Which Goddess Is the Muse of Music?

Perhaps if you are interested in the arts, you might be curious about which goddess is the muse of music. Maybe you are studying ancient Greek mythology, and are looking for some information about their gods and goddesses.

The daughter who is the muse of music is Euterpe, which means "rejoicing well" or "delight" in the Modern Greek. She is also referred to as the "Giver of delight." Her attachment to music is not all that unusual then, since music does give delight to quite a number of people.

As time went on, Euterpe evolved, and she became the muse of lyric poetry, and she was often depicted with a flute.

Other Muses

There were eight other muses. What follows is a list of all nine of the muses and which discipline each muse reigned over. Maybe you will recognize some of the names, and how they are at least partially related to modern English words.

• Calliope - epic poetry
• Clio - history
• Erato - love poetry
• Euterpe - music
• Melpomene - tragedy
• Polyhymnia - sacred poetry
• Terpischore - dance
• Thalia - comedy
• Urania - astronomy

What Is a Muse

While the word "muse" is not exactly dated, it is not really in extremely common usage today either. Therefore, there is a decent chance that you have heard the word, but do not know the meaning.

In the most general definition of the word, a muse is one who inspires. That is why the word "muse" is so common in the arts. People talk about their inspiration for an artwork or song as having come from a muse. People might refer to a romantic partner or a lovely object as a muse for their creation, whatever it might be. The word has come to be used rather loosely to mean any source of inspiration.

There are nine specific beings to which the word muse actually refers. Technically, according to ancient Greek mythology, a muse is any of the nine daughters of Zeuz and Mnemosyne. A muse, one of these daughters, is actually defined as a protector or guardian of an art or a science.

It's interesting how the word developed, since the image of a muse as a protector is not the most common one. Furthermore, the word "muse" is usually left for the more poetic field of arts, rather than the scientific world of experiments and evidence.