Greek Mythology

According to tradition, when the gods defeated the Titans they asked Zeus to create a group of new divinities whose task would be to sing the praises of that great victory. Zeus therefore lay on nine nights with Mnemosyne, daughter of Uranus and Ge (the name means 'memory') and the Nine Muses were born. The ancient authors placed the birth of the Muses in the Pieria Mountains, very close to Olympus and their most important sanctuary was located there. Hesiod tells us that he encountered them on the slopes of Helicon one day and that it was they who bestowed the gift of poetry upon him. In his Theogony, he fixed the number and name of the Muses, which were to remain the same throughout antiquity.

Each of the nine Muses who gave poets both memory and the power of expression was responsible for a separate literary or poetic genre.

Cleio = was the Muse of history
Euterpe = of flute-playing
Thaleia = of comedy
Melpomene = of tragedy
Terpsichore = of lyric poetry and dance
Erato = of wedding songs (the hymenaeum)
Polymnia = of mime
Urania = of astronomy
Calliope = of epic poetry.

With Apollo Musagetes as their companion, they played the lyre to soothe the gods, sang like nightingales (which is why that bird was their symbol) and danced all together, bewitching nature with their grace. Thanks to their artistic capacities, they were said to be the mothers of many of the most famous legendary singers: Calliope, the most respected of the Muses, was the mother of Orpheus and Lenus, Cleio of Hyacinth, Melpomene (in one version of the story) of the Sirens, Thaleia of the Corybants and Euterpes of Rhesus, king of Thrace.

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