The Muses in Greek Mythology and Art - Essay Example

The Muses in Greek Mythology and Art Who are the muses? In the Greek history, Muses plays an important role to understand the trend and the philosophy of the people of the ancient time. In the ancient time, Greek people used to believe that there are nine different Goddesses of various kinds of arts and other cultural activities. All these Muses are not only considered as the Goddesses of various cultural activities, but at the same time they are extremely talented and also with great degree of beauty, grace and allure. According to various literatures, the gift from all these Muses such as their dance, singing, drawing and joy helped gods as well as mankind to forget all their troubles. At the same time, their entire act inspired number of musicians as well as writers to reach greater heights. All these 9 Muses are the daughters of Zeus and the Titan Mnemosyne. (Cartwright) The name of all 9 muses are Calliope, Clio; Erato Euterpe Melpomene, Polymnia Terpsichore or Stesichore Thalia and Urania. It was initially considered that all these muses are the goddesses of music but later of Roman people divided them in specific groups of arts, science and history. Calliope, the meaning of this word is “beautiful voice”, was considered as the inspiration of epic poetry. Clio was considered as the muse of history. She stimulated those who like to use various kinds of fact to derive some ideas about the past. Erato was associated with the emotions, and according to the ancient history she was the inspiration behind lyric and love poetry. Euterpe enthused flute playing whereas Melpomene conceded the disguise of tragedy. Melpomene was considered to be the inspiration behind various tragic theaters of the past. Polyhymnia represents "hymns abundant". She was considered as the muse of religion, inspirational for those who wrote hymns. Terpsichore was considered as the muse of dance, and as per the ancient history, she was the most beautiful among all nine muses. Thalia stimulated comedy, and supported the smiling mask. Last among 9 muses was Urania, and her name was associated with the Greek word for heavens, and she was the muse of astronomy. (Behling). What is their history and lineage? History of Greek Muses has different in different author writing over the course of time. But the bottom line or the core idea always remains the same. Muses are associated with various arts and cultural activities, which often helped the people of the ancient time to overcome any kind of mental difficulties or stress. The Muses, as per the views of the earliest writers, were the inspirational goddesses of song, whereas according to later set of people, theologies ruling over the various kinds of poetry along with other science and cultural activities. They were initially viewed as the sprites of inspirational wells, close to which they were loved, and carry various kinds of names in different parts of the globe. Later on, the Thraco-Boeotian adoration of the nine Muses started to spread out from Boeotia over other parts of Greece, and eventually became normally recognized. The origin of all these 9 Muses are not similar as there are number of theories associated with the origin of them. Few people or the most common concept associated with the origin of all 9 Muses was they were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and born in Pieria, at the foot of Mount Olympus. There was another set of theory which suggested that they were the daughters of Uranus and Gaea. (Mousai) For a period of 2500 years, people used to believe that all 9 Muses were the base of any kind of cultural activities. Throughout all the western Civilization, people accepted the fact that all their inspirations, creativity and incredible talent come from these muse. Kime in his review has mentioned that “this is so mysterious, that which science cant explain to anyones satisfaction, and for a lack of a better explanation; this mythological explanation remains the most popular reason. In this day and age of scientific thought, one would think this would be a preposterous concept for intelligent people to believe yet it remains the case. This shouldnt be surprising though; there isnt much about the subconscious that science can explain and nothing at all about the spirit world.”(Kime) All the 9 Muses of the ancient Greek mythology were considered as the inspiration behind every kind of art and culture. In alphabetical order, all these 9 Muses namely Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia and Urania considered as the most beautiful women of all time created by the all mighty and they are the main reason behind people of the world started to understand the role of art and culture in the development of the society as well as people’s life. Where do they appear in Greek art and Literature and what roles do they play? Behling in his report has mentioned a great line to discuss about the role played by the Muses in the development of art and culture of the modern time. In his own word “Without history and art, men are bellies.” This is what the muses, beautiful goddesses who presided over the arts, history, and science in Ancient Greece and Rome told some shepherds in the Theology.” (Behling) From the writings of various historians, it is very clear that the main power that muses was to inspire people. At the beginning all the 9 muses were considered as the goddess of music but later on Roman people divided them into various segments such as in the field of arts history and science. It is also a fact that, unlike various gods, there are very less number of stories associated with the incident of muses. People of Greece often keep all these Muses isolated from the other gods, kept them abstract as well as private. This was the main reason behind lesser number of stories associating them. The main belief of the Greek people was “the muses’ work was beyond anecdote and gossip” (Behling) and this is why there are so less stories about them. (Behling; Hughes) There are several instances in two of the great epics of all time The Odyssey and The Iliad. In modern times, Muses also have a great role to play in terms of influencing literature, arts and culture. Shakespeare mentions them in his poetry; there was a book wrote by Francine Prose in the year of 2002 and the central idea of that book was based on modern muses and the people they inspired in The Lives of the Muses. As Cartwright in his writing has mentioned that “In ancient Greece, music, and by association the Muses, were held in great esteem and music was played in homes, in theatres, during religious ceremonies, to accompany athletics, provided rhythm during military training, accompanied agricultural activities such as harvesting, and was an important element in the education of children.”(Cartwright) People of Greece used to consider all there 9 Muses as the inspiration behind their art and culture. One big example was the concept that the great Athenian politician and general, Themistocles, used to believe about his education. In his opinion his education was incomplete because he was not educated or not trained to play Khitara.” Throughout the ancient Greek world musical festivals and competitions were held in honor of the Muses and philosophical schools bore their name: the Mouseia. (Behling) What modern words and institutions derive from the Muses? In modern time also, there are number of institutions as well as modern words derived from the long lasting concept of Greek Muses. One key example is the theater called the Orpheum. It was named after, Orpheus. There is a great story associated with him, he was considered as the most famous child of Calliope and Apollo; who used to rely on his “lyre-playing abilities to go into the Underworld to save his mortal wife and return.”(Behling). As the muses was initially considered as the goddesses of singing so people later on named the place on singing concert as Opera. Another great example of the influence of those Greek muses was Project MUSE. The main objective of that project was to “providing 100% full-text, affordable and user-friendly on-line access to a comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciences journals” (Behling) It was started in the year of 1993 and continued then on. The influence of those great muses are very high on these kind of initiatives and others initiatives taken by the government of Greece in due course of time. The language of modern time is one of the great examples of how the concept of muse of the past is influencing our daily life. Various words such as music, amuse, mosaic- all these are derived from the word muse. It is a clear indication that varies arts and culture related words are originated from the word muse. The place, where people often preserved various old antique items known as museum-the original meaning of this word was ‘shrine of the Muses’ but in modern time this word is referred to describe a public place for knowledge display. (Behling)So one can easily conclude that, every cultural activity, art and old heritage related work of modern time is some way or another associated with the ancient word of muse. What part, if any, do they play in your life? Muse, is a word of ancient Greek history associated with arts and culture. In modern world, every individual’s life is also get somehow affected by this word. Art and culture is associated with our daily life and no one can avoid this. In my daily life, this word also has a great role to play. The word muse is used to refer someone who acts as an influential person, not only that it also used as a verb which means thinking about something or doing something well. In my personal life, I get inspired by my elder brother. His study, his working style as well as his achievement in the professional field –all these inspired me a lot to achieve greater high in my life. He is not only as inspiration for me but at the same time he is the one who can act as a moral booster for me when I am low in moral. Conclusion: Both Greek and Roman civilization has a great role to play in the study of ancient history and at the same time to understand the present society as well as the cultural differences. Both Greek and Roman mythology also had a great impact on the world and one of the major examples of those impacts is muses. The muses will continue to affect the culture as well as development of the society of the modern world as long as modern world have science, literature, and especially music in the society. Reference: 1. Behling, Evelyn. Greek and Roman Muses. Life paths 360: Mythology and Folkrole. 2011. Web; retrieved on 23.7.2014 from http://www.lifepaths360.com/index.php/greek-and-roman-muses-3955/ 2. Cartwright, Mark. Muse. Ancient History. 2012. Web. Retrieved on 23.7.2014 from http://www.ancient.eu.com/muse/ 3. Hughes. Kathryn. Pas de deux: The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired. The Guardian. 2003. Web. Retrieved on 23.7.2014 http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/nov/08/highereducation.biography 4. Kime, A.O. History of the Muse: Ancient Greek Goddesses of Inspiration. Nd. Web. Retrieved on 23.7.2014 from http://www.musewhisperer.com/history_of_the_muse.htm 5. Mousai. Nd. Web. Retrieved on 23.7.2014 from http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Mousai.html Read More