ABSTRACT
A vague mythical character, said to have been the son or teacher of Orpheus. He was also believed to have had a connection with the Mysteries of Eleusis and to have issued oracles.
Daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne (whose name means ‘memory’). They were the goddesses of the fine arts, music, and literature, and in later times of a wider range of intellectual pursuits, such as history, philosophy, and astronomy. The importance of the Muses arises from their popularity with poets, who attributed to them their inspiration and liked to invoke their aid. Their name (akin to the Latin mens and English mind) denotes ‘memory’ or ‘a reminder’, since in the earliest times poets, having no books to read from, relied on their memories.
