The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-12-22
The Nine MUSES..

The NEUROLOGICAL ladies. sometimes
called the 'tuneful nine" were the
daughters of Jupiter and MnemosyDe,
(Reayep) and Terra (earth). Jupiter, the
Thunderer. assumed the form of a shep-
herd in order to enjoy her company, and
the result was seen in these MN daugh-
tiers, who were Calliope. who presided
over eloquence and heroic poetry; Clio,
the muse of history; Erate, who presided
over lyric poetry; Euterpo, the muse of
music; Melpomeue. the muse of tragedy;
Polyhymnia. the muse of singing and
rhetoric; Thalia, the muse OF comedy and
comic poetry; Urania, the muse of astron-
omy, and Terpsichore, who was the pa
tron of dancing.
1t may be remarked that Wotan. or
Odin. the Scandinavian analogue to Jupi-
ter, also had nine daughters who were
the Valkyries, whom Wagner has made
so famous iu his Niebelungen tetralogy.
The names OF the muses. are very fire.
quently found in modern life, aud it Is
well to be acquainted with them that the
names may be used correctly. An instru-
mental musical society named after Eu-
terpe is correctly named. Such a society
formerly existed in New York. A collec-
ton of music for female voices was prop
erly called Polvhymnia. A theatre in
New York is rightly named the Thalia.
Uranus. the planet, gets its name from
the use OF astronomy. The Cionian
Society 10 the College of the City of New
York, and the Cliosophic Society in an-
other college are properly named. Dane
ing is often called the T~erpsichorean art,
and he great Mrs. Siddons has been
referred TO as Melpomene. A wrong
instance of naming was found in a steam
musical instrument on a Hudson River
steamboat some years - which was
rnjlad a Galinna NhiG tnuaa nod pntbin0
to do with music.
On their fathers side the nine muses.
were sisters to the three Fates, Clotho,
Lachesis and Atropos; the twins, Castor
and Pollux; Amphion, who built the
walls of Thebes by the sound of his Tyre;
Apollo. the god of the fine arts and the
originator OF music; Sacchus, the god of
wine; Proserpina, the queen of Hades;
Hebe, the cuphearer; Mars; Lucina. who
presided over the birth of children;
Minos, king of Crete; Ate, goddess of all
evil; Sarpendon, king of Lycia; Rhada-
nautilus, judge of the Internal regions;
Tethus, a sea goddess, and mother of the
Oceanifes and others.
Their mother Muemosyne (Memory)
was the daughter of Heaven and Earth
Colus and Terra. Their progeny was
numerous and important, and in-
cluded the three Cyclopes, Arge,,
Brontes snd %Steropes; the Tituns;
brlareus, the giant with $50
heads; Saturn and Ops, his sister and
wife; called Rhea by the Greeks, WHO
were the parents of Jupiter. Neptune aud
Pluto. Inc muses., therefore, were not
only Jupiter's daughters, but being the
daughters of his aun Mnemosyne, were
also his cousins.
The family relations of the Greek and
Roman gods and goddesses were very
much mixed, and in some way or other
thew wPrl all c0nuQrfad Jupitar &c
pecially, like Wotan, didanot confide his
amorous attentions exclusively to his
lawful wife, and his numerous alliances
gave rise to many of the demlgoos and
heroic mortals. of whom the classic poets
are full.-The NeDUrk Sunday Cal.