Editing Muses (section)

===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.