Editing Muses (section)

==Functions==

===In society===
[[File:Eustache Le Sueur - The Muses - Clio, Euterpe and Thalia - WGA12611.jpg|thumb|''[[Clio]], [[Euterpe]], and [[Thalia (muse)|Thalia]]'', by [[Eustache Le Sueur]], c. 1652–1655|left]]

The Greek word {{Lang|grc-latn|mousa}} is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means 'art' or 'poetry'. According to [[Pindar]], to "carry a {{Lang|grc-latn|mousa}}" is 'to excel in the arts'. The word derives from the [[Indo-European]] root {{Lang|ine-x-proto|men-}}, which is also the source of [[Greek language|Greek]] ''[[Mnemosyne]]'' and {{Lang|grc-latn|mania}}, [[English language|English]] ''mind'', ''mental'' and ''monitor'', [[Sanskrit]] ''[[mantra]]'' and [[Avestan]] {{Lang|ae-latn|Mazda}}.<ref>Calvert Watkins, ed., The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 3d ed., p. 56.</ref>

[[File:Le Sueur, Eustache - Melpomène, Érato et Polymnie - 1652 - 1655.jpg|thumb|''[[Melpomene]], [[Erato]], and [[Polyhymnia]]'', by Eustache Le Sueur, c. 1652–1655]]

The Muses, therefore, were both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech: {{Lang|grc-latn|mousike}} (whence the English term ''music'') was just "one of the arts of the Muses". Others included science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, and especially art, drama, and inspiration. In the archaic period, before the widespread availability of books (scrolls), this included nearly all of learning. The first Greek book on astronomy, by [[Thales]], took the form of [[dactylic hexameter]]s, as did many works of [[pre-Socratic]] philosophy. Both [[Plato]] and the [[Pythagoras|Pythagoreans]] explicitly included philosophy as a sub-species of {{Lang|grc-latn|mousike}}.<ref>[[Strabo]] 10.3.10.</ref> The ''Histories'' of [[Herodotus]], whose primary [[Medium (art)|medium]] of delivery was public recitation, were divided by Alexandrian editors into nine books, named after the nine Muses.

For poet and "law-giver" [[Solon]],<ref>Solon, fragment 13.</ref> the Muses were "the key to the good life"; since they brought both prosperity and friendship. Solon sought to perpetuate his political reforms by establishing recitations of his poetry—complete with invocations to his practical-minded Muses—by Athenian boys at festivals each year. He believed that the Muses would help inspire people to do their best.

===In literature===
[[File:Musas01.jpg|thumb|upright|''Melpomene and Polyhymnia'', [[Palacio de Bellas Artes]], Mexico]]

Ancient authors and some later authors and artists [[invocation|invoke]] Muses when writing poetry, hymns or epic history. Ancient authors invocations often occur near the beginning of their work. It asks for help or inspiration from the Muses, or simply invites the Muse to sing directly through the author.

Originally, the invocation of the Muse was an indication that the speaker was working inside the poetic tradition, according to the established formulas. For example:

<blockquote>These things declare to me from the beginning,

ye Muses who dwell in the house of Olympus,

and tell me which of them first came to be.

— [[Hesiod]] (c. 700 BCE), ''[[Theogony]]'' (Hugh G. Evelyn-White translation, 2015)

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns

driven time and again off course, once he had plundered

the hallowed heights of Troy.
:—[[Homer]] (c. 700 - 600 BCE), in Book I of ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'' ([[Robert Fagles]] translation, 1996)</blockquote>

<blockquote>O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate;
What goddess was provok'd, and whence her hate;

For what offence the Queen of Heav'n began

To persecute so brave, so just a man; [...] 
:—[[Virgil]] (c. 29 - 19 BCE), in Book I of the ''[[Aeneid]]'' ([[John Dryden]] translation, 1697)</blockquote>

Besides Homer and Virgil, other famous works that included an invocation of the Muse are the first of the ''carmina'' by [[Catullus]], [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' and ''[[Amores (Ovid)|Amores]]'', [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[The Divine Comedy#Inferno|Inferno]]'' (Canto II), [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer's]] ''[[Troilus and Criseyde]]'' (Book II), [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'' (Act 1, Prologue), his 38th [[Shakespeare's sonnets|sonnet]], and [[John Milton|Milton's]] ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' (openings of Books 1 and 7).
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Modern invocations of the Muses have appeared in a variety of literary and adult video sources. The Muses are [[Burlesque|burlesqued]] in the 1980 feature film ''[[Xanadu (film)|Xanadu]]'' (and its 2007 [[Xanadu (musical)|Broadway musical adaptation]]), which place Terpsichore and Clio, respectively, in the leading role under the pseudonym "Kira". The Muses were also reduced to five in the 1997 Disney film ''Hercules'', and narrated the story through gospel music. Those five were Clio, Thalia, Melpomene, Calliope, and Terpischore.
-->

===In cults and modern museums===
[[File:Car of history.jpg|thumb|upright|The ''Car of History'', a [[chariot clock]] by Carlo Franzoni, 1819, depicting Clio (housed in the [[National Statuary Hall Collection]] of the [[United States Capitol]])]]
When [[Pythagoras]] arrived at [[Crotone|Croton]], his first advice to the Crotoniates was to build a shrine to the Muses at the center of the city, to promote civic harmony and learning. Local cults of the Muses often became associated with springs or with fountains. The Muses were sometimes called Aganippides, a name derived from the sacred spring [[Aganippe]] at the foot of [[Mount Helicon]], whose waters were believed to grant inspiration.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=helicon-geo Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Helicon]</ref> Other fountains, [[Hippocrene]] and [[Pirene (fountain)|Pirene]], were also important locations associated with the Muses. Some sources occasionally referred to the Muses as "Corycides" (or "Corycian [[nymph]]s") after a cave on [[Parnassos|Mount Parnassos]], called the [[Corycian Cave]]. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] referred to the Muses by the surnames "Ardalides" or "Ardaliotides", because of a sanctuary to them at [[Troezen]] said to have been built by the mythical [[Ardalus]].

The Muses were venerated especially in [[Boeotia]], in the [[Valley of the Muses]] near [[Mount Helicon|Helicon]], and in [[Delphi]] and the [[Parnassus]], where Apollo became known as {{Lang|grc-latn|Mousēgetēs}} ('Muse-leader') after the sites were rededicated to his cult.

Often Muse-worship was associated with the [[Greek hero cult|hero-cults]] of poets: the tombs of [[Archilochus]] on [[Thasos]] and of [[Hesiod]] and [[Thamyris]] in [[Boeotia]] all played host to festivals in which poetic recitations accompanied sacrifices to the Muses. The [[Library of Alexandria]] and its circle of scholars formed around a {{Lang|grc-latn|mousaion}} (i.e., '[[museum]]' or shrine of the Muses) close to the tomb of [[Alexander the Great]]. Many [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] figures sought to re-establish a "Cult of the Muses" in the 18th century. A famous [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] lodge in pre-Revolutionary [[Paris, France|Paris]] was called [[Les Neuf Soeurs]] ('The Nine Sisters', that is, the Nine Muses); [[Voltaire]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Georges Danton|Danton]], and other influential Enlightenment figures attended it. As a side-effect of this movement the word ''museum'' (originally, 'cult place of the Muses') came to refer to a place for the public display of knowledge.

Museia (Μούσεια) was a festival dedicated to Muses which was held every fifth year on the lower slopes of [[Mount Helicon]] in [[Boeotia]]. There was also another festival which was called Museia, which was celebrated in schools.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DM%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Dmusea-cn A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin, Ed., Museia]</ref>

=== Places named after the Muses ===
In [[New Orleans]], Louisiana, there are streets named for all nine. It is commonly held that the local pronunciation of the names has been colorfully anglicized in an unusual manner by the [[New Orleans English|"Yat"]] dialect. The pronunciations are actually in line with the French, Spanish, and Creole roots of the city.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/WbICHD5LZCc Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190530100731/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbICHD5LZCc Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbICHD5LZCc|title=How to pronounce New Orleans Muses Streets|last=NOLA.com|date=10 November 2016 |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>