse", "museum" (Latinised from mouseion—a place where the muses were worshipped), "music", and "musing upon".<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-16">[16]</a></sup> In current literature, the influential role that the muse plays has been extended to the political sphere.<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse#cite_note-17">[17]</a></sup> Along with a majority of the Greek Gods, five of the Muses (Thalia, Clio, Calliope, Melpomene and Terpsicore) appeared in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company" title="The Walt Disney Company">Walt Disney</a> animated film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_%281997_film%29" title="Hercules (1997 film)">Hercules</a> (based on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules" title="Hercules">Hercules</a>).</p>

<h2>Gallery</h2>

<div >

</div>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terpsichore" title="Terpsichore">Terpsichore</a></p>

</div>

</li>

<div >

</div>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erato" title="Erato">Erato</a></p>

</div>

</li>

<div >

</div>

</div>

</li>

<div >

</div>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalia_%28Muse%29" title="Thalia (Muse)">Thalia</a></p>

</div>

</li>

<div >

</div>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhymnia" title="Polyhymnia">Polyhymnia</a></p>

</div>

</li>

<div >

</div>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calliope" title="Calliope">Calliope</a></p>

</div>

</li>

<div >

</div>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_and_the_Muses" class="mw-redirect" title="Apollo and the Muses">Apollo and the Muses</a></p>

</div>

</li>

<div >

</div>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euterpe" title="Euterpe">Euterpe</a></p>

</div>

</li>

<div >

</div>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnassus" class="mw-redirect" title="Parnassus">Parnassus</a></p>

</div>

</li>

<div >

</div>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urania" title="Urania">Urania</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melpomene" title="Melpomene">Melpomene</a></p>

</div>

</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsara" title="Apsara">Apsara</a></li>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_inspiration" title="Artistic inspiration">Artistic inspiration</a></li>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_inspiration" title="Divine inspiration">Divine inspiration</a></li>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibethra" title="Leibethra">Leibethra</a></li>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimpleia" title="Pimpleia">Pimpleia</a></li>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saraswati" title="Saraswati">Saraswati</a></li>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muses_in_popular_culture" title="Muses in popular culture">Muses in popular culture</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>References</h2>

</ol>

<ul>

<li id="cite_note-1">From which <i>mind</i> and <i>mental</i> are also derived; see <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary" title="Oxford English Dictionary">Oxford English Dictionary</a></i>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2">"<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muse">muse</a>". The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster%27s_Dictionary" title="Webster's Dictionary">Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary</a>. Retrieved February 15, 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><cite class="citation web">H. Munro Chadwick, Nora K. Chadwick (2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Growth_of_Literature.html?id=Ds2oBKF_FrUC">"The Growth of Literature"</a>. Cambridge University Press. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781108016155" title="Special:BookSources/9781108016155">9781108016155</a>.</cite></li>

<li id="cite_note-4">At least, this was reported to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pausanias_%28geographer%29" title="Pausanias (geographer)">Pausanias</a> in the second century AD. <i>Cfr.</i> Karl Kerényi: <i>The Gods of the Greeks</i>, Thames & Hudson, London 1951, p. 104 and note 284.</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diodorus_Siculus" title="Diodorus Siculus">Diodorus Siculus</a>, 4.7.1–2 (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4A.html#7">on-line text</a>)</li>

<li id="cite_note-6">See also the Italian article on <a href="https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarco" class="extiw" title="it:Plutarco">this writer</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-7">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", <i>Harvard Studies in Classical Philology</i>, <b>83</b> (1979:1–28), p. 2.</li>

<li id="cite_note-8">Pausanias, <i>Description of Greece</i> 9.29.1.</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Smith_%28lexicographer%29" title="William Smith (lexicographer)">Smith, William</a>; <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Biography_and_Mythology" title="Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology">Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology</a></i>, London (1873). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=musae-bio-1">"Musae"</a> .</li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><cite class="citation web"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.elysiumgates.com/mt_olympus/histpegasus.html">"Elysium Gates - Historical Pegasus"</a>.</cite></li>

<li id="cite_note-11">For example, Plato, <i>Laws</i> 653d.</li>

<li id="cite_note-12">Ovid, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphoses" title="Metamorphoses">Metamorphoses</a></i> 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoninus_Liberalis" title="Antoninus Liberalis">Antoninus Liberalis</a> 9.</li>

<li id="cite_note-13"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tzetzes" title="John Tzetzes">Tzetzes</a>, <i>Scholia in Hesiodi Opera</i> 1,23</li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabo" title="Strabo">Strabo</a> 10.3.10.</li>

<li id="cite_note-15">Solon, fragment 13.</li>

<li id="cite_note-16"><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OED" class="mw-redirect" title="OED">OED</a></i> derives "amuse" from French <i>a-</i> ("from") and <i>muser</i>, "to stare stupidly or distractedly".</li>

<li >

<li value="17" id="cite_note-17">Adam J. Sorkin: <i>Politics and the Muse. Studies in the Politics of Recent American Literature.</i> Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Bowling Green/OH 1989 (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.de/books?id=Avf8SaqIAUIC&lpg=PA1&dq=political%20muse&pg=PP6#v=onepage&q&f=false">on-line version</a>).</li>

</ol>

</div>

<h2>External links</h2>

<tr>

<td class="mbox-text plainlist"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikisource" title="Wikisource">Wikisource</a> has the text of <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student%27s_Reference_Work" class="extiw" title="s:The New Student's Reference Work">The New Student's Reference Work</a> article <i><b><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student%27s_Reference_Work/Muses" class="extiw" title="s:The New Student's Reference Work/Muses">Muses</a></b></i>.</td>

</tr>

</tbody></table>

<ul>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiktionary-logo-v2.svg" class="image"><img src="/5be9ebd0-2921-59a4-a197-f7c81a9f2a20.png"/></a> The dictionary definition of <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Muse#English" class="extiw" title="wiktionary:Muse">Muse</a> at Wiktionary</li>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Commons-logo.svg" class="image"><img src="/d8c05876-92be-5bc1-8b1c-e4d62d8a8feb.png"/></a> Media related to <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Muses" class="extiw" title="commons:Category:Muses">Muses</a> at Wikimedia Commons</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ancientrome.ru/art/artworken/result.htm?alt=Muses">Muses in the ancient art</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/subcats.php?cat_1=5&cat_2=115">Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 1,000 images of the Muses)</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

Muses

Attachments