The nine muses, also called the Thespiades, are the goddesses
believed by poets, artists, actors and musicians to be the source of their creative
impulses; their inspiration. The nine named Muses each inspired a different
musical or poetic field, with Urania as the inspirer of astronomy and the mysteries
of the stars. The great goddess herself was called the Muse, though I am sure
you will understand that this still adds up to nine, not ten.
The myths associated with the Nine Muses may contain a great deal of information about the ancient goddess temples, for they appear to concern the rites practised by the temple priestesses. Calliope and Clio seem related to the temple's function as a preserver of the past, which duty involved memorising (and Mnemosyne or Memory was said to be the mother of the Nine Muses) long verses recording the history of the people. Homer's Illiad and Odyssey may be examples of this kind of verse.
Melpomene (Tragedy) and Thaleia (Comedy) are still to be found in our modern culture in the form of the two Greek masks frequently used by acting companies as a symbol or logo. Their deeper significance concerns the ancient annual rites: Thaleia, who appears also in later Roman myth as one of the Three Graces (Thalia, or The Bringer of Flowers), is symbolic of spring, the beginning of a new season, and the birth of a new year-god. Melpomene signifies harvest; the end of a season, and the ritual sacrifice of a year-king.
Terpsichore, muse of choral (meaning a troupe was involved) dance, has also survived to modern times in the word 'terpsichorean', which means 'of dance'. Her significance in ancient times was great, because the dancing of the priestesses was thought to be necessary for the continuance and good order of the cosmos and the progress of the seasons. Attempts have been made to re-imagine or reconstruct these dances. Pythagorus, who propounded the theory of the music of the spheres as a cosmological model, told of sirens spinning in a ritual dance to harmonise with or create the music of the spheres. It may be that this ritual dance resembled one still performed today...the always-turning dances of the sufi "whirling dervishes". Another attempt at re-imagining the ancient dances was made by Robert Graves in The White Goddess, where he speaks of a circular dance, also turning, with a skip every so-many steps, referential to the lamed year-king.
Euterpe and Polyhymnia I have no knowledge of, but, as that they inspire is pure and beautiful, they are most welcome to visit.
Erato, muse of erotic and love poetry, is a reference to the sexual power of the goddess, and perhaps to that of her priestesses. Centuries after the fall of the temples, in the 1600s in England, it became a fashion to append the name of this muse to a poem, rather than that of the poet. There were several benefits to this habit: it implied a charming humility on the part of a poet who could recognise that his act of creativity came not from within but from above; secondly, it implied that the poet had an extensive education in the classics, which was then only available to the wealthiest class, and so the poet therefore belonged to the nobility, and thirdly, if the poem was offered to a young woman and she reacted unfavourably, it provided deniability.
Some poets say that a true poem is one which is addressed to the goddess, and which is sincerely in her praise.This is called the indicative mode and can be recognised as it most often starts 'O......' and the muse is named. Maybe you could give this a try. According to the poets, in the Archaic period a poem was submitted to the priestess of the temple. If she accepted it, the poet was awarded a tripod, a symbol that he had a position in the temple. Later poets applied this system by offering their verses to a woman they chose to represent the muse.
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