Who are the Nine Muses of Greek Mythology?

Did you know that each of the nine muses were associated with different aspects of art and science? Hello and welcome to World History Encyclopedia. My name is Kelly and today's video is all about the nine muses of ancient Greece, the goddesses of inspiration and creation in the arts and sciences. Don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up, subscribing to our channel and hitting that bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization and you can find us on Patreon, a brilliant site where you can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return. Your support helps us create videos twice a week so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen or via the Patreon link down below. The nine muses are the goddesses of song, dance, music and poetry and were among the most important deities of the Greek pantheon as the source of inspiration for poets. The most common and widespread belief was that the nine muses were the daughters of the Olympian god Zeus and the titan goddess of memory Mnemosyne, which makes sense as the muses were also regarded as goddesses of knowledge who retained the knowledge of all that had come to pass. They were born in Pieria at the base of Mount Olympus and this is all detailed in the Orphic hymn to the muses which begins, daughters of Mnemosyne, daughters of thundering Zeus, Pierian muses, renowned and illustrious, many shaped and beloved of the mortals you visit. Before there were nine muses there were the three muses who were worshipped on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, while in Delphi three muses were worshipped as daughters of Apollo and in Athens eight muses were known. Although the earliest mention of the muses only has three rather than nine they were already being associated with song and memory before their well-known number of nine was established by the 8th century BCE poet Hesiod who was the first to give the names of the nine muses best known today. Despite their birthplace changing through history Mount Helicon remained an important center with the two main cult sites for the muses being established there and at Pieria. As time went on the nine muses were each associated with a different kind of art or science but were still collectively referred to as the Mausae or muses. The nine muses are Calliope the chief muse and responsible for epic poetry and rhetoric and also known as the mother of the gifted lyre player Orpheus, Cleo the goddess of history, Orato the goddess of erotic poetry and singing, Urania the goddess of astronomy, Thalia the goddess of comedy, Melpomene the goddess of tragedy, Euterpe the goddess of lyric poetry, Polymnia the goddess of religious hymns to the gods and Terpsichore the goddess of dance. In art the nine muses were depicted as beautiful women sometimes with wings and each muse became associated with certain objects and symbols that identified their particular talents like a comedy mask for Thalia and a tragedy mask for Melpomene, a double alice or flute for Euterpe, a globe for Urania, a lyre for Orato and a scroll for Cleo. The nine muses didn't really feature in many myths but they were still among some of the most important deities in ancient Greece as they inspired writers and musicians to reach great artistic and intellectual heights. At the beginning of famous Greek works such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days among others there is something known today as an invocation to the muse. Probably the most famous invocation to the muses comes at the beginning of the Iliad and goes, sing goddess the anger of Peleus's son Achilles and its devastation which put pains thousandfold upon the Achaeans. And at the beginning of Hesiod's Theogony he begins, from the muses of Helicon let us begin our singing that haunt Helicon's great and holy mountain and dance on their soft feet round the violet dark spring and the altar of the mighty son of Kronos. These poets are calling upon the muses of song, music, poetry and also knowledge of all that has come to pass to use them as a mouthpiece for the story they are about to tell. Hesiod even tells us that the muses as the daughters of the goddess of memory were an aid against forgetfulness considering that his works began in oral form. They may be the goddesses of pleasurable things like song and dance but that doesn't mean that they could be messed with especially when it came to their superiority of artistic skill. The nine daughters of Peleus foolishly tried to compete against the nine muses in music and they were turned into birds for their audacity. Then there was the Thracian musician Thamires who was a son of the nymph Agriapi. He challenged the muses to a music contest and after coming second, which was ultimately inevitable, he was punished by losing his musical talent, his singing voice and he was blinded. Stories like these encouraged respect for authority figures represented by the deities and the importance of knowing one's place and keeping to it. What are the figures from your culture comparable to the nine muses? Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on our new videos every Tuesday and Friday. This video was brought to you by World History Encyclopedia. For more great articles and interactive content head to our website via the link below. If you like my sweater you can find this design and a bunch more in our shop at worldhistory.store or you can find a link for it down below. Thank you so much for watching and we will see you soon with another video.