GREEK Muses: names and characteristics

The names of the Greek muses are Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene and so on until reaching the 9 muses within the mythology of Ancient Greece. Our culture comes largely from the ancient latin cultures, both Greek and Roman, and for this reason, even today there are elements of these cultures that are referenced.

One of these elements are the Muses, being a kind of inspiring goddesses for the Greeks, and that some current artists still use to refer to their inspiration. For all this and to get to know these characters in depth, in this lesson of a Teacher we must talk about the greek muses, names and characteristics.

The muses in the Greek mythology they are a kind of divinities inspirational arts, each representing a different branch of art and knowledge. Their role as inspirers of art has caused them to be very loved by artists, and highly referenced in their works.

The muses were all daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the latter being the Greek personification of memory. They generally accompanied the god Apollo, since he was the god of music and the patron of the fine arts, causing him to be closely related to the functions performed by the muses.

It is said that the muses came down to earth to whisper ideas to mortals, especially to those who ask for their help. For this reason they were very close to the artists, these being the ones who asked the muses for help, and therefore being the ones who received their visit to feel inspired.

To continue this lesson from a Teacher we must talk about the names of the Greek muses and characteristics, since with these we will be able to know in depth each one of them, and we will be able to differentiate them from each other.

names of the greek muses

The 9 greek muses are the following:

• calliopeShe: She was the muse of beauty, eloquence, and both epic and heroic poetry. She is one of the muses with the greatest number of appearances in Greek myths, being Apollo's lover, and having important children such as Orpheus or Reso.
• clio: The muse that represents history, being she in charge of keeping alive the generous acts and the great triumphs. She was the mother of some monarchs of important Greek polis.
• erató: Muse of lyrical poetry, and especially of all that centered or had a love motive. Like other muses, she was also a lover of Apollo, having a son named Thamyris with him. She is usually associated to a large extent with the god Eros, although there are no myths that show us this relationship in any way.
• euterpe: The muse of music, and especially of the art of playing the flute, being a very loved and respected instrument by the Greeks. Some sources say that she was the cause of the creation of certain instruments, and especially the one known as the double flute.
• Melpomene: She was the muse of tragedy, understanding tragedy as a type of theater contrary to comedy. She also appears in certain myths as the singing muse, having an importance in the music used in plays.
• polyhymnia: She was the muse of sacred songs and of that poetry used in sacred rites, known as hymns. Some of her myths speak of her as the creator of agriculture, although she does not have anything similar among her attributions.
• Talia: Another of the muses that represents the theater, and in this case the comic theater. She was also considered the muse of bucolic poetry, better known as pastoral poetry. She was a Muse closely related to the rural world, so it was common for her to be represented as someone from this environment, both in attitude and in clothing.
• terpsichore: Muse of dance and music performed in choral form. She was another of Apollo's loving muses, although the myths do not assure it, and some say that she could have been the lover of other gods.
• Urania: Muse of exact sciences, astronomy and poetry used to teach. She was a more logical and scientific muse than others, but still she was also one of Apollo's lovers.

Here we discover other important greek mythology characters.

Once we have talked about each of the muses individually, we must talk about their main general characteristics, since this will help us to understand the importance of this group in mythology Greek.

The main characteristics of the muses are the following:

• were the source of inspiration of all written texts, both poems and myths, so any text of Greek mythology must exist by inspiration of the Muses.
• They were able to go down to the mortal world to help them carry out their works, being therefore one of the divinities that most associated with human beings.
• Each Muse was a kind of personification of art that she represented, so we can say that the Muses were art in themselves.
• It depends on the myth that we consult the Muses They were daughters of Zeus or Uranus, and some text even speaks of two possible generations of Muses, the first being daughters of Uranus and the second of Zeus.
• They were closely related to Apollo, since this was the god of music, and most of the Muses represented arts related to music. His relationship with Apollo was so important that many ended up marrying him.

We want you to meet other mythological female characters: the amazon in greek mythology and the nymphs in greek mythology.