MUSÆUS, an ancient Greek poet, was, according to Plato and Diodorus Siculus, an Athenian, the son of Orpheus, and chief of the Eleusinian mysteries instituted at Athens in honour of Ceres: or, according to others, he was only the disciple of Orpheus; but from the great resemblance which there was between his character and talents and those of his master, by giving a stronger outline to the figure he was called his son, as those were styled the children of Apollo who cultivated the arts of which he was the tutelar god.

Musæus is allowed to have been one of the first poets who verified the oracles. He is placed in the Arundelian marbles, epoch 15.1426 B.C. at which time his hymns are there said to have been received in the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries. Laertius tells us, that Musæus not only composed a theogony, but formed a sphere for the use of his companions; yet as this honour is generally given to Chiron, it is more natural to suppose, with Sir Isaac Newton, that he enlarged it with the addition of several constellations after the conquest of the golden fleece. The sphere itself shows that it was delineated after the Argonautic expedition, which is described in the asterisms, together Burney's with several other more ancient histories of the Greeks; History of and without any thing later; for the ship Argo was the first long vessel which they had built: hitherto they had used round ships of burthen, and kept within sight of the shore; but now, by the dictates of the oracle, and consent of the princes of Greece, the flower of that country sail rapidly through the deep, and guide their ship by the stars.

Musæus is celebrated by Virgil in the character of hierophant, or priest of Ceres, at the head of the most illustrious mortals who have merited a place in Elysium. Here he is made the conductor of Æneas to the recess where he meets the shade of his father Anchises.

A hill near the citadel of Athens was called Musæum, according to Pausanias, from Musæus, who used to retire thither to meditate and compose his religious hymns; at which place he was afterwards buried. The works which went under his name, like those of Orpheus, were by many attributed to Onomacritus. Nothing remains of this poet now, nor were any of his writings extant in the time of Pausanias, except a hymn to Ceres, which he made for the Lycomides. And as these hymns were likewise set to music, and sung in the mysteries by Musæus himself in the character of priest, he thence perhaps acquired from future times the title of musician, as well as of poet; the performance of sacred music being probably at first confined to the priesthood in these celebrations, as it had been before in Egypt, whence they originated. However, he is not enumerated among ancient musicians by Plutarch; nor does it appear that he merited the title of son and successor to Orpheus for his musical abilities, so much as for his poetry, piety, and profound knowledge in religious mysteries.