“Nine sisters, beautiful in form and face,
Came from their convent on the shining heights
Of Pierus, the mountain of delights,
To dwell among the people at its base.
Then seemed the world to change. All time and space,
Splendor of cloudless days and starry nights,
And men and manners, and all sounds and sights
Had a new meaning, a diviner grace.”
--_Longfellow._
The Muses were the daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (memory),
and were born at Pieria on Mt. Olmypus. To each was assigned some
particular department of literature, art or science, over which she
reigned as goddess.
Euterpe presided over the art of music and was called the “mistress of
song.” Thalia was Muse of comedy and burlesque, Melpomene of tragedy,
Urania of astronomy, Terpsichore of dance, Erato of love poetry,
Polyhymnia of sacred poetry, Calliope of heroic poetry, and Clio of
history.