Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1140

Rh 1126 MUSAE. manner that the nameg of mountains, grottoes, and wells, connected with their worship, were likewise transferred from the north to the south. Near mount Helicon, Ephialtes and Otus are said to have oiibred the first sacrifices to them ; and in the name place there was a sanctuary with their sta- tues, the sacred wells Aganippe and Hippocrene, and on mount Leibethrion, which is connected with Helicon, there was a sacred grotto of the Muses. (Paus. ix. 29. § 1, &c., 30. § 1, 31. § 3 ; Strab. pp. 410, 471; Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. x. 11.) Pierus, a Macedonian, is said to have been the first who introduced the worship of the nine Muses, ft-om Thrace to Thespiae, at the foot of mount Helicon. (Paus. ix. '29. § 2.) There they had a temple and statues, and the Thespians celebrated a solemn festival of the Muses on mount Helicon, called Moyo-era. (Paus. ix. 27. § 4, 31. § 3 ; Pind. Fragm. p. 656, ed. Boeckh ; Diod. xvii. 16.) Mount Parnassus was likewise sacred to them, with theCastalian spring, near which they had a temple. (Plut. De Pyth. Orac. 17.) From Boeotia, which thus became the focus of the worship of the nine Muses, it afterwards spread into the adjacent and more distant parts of Greece. Thus we find at Athens a temple of the Muses in the Academy (Paus. i. 30. § 2) ; at Sparta sacrifices were offered to them before fighting a battle (iii. 17. § 5) ; at Troezene, where their worship had been introduced by Ardalus, sacrifices were offered to them con- jointly with Hypnos, the god of sleep (Paus. iii. 31. § 4, &c.) ; at Corinth, Peirene, the spring of Pegasus, was sacred to thern (Pers. Sat. Prol. 4 ; Stat. Silv. ii. 7. 1 ) ; at Rome they had an altar in common with Hercules, who was also regarded as Musagetes, and they possessed a temple at Ambra- cia adorned with their statues. (Plut. Quaest. Rom. 59 ; Plin. H. N. xxxv. 36.) The sacrifices offered to them consisted of libations of water or milk, and of honey. (Schol. ad Soph. Oed. Col. 100 ; Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vii. 21.) The various sur- names by which they are designated by the poets are for the most part derived from the places which were sacred to them or in which they were wor- shipped, while some are descriptive of the sweet- ness of their songs. In the most ancient works of art we find only three Muses, and their attributes are musical in- struments, such as the flute, the lyre, or the bar- biton. Later artists gave to each of the nine sisters different attributes as well as different attitudes, of which we here add a brief account. 1. Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry, appears with a tablet and stylus, and sometimes with a roll of paper ; 2. Cleio, the Muse of history, appears in a sitting attitude, with an open roll of paper, or an open chest of books ; 3. Euterpe, the Muse of lyric poetry, with a flute ; 4. Melpomene, the Muse of traged', with a tragic mask, the club of Heracles, or a sword, her head is surrounded with vine leaves, and she wears the cothurnus ; 5. Terpsi- chore, the Muse of choral dance and song, appears with the lyre and the plectrum ; 6. Erato, the Muse of erotic poetry and mimic imitation, some- times, also, has the lyre ; 7. Polymnia, or Poly- hymnia, the Muse of the sublime hymn, usually appears without any attribute, in a pensive or me- ditating attitude ; 8. Urania, the Muse of astro- nomy, with a staff pointing to a globe ; 9. Thaleia, the Muse of comedy and of merry or idyllic poetry, appears v/ith the comic mask, a shepherd's staff, or MUSAEUS. a wreath of ivy. In some representations the* Muses are seen with feathers on their heads, al- luding to their contest with the Seirens. (Hirt, Myihol. Bilderb. p. 203, &c.) [L. S.] MUSAEUS {mov(Taios an officer of Antiochus the Great, king of Syria. After the decisive battle of Sipylus, B. c. 190, he came as an ambassador to the Scipios, then at Sardis, to request permission for the king to send commissioners to treat of peace. (Polyb. xxi. 13 ; Liv. xxxvii. 45 ; App. Syr. 38.) In B. c. 188 Musaeus was again sent by Antiochus to Cn. Manlius Vulso, the Roman proconsul in Asia, to learn the terms on which the peace be- tween his master and the Romans would be finally ratified. (Polyb. xxii. 24 ; Liv. xxxviii. 37 ; App. Syr. 39.) [E. E.J MUSAEUS {Movaouos), literary. 1. A semi- mythological personage, to be classed with Olen, Orpheus, and Pamphus. He was regarded as the author of various poetical compositions, especially as connected with the mystic rites of Demeter at Eleusis, over which the legend represented him as presiding in the time of Heracles. (Diod. iv. 25.) He was reputed to belong to the family of the Eumolpidae, being the son of Eumolpus and Selene. (Philochor. ap. Schol. ad Jrist. Han. 1065 ; Diog. Laert. Prooem. 3.) In other variations of the myth he was less definitely called a Thracian. According to other legends he was the son of Orpheus, of whom he was generally considered as the imitator and disciple. (Diod. iv. 25 ; Serv. ad Virg. Aen. vi. 667.) Others made him the son of Antiphemus, or Antiophemus, and Helena, (Schol. ad Soph. Oed. Col. 1047; Suid. s.v. Movaalos.) In Aristotle {Mirah. p. 711, a.) a wife Deioce is given him ; while in the elegiac poem of Herme- sianax., quoted by Athenaeus (xiii. p. 597), Antiope is mentioned as his wife or mistress. Suidas gives him a son Eumolpus. The scholiast on Aristo- phanes mentions an inscription said to have been placed on the tomb of Musaeus at Phalerus. Pau- sanias (i. 25. § 8) mentions a tradition that the MovcTiiov in Peiraeus bore that name from having been the place where Musaeus was buried. We find the following poetical compositions, accounted as his among the ancients > — 1 . Xpwf^oi, Oracles. (Aristoph. Pu7i. 1031 ; Paus. x. 9. § 11 ; Herod, viii. 96.) Onomacritus, in the time of the Peisis- tratidae, made it his business to collect and arrange the oracles that passed under the name of Musaeus, and was banished by Hipparchiis for interpolating in the collection oracles of his own making. (Herod, vii. 6 ; Paus. i. 22. § 7.) 2. 'TirodiJKai, or precepts, addressed to his son Eumolpus, and extending to the length of 4000 lines (Suid. I. c). 3. A hymn to Demeter. This composition is set down by Pausanias (i. 22. § 7) as the only genuine production of Musaeus extiint in his day. 4. 'E^aKeafis voawv. (Aristoph. Ra?i. 1031 ; Plin. //■. A^. xxi. 8. s. 21.) 5. Q^oyovia. (Diog. Laert. Prooem. 3). 6. TLravo'ypa<pia. (Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod.in.). 7. ^(palpa. (Diog. Laert. /.c). What this spliaera was, is not clear. 8. Hapakixras^ TeAfTot and Kadapfioi. (Schol. ad Jrist. I.e.; Plat. Respubl. ii. p. 364, extr.) Aristotle {Polit. viii, 5, Hist. Anim. vi. 6) quotes some verses of Musaeus, but without specifying from what work or collection. Some have supposed the Musaeus who is spoken of as the author of the ©eoyovia and :S,<paipa, to be a different person from the old bard of that name. But there does not appear to be any evidence to