Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/98

 84 GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY 114. The predilection of the Graces for the round dance and its accompanying music was shared by the Musae ('the searchers/ or ( inventors/ Eng. ' Muses'). They were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (' memory 7 ), and were worshiped (especially on Olym- pus in the district of Pieria, and on Helicon in Boeotia) at sacred springs, such as Aganippe and Hippocrene on Helicon, and Castalia on Parnassus, in cdnnection with the worship of Dionysus and Apollo and the singer Orpheus, the representative of the Dionysiac poetry. In the Iliad and the older parts of the Odyssey their number is not yet fixed ; but in a more recent part of the latter poem, and in Hesiod, they are, as is usual in literature, nine in number. It was not, however, until later times that their individual functions were more spe- cifically determined as follows : Calliope (' the beautiful- voiced'), as the muse of heroic (epic) poetry, carries writing tablets and a style ; Clio (' she that praises ') represents history and has a written scroll; Euterpe (' the charmer'), lyric poetry, a double flute; Thalia ('joy of life'), comedy, a comic mask; Melpomene ('the singer '), tragedy, a tragic mask, and sometimes a sword ; Terpsichore ('joyful in the dance'), dancing, a lyre ; Urania (' the heavenly '), astronomy, a celestial globe ; Erato (' the beloved '), love songs, a cithara ; finally, Polymnia or Polyhymnia ('rich in hymns') attends to the songs of divine worship, and therefore appears veiled and with garments drawn closely about her. 115. The Horae, as their name implies, were repre- sentatives of the seasons ; and as in earlier times only three seasons were distinguished, there were three cor- responding Horae, represented as maidens in the bloom