Nine Muses (mythology)

The Muses are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts in Greek mythology. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in these ancient cultures. They were later adopted by the Romans as a part of their pantheon.

In current English usage, "muse" can refer in general to a person who inspires an artist, musician, or writer.

The Muses /ˈmjuːzɪz/ (Ancient Greek: Μοῦσαι, Moũsai) perhaps came from the o-grade of the Proto-Indo-European root *men- ("to think") or from root *men- ("to tower, mountain") since all the most important cult-centres of the Muses were on mountains or hills.

The earliest known records of the Nine Muses are from Boeotia, the homeland of Hesiod. Some ancient authorities thought that the Nine Muses were of Thracian origin. There, a tradition persisted that the Muses had once been three in number. In the first century BC, Diodorus Siculus quotes Hesiod to the contrary, observing:

Writers similarly disagree also concerning the number of the Muses; for some say that there are three, and others that there are nine, but the number nine has prevailed since it rests upon the authority of the most distinguished men, such as Homer and Hesiod and others like them.

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