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What's a Muse?Electricka is both humble and proud to introduce her colleagues, the nine muses of ancient Greece. If you've already made their acquaintance, bear with heryou may yet learn something new. the nine MusesIn ancient Greece, people believed that the arts were inspired by musesgoddessessupernatural women who haunted, lured, persuaded, or drove men to create great works of art. These muses were personifications of an inspiration that seemed magical and unearthly, guiding spirits through whose power one could create something new and wonderful. The Greeks had nine muses:
About Electricka and her cohort musesWho's Electricka? Her full title is Electricka, Muse of the WorldWide Web©. She and her cohorts are today's counterpart of their Ancient Greek sisters, the muses. Electricka and her cohorts are descended from the muses of ancient Greece; they, too, have a royal inheritance. they help bring the ancient muses up to date. One of Electricka's cohorts is The Muse Of Music. Her counterpart in ancient Greece is Euterpe. Explore the ancient muses and their relation to music further on this page, below. Electricka and her muses have other counterparts in ancient Greece.
About Ancient Greek muses and musicThe ancient Greeks thought so highly of music, they dedicated a muse to it. That's quite a compliment, considering the high regard in which they held muses. Her name is Euterpe, which means Well Pleasing. Euterpe is the muse of music and lyric poetry. Her symbol is the flute. She is said to have invented the flute and other wind instruments. (Look for the flute in the picture of the ancient vase, above.) They couldn't stop there. Erato, which means the Lovely, is the muse of love poetry and marriage songs. they equated music with love and the marriage bed. They gave her the lyre as a symbol. It seems that music was a preoccupation with them. (Look for the lyre in the wall adornment at the left.) Notice the muse in music. The Muse Of Music proudly points out that the modern English word for music is ultimately derived from a combination of the Ancient Greek word for music and the Greek expression, art of the Muses. To the Greeks, music was the art of all arts, the art of the muses. Relating muses and art of the muses to come up with the modern word music makes sense. The Greeks identified their muses with the arts and the art of music with their muses. That identification is high praise for music as an art form; it positions Euterpe as the "most equal" muse of all the coequal ancient muses. In the same way, that identification from Ancient Greece positions Electricka's Muse Of Music as the "most equal" muse of all the coequal modern cohort muses. By this reckoning, all the muses, ancient and modern, owe The Muse of Music a special debt of gratitude, Electricka included.
What do muses and museums have in common?In ancient Greece a place that was devoted to learning was a sacred place, a place where muses reside. Therefore, in ancient Greece, any place devoted to learning and the arts was called a museuma muse place! Museumsall museumsare places sacred to the muses. When you visit a museum, you enter a holy place, one sacred to the gods!
etymology and the musesIn classic mythology, a Muse was any of a number of sister goddesses: Aoede (song), Melete (meditation), Mneme (memory), and especially any of the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided over the arts that are noted above on this page. Since then, the word muse has come to refer to just the nine daughters described above. The word museum was in use in ancient Greece and Rome, where it referred especially to the scholarly institute founded in Alexandria about 280 BCE. It was absorbed into English early in the seventeenth century. In the fourteenth century, as a verb the word muse meant to gaze meditatively or wonderingly, a meaning that's now archaic. Archaically, in Middle English the word amuse meant to keep in expectation by flattery or pretense. Since the fourteenth century, as a verb the word muse has come to mean to think silently, to meditate on, to gaze meditatively, and to comment thoughtfully. And in the modern world, the word amuse has come to mean to hold someone's attention, please, entertain, divert, cause mirth, and to cause to pass the time agreeably. It seems obvious that the various ideas, arts, concepts, emotions, and principles that the ancient Greek muses stand for inspired a number of derivative words, ancient and modernwords such as meditation, memory, muse, museum, and amuse. Hats off to The Muses! ETAF recommends...Coming.
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