Chronicle
 Upbringing:
Eupheme is called the nurse of the Muses, and at the
foot of Mount Helicon her statue stood beside that of
Linus.Worship of the Muses:
The worship of the Muses points originally to Thrace and
Pieria about Mount
Olympus.
From there it was introduced into Boeotia, in a manner
that the names of mountains, grottoes, and wells, connected
with their worship, were copied from the north to the
south.
Near mount Helicon, Ephialtes and Otus are said to have
offered the first sacrifices to them. In the same place there
was a sanctuary with their statues, the sacred wells Aganippe
and Hippocrene, and on mount Leibethrion, which is connected
with Helicon, there was a sacred grotto of the Muses.
Pierus, a Macedonian, is said to have been the first who
introduced the worship of the nine Muses, from Thrace to
Thespiae, at the foot of mount Helicon. There they had a
temple and statues, and the Thespians celebrated a solemn
festival of the Muses on mount Helicon. Mount Parnassus was
likewise sacred to them, with the Castalian spring, near which
they had a temple.
From Boeotia, which thus became the focus of the worship of
the nine Muses, it afterwards spread into the adjacent and more
distant parts of Greece. At Athens, in the temple of the
Muses in the Academy at Sparta, sacrifices were offered to
them. At Corinth, Peirene, the spring of Pegasus, was sacred to
them. In Rome they had an altar in common with Hercules, who
was also regarded as Musagetes. They possessed a temple at
Ambracia adorned with their statues.
The sacrifices offered to them consisted of libations of
water or milk, and of honey. The various surnames by which they
are designated by the poets are for the most part derived from
the places which were sacred to them or in which they were
worshipped, while some are descriptive of the sweetness of
their songs.
Symbolized
By:
- Calliope appears with a tablet and stylus, and
sometimes with a roll of paper
- Clio appears in a sitting position with an open roll of
paper and/or an open chest of books
- Euterpe appears with a flute
- Erato sometimes has the lyre
- Melpomene appears with a tragic mask, the
club of Heracles, or a sword, her head is surrounded with
vine leaves, and she wears the cothurnus
- Polyhymnia usually appears without any attribute, in a
pensive or meditating demeanor
- Terpsichore appears with the lyre and the plectrum
- Thalia appears with the comic mask, a shepherd's
staff, or a wreath of ivy
- Urania appears with a staff
pointing to a globe
Primary
Role(s):
- Calliope is the Muse of epic poetry
- Clio is the Muse of history
- Euterpe is the Muse of lyric poetry
- Erato is the Muse of erotic poetry and mimic
imitation
- Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy
- Polyhymnia is the Muse of the sublime hymn
- Terpsichore is the Muse of choral dance and song
- Thalia is the Muse of comedy and of merry or idyllic
poetry
- Urania is the Muse of
Astronomy and Astrology
Noted
For:
- They are the goddesses of song and poetry
- They live on Mount Olympus and there
they sing the festive songs at the banquets of the
immortals
- They were assigned with bringing before
the mind of the mortal poet the events which he has to
relate, the gift of song, and gracefulness to
what he utters
- Thamyris presumed to excel the Muses
and was punished with blindness
- The Sirens ventured into a contest with them and
were deprived of the feathers of their wings, and the Muses
themselves put them on as an ornament
- The nine daughters of Pierus presumed to rival the
Muses and were metamorphosed into birds
- Poets and bards derived their power from them and were
frequently called either their disciples or sons
- Being the choir led by Apollo
- They possessed a prophetic power partly because
they were regarded as inspiring nymphs, and partly because
of their connection with the prophetic god of Delphi
- They instructed Aristaeus in the art of
prophecy
- They loved to dwell on Mount Helicon
and were associated with Dionysus and dramatic
poetry, and hence are described as the companions,
playmates, or nurses of Dionysus
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- Urania
This is the page for the Olympian Goddess Urania. Here, the myths, characters, and stories surrounding her are presented. The record also includes her associated genealogy.
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