THE, were the inspirers of poets, and the patron goddesses of arts and sciences. Their number is given differently by different authors. According to Pausanias they are three—Melete, Thought; Mneme, Memory; Museum, and Aeide, Song. In Cicero there are four mentioned—Thelxinoi, The Heart-delighting; Arche, Beginning; Aeide; and Melete. Their genealogy is also disputed. They are variously represented by different writers as the daughters of Caelum and Terra, of Pierus and Antipe, and of Jupiter and Minerva. But the prevailing notion is, that the Muses are nine in number, and that they were the offspring of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, Queen of Eleutherae. They were born in Pieria, at the foot of Mount Olympus, and were called Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia, Urania, and Calliope. Their nurse was Eupheme; and they are said to have been educated by Harmonia in Attica. According to Hesiod, they usually dwelt on Mount Helicon. There they danced round the altar of Saturn, and bathed in the waters of Permessus, Hippocrene, and Olmeius. When the night came on, they set out on the discharge of their duties, robed in clouds, and chanting the praises of the gods as they floated through the air. Descending upon the earth, they visited those mortals who were the special objects of their care. They infused dignity and power into the words of rulers, and filled the souls of poets with light and harmony. By their presence every tormenting care was allayed. At times they dwelt in a magnificent palace on the summit of Olympus. There they stood in the presence of Jupiter, telling the secrets of the past, present, and future, or warbling festive songs at the banquets of the immortals.

The worship of the Muses began around their birthplace in Pieria. Thence it was transferred into Boeotia, and in course of time it became firmly established in that district. A temple was erected to "The Nine" at Thespiae. The neighbouring Mount Helicon, with its wells of Aganippe and Hippocrene, was consecrated to them, and became the site of their sanctuaries and grottoes. From Boeotia the adoration of the Muses gradually spread through the rest of Greece. It was established in Parnassus by the erection of a temple, and by the consecration of the Castalian spring and of the entire mountain. A sanctuary was created for its observance in the Academy at Athens. In course of time it was transferred to Italy. Poets and musicians were the principal votaries of the Muses, and on that account were sometimes called their sons. Thus ancient writers say that Hyacinthus sprung from Clio, Rhesus from Euterpe, the Corybantes from Thalia, and the Sirens from Melpomene. Yet it sometimes happened that those who had been the worshippers of the Muses became their rivals in the art of music. In such a rivalry the Sirens failed, and were punished with the loss of their wings. Thamyris hazarded a similar competition, and was smitten with blindness.

From being indiscriminately the patronesses of song, the Muses latterly came to be severally regarded as presiding over particular kinds of poetry and particular arts and sciences. (For an account of their distinctive offices, see the names of each.)