2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Ancient Greek muses - patrons of art and science. They inspired the creation of masterpieces, helped to focus on the most important and valuable, to see beauty even in the most familiar and simple things. One of the nine sisters, Erato's muse, was associated with love lyrics and wedding songs. She inspired the manifestation and praise of the best of feelings, taught selfless surrender to love.
Versions of origin
In Greek mythology, there are several versions of the legend about the origin of the Muses, as well as different information about their number. One version says that the virgins were the daughters of Uranus and Gaia. They are called today archaic muses. According to Pausanias, the cult of these creatures was founded by the giants of Aloada, whose names were Ot and Ephi altes. There were only three Muses: Meleta (which means "experience"), Mnema ("memory"), Aoyda ("song").
In ancient sources there are indications that nine goddesses appeared after the arrival of Pier from Macedonia. He established the number of muses familiar to us today andgave them names. It is also found in ancient texts that there were older and younger patrons of the arts. The first were the daughters of Gaia and Uranus, the second - Zeus. The Olympian muses (those most often mentioned by poets and writers) can be said to be the heirs of the archaic ones. According to the version most familiar today, the father of all nine was Zeus.
Daughters of the Thunderer
Mother of the Muses in this tradition is Mnemosyne (or Mnemosyne) - Titanide, daughter of Uranus and Gaia. The goddess in the mythology of the ancient Greeks was the personification of memory. Zeus, in the form of a shepherd, came to Mnemosyne for nine nights, and soon she gave birth to beautiful muses. Daughters have adopted from their mother the ability to remember the past, know the present and see the future.
Nine sisters: Muse Erato, Clio, Terpsichore, Calliope, Euterpe, Polyhymnia (Polymnia), Urania, Melpomene and Thalia - each patronized a certain type of art. They gave inspiration to those they favored, and severely punished anyone who offended or disappointed them. The favorites of the Muses were poets, musicians and dancers, as well as historians and astronomers. Ancient Greeks considered painting and sculpture to be less valuable and classified them as crafts.
Muses and their symbols
It is easy to recognize each of the nine sisters by the items they hold in their hands. Clio, who is in charge of history, is most often depicted with a scroll of parchment. Sometimes she holds a sundial: history and time are two inextricably linked categories.
Epic MuseIn poetry, Calliope usually appears as a dreamy girl with a stylus (a stick used to squeeze out signs on wax tablets) and a writing board. Her sister Terpsichore, patron of dancers, does not part with her musical instruments. As a rule, it is a lyre or a harp. A laurel wreath adorns her head.
Melpomene and Thalia - muses, especially revered in the theater. Under their patronage are tragedy and comedy. Melpomene can be recognized by the sad mask that the muse holds in one hand. The second is often occupied with a dagger or sword - a reminder of the punishment that awaits people who are disobedient to the divine will. Thalia is also holding a mask, but a hilarious one. In addition, the muse of comedy is often depicted holding a wand or tympanum.
The attribute of Euterpe, responsible for lyrical poetry, is a flute. The muse of solemn hymns, Polyhymnia, is depicted by painters and sculptors as frozen in thought and leaning on a rock. Often her hands hold a scroll.
Urania is the muse of astronomy. She's probably the easiest to get to know. The attributes of the muse are a compass and a globe. And finally, Erato is the muse of love and wedding poetry. She always holds a lyre (or cithara), capable of making the most gentle and beautiful sounds.
Muse Erato: Biography
Erato, like her eight sisters, is considered the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. With other muses, she loved to dance near the mountains and sources of clean water. The dwelling place of the Muses is oftenthey call Parnassus with the Kastalsky key at the foot or Helikon in the place where the source of Hippocrene beats.
Erato had a beloved Mal (from Eupidaurus), from whom she gave birth to a daughter, Cleophema.
Life as art
Reading the myths, an observant person will not lose sight of the fact that the muses did not just give inspiration to their favorites. They explained how best to deal with this or that aspect of reality, showed what in life is worthy of close attention. So, Urania called to get away from the hustle and bustle and look to the eternal and primordial: divine laws, the movement of celestial bodies. Polyhymnia taught that a word is not just letters in a certain order, but a powerful force that can be controlled.
Beautiful as love itself
Erato is the muse of love lyrics. Of course, she favored poets and romantics, but that's not all. It was Erato who taught passionately and passionately to speak about love, inspired men and women to frank confessions. Her very name speaks of the connection between the muse and the ancient Greek god Eros, the son of Aphrodite. Erato taught to rejoice, gave love not only to men or women, but to the world in all its diverse manifestations. Like her sisters, she condemned vanity and self-interest, and patronized only those who are capable of true and deep feelings.
Hamelion
Erato is the muse of love poetry and inspirational songs. It is invisibly present, according to ancient Greek ideas, whereversing and talk about the wonderful feeling. It is not surprising, therefore, that it is she who is credited with creating a special kind of song, the gamelion. They were performed only during the wedding ceremony. A magnificent celebration in Greece has never been complete without music and singing. Muse Erato, invisibly present during the first meetings and passionate confessions, accompanies both the bride and groom, decorating the wedding with singing and playing the cithara. True, only if the celebration is the result of mutual attraction and love, and not calculation.
Purity and inspiration
As already mentioned, Erato's muse did not like those who were looking for only profit in feelings, poetry and marriage. The ancient Greeks associated it with purity, including thoughts and spirit. Often, Erato was depicted in white translucent clothes. Her head was decorated with roses. The Greeks believed that Erato's muse was able to give the ability to see beauty in everything, transform the space around him, spiritualize it and fill it with joy. Such a state is familiar to all lovers: every object and person becomes, as it were, luminous from the inside, a warm, unstoppable stream flows from the heart and one wants to create. Erato, the muse of love songs, fills with such a state. It helps to heal the wounds of the soul and heart, transforms the world around us beyond recognition, filling it with celebration and bright colors. Erato grants the ability to speak from the heart with feeling and soulfulness, and not frantically delve into the head in search of the next word. We can say that the muse of wedding songs teaches love as a way of being, poetry as a method of expression.thoughts, inspiration - as an inexhaustible source of ideas.
All ancient Greek myths tell about the interpenetration of the divine and earthly worlds. Muses are a kind of link in this process. They endow ordinary people with particles of divine power, help them create on a par with the immortal Olympians. If you remember what Erato's muse is responsible for and try to feel this state of "inspiration in love", then his closeness to the divine, that is, standing above the ordinary, immeasurable in depth and transforming power, becomes more than obvious.
Today, all nine companions of Apollo - the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, are well known to us from the huge number of paintings and sculptures depicting them. Even today, poets, artists and other masters do not hesitate to dedicate their works to the Muses. Of course, they are attracted by the colorful image, and perhaps they hope that in the modern world it is useful to enlist the support of such ancient and beautiful goddesses.
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