Page 11 - The Muses Nine

THE NINE MUSES

ALLIOPE

CAs the Muse of epic poetry she appears with a tablet and stylus, and
sometime with a scroll. Although she shared a great deal in common with her
eight sisters and joined them most of the time in dancing and signing on Olympus
and in their sacred groves on Mount Helicon, she led a most interesting private
life. She was called, at one time or another, the mother of the Corybantes by
Zeus, of Hymen by Apollo, of Ialemus by Apollo, of Linus by Apollo, of Rhesus
by the Strymon River, of the Sirens, and of Orpheus by Oeagrus. It makes good
sense that she was considered the mother of these famous poets and musicians
(except Rhesus). Hymen was the god of marriage and the author of the songs
performed at weddings.
Ialemus was the inventor of a special kind of song sung at melancholy occasions.
Linus was the personification of lamentation; he invented dirges and songs in
general. Orpheus was the most famous poet and musician who ever lived. The
Corybantes were the attendants of Rhea Cybele and accompanied her with wild
dancing and music. The Sirens, of course, were the women with beautiful voices
who lured sailors to their death with songs. As for Rhesus, the Thracian prince
who went to the Trojan War, there is little reason for assigning him a Muse for
a mother, and it seems this was done by later writers perhaps to lend poetic
enhancement to his early and tragic death.
Calliope also took a fancy to Achilles and taught his how to cheer his friends
by signing at banquets. She was called by Zeus to mediate the quarrel between
Aphrodite and Persephone over possession of Adonis. She settled the dispute by
giving them equal time, providing Adonis some much-needed free time to himself.
Calliope is somewhat easier to picture than the other Muses, with the possible
exception of Terpsichore. One can think of a voluptuous woman with a beautiful
face and a pleasant manner. In spite of being credited with mournful sons who
met unhappy ends, she may even be conceived as light-spirited.