clio and the history of western art

Here's Clio's story:

The Muse Of Fine Arts, one of Electricka's modern muses, has an elder sister named Clio, who was and will always be the ancient muse of history. Clio was born in Ancient Greece along with Classical art.

History—Clio's own art form—is the branch of knowledge dealing with past events. A history is a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person, and the like, usually written as a chronological account. It's the aggregate of past events, the record of past events and times, especially in connection with the human race.

The first great narrative history produced in the ancient world, The History of the Greco-Persian Wars, was produced by the Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century BCE. For practical purposes, the great Western art tradition began in this era, as well.

In ancient Greek, Clio means The Proclaimer. Her symbols are the laurel wreath and the scroll. Considering that Clio is the ancient muse of history, that she proclaims, that the laurel wreath is the ancient symbol of victory, and that the scroll is the ancient symbol of recording, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Clio is a proud beauty who believes in broadcasting the achievements of her time and in setting them down for posterity.

Clio's birthright

As she sees it, Clio is the proud sponsor of the Western Art tradition; it's her birthright and her job to proclaim the virtues and accomplishments of her fellow gods and goddesses and to preserve them for posterity. She's earned the right to expect that Electricka's Muse Of Fine Arts begins an exploration of fine art with her.

There are good reasons why Clio takes this stand. Isn't she the one who initiated the practice of recording history, including the history of the arts themselves? Without Clio, who would have recorded and proclaimed ancient Greek fine art for future ages to see? Doesn't she have gobs of some of the greatest fine art to offer the world? Who else is in a better position to tell the story of the ancient origins of art and proclaim their glory?

The Muse Of Fine Arts can't but be sympathetic to Clio's arguments. The Muse feels kinship with Clio and sees Fine Art as an art form that's all in the family. And with the muses, family comes first. For these reasons and with Clio's blessing, The Muse Of Fine Art has chosen to begin this exploration of art history with the fine arts of the Western Tradition. (Don't be offended: The Muse explores other periods, places, and cultures as well.)

• Explore Clio and her eight sister muses of the ancient world. Visit The Muse Of Mythology's page called What's A Muse?: click here.