Athens: The Nine Muses of The Greek Mythology

Athens

Greek Society was mainly broken up between Free people and Slaves, who were owned by the free people.
Slaves were used as servants and labourers, without any legal rights. Sometimes the slaves were prisoners of
war or bought from foreign slave traders. Although many slaves lived closely with their owners, few were
skilled craftsmen and even fewer were paid. The social classes applied to men only, as women all took their
social and legal status from their husband or their male partner. Women in ancient Greece were not permitted
to take part in public life.

In Athens the ideal citizen was a person educated in the arts of both peace and war, and this made both
schools and exercise fields necessary. Other than requiring two years of military training that began at the
age of 18, the state left parents to educate their sons as they saw fit. The schools were private, but the tuition
was low enough so that even the poorest citizens could afford to send their children for at least a few years.

Boys attended elementary school from the time they were about age 6 or 7 until they were 13 or 14. Part of
their training was gymnastics. The younger boys learned to move gracefully, do calisthenics, and play ball
and other games.
The older boys learned running, jumping, boxing, wrestling, and discus and javelin throwing. The boys also
learned to count, and to read and write and to play the lyre and sing.
Music to the Greeks was fundamental to their educational system and tied directly to the paideia. The
meaning of paideia is child rearing and it implied the transmission of values, the know-to-be and know-to-do
in connection with the society. Mousike encompassed all those areas supervised by the Muses, comparable to
today's liberal arts.
The Nine Muses of the Greek Mythology

Hesiod reveals that they were called Muses or Mouses in Greek, as the Greek word mosis refers to the
desire and wish. The word museum also comes from the Greek Muses.
All the ancient writers appeal to the Muses at the beginning of their work. Homer asks the Muses both in the
Iliad and Odyssey to help him tell the story in the most proper way, and until today the Muses are symbols of
inspiration and artistic creation.
In painting the Muses are usually presented as ethereal women with divine beauty, holding laurels and other
items depending on their faculty.
According to the Greek Mythology, two Muses invented theory and practice in learning, three Muses
invented the musical vibrations in Lyre, four Muses invented the four known dialects in the language
Attica, Ionian, Aeolian and Dorian and five muses the five human senses. Seven muses invented the seven
chords of the lyre, the seven celestial zones, the seven planets and the seven vocals of the Greek Alphabet.
Analytically the Nine Muses are:

1. Clio: The Muse Clio discovered history and guitar. History was named Clio in the ancient years, because it
refers to kleos the Greek word for the heroic acts. Clio was always represented with a clarion in the right
arm and a book in the left hand.
2. Euterpe: Muse Euterpe discovered several musical instruments, courses and dialectic. She was always
depicted holding a flute, while many instruments were always around her.
3. Thalia: Muse Thalia was the protector of comedy; she discovered comedy, geometry, architectural science
and agriculture. She was also protector of Symposiums. She was always depicted holding a theatrical
comedy mask.
4. Melpomene: Opposite from Thalia, Muse Melpomene was the protector of Tragedy; she invented tragedy,
rhetoric speech and Melos. She was depicted holding a tragedy mask and usually bearing a bat.
5. Terpsichore: Terpsichore was the protector of dance; she invented dances, the harp and education. She
was called Terpsichore because she was enjoying and having fun with dancing ( Terpo in Greek refers to
be amused). She was depicted wearing laurels on her head, holding a harp and dancing.
6. Erato: Muse Erato was the protector of Love and Love Poetry as well as wedding. Her name comes
from the Greek word Eros that refers to the feeling of falling in love. She was depicted holding a lyre and
love arrows and bows.
7. Polymnia: Muse Polymnia was the protector of the divine hymns and mimic art; she invented geometry
and grammar. She was depicted looking up to the Sky, holding a lyre.
8. Ourania: Muse Ourania was the protector of the celestial objects and stars; she invented astronomy. She
was always depicted bearing stars, a celestial sphere and a bow compass.
9. Calliope: Muse Calliope was the superior Muse. She was accompanying kings and princes in order to
impose justice and serenity. She was the protector of heroic poems and rhetoric art. According to the myth,
Homer asks from Calliope to inspire him while writing Iliad and Odyssey, and, thus, Calliope is depicted
holding laurels in one hand and the two Homeric poems in the other hand.
The Nine Muses have been inspiring artists since the antiquity and there countless paintings, drawings,
designs, poems and statues dedicated to them. All artists of the Renaissance acknowledged their importance
in artistic creation and dedicated their works to the Muses.
But it was literature that was at the heart of their schooling. The national epic poems of the Greeks--Homer's
'Odyssey' and 'Iliad'--were a vital part of the life of the Athenian people.
As soon as their pupils could write, the teachers dictated passages from Homer for them to take down,
memorize, and later act out.
Teachers and pupils also discussed the feats of the Greek heroes described by Homer. The education of mind,
body, and aesthetic sense was, according to Plato, so that the boys "may learn to be more gentle, and
harmonious, and rhythmical, and so more fitted for speech and action; for the life of man in every part has
need of harmony and rhythm."
At 13 or 14, the formal education of the poorer boys probably ended and was followed by apprenticeship at a
trade. The wealthier boys continued their education under the tutelage of philosopher-teachers.
Until about 390 BC there were no permanent schools and no formal courses for such higher education.
Socrates (470 399 BC), for example, wandered around Athens, stopping here or there to hold discussions
with the people about all sorts of things pertaining to the conduct of man's life. His method of teaching was
called maieutics, now known as the socratic Method. Socrates understood that real learning was done
through interaction and own experience. He considered the teacher as a midwife who brought knowledge to
life.
But gradually, as groups of students attached themselves to one teacher or another, permanent schools were
established. It was in such schools that Plato (c.428 c. 438) founder of the school of Athens, Isocrates, and
Aristotle taught.
The boys who attended these schools fell into more or less two groups. Those who wanted learning for its
own sake studied with philosophers like Plato who taught such subjects as geometry, astronomy, harmonics
(the mathematical theory of music), and arithmetic. Those who wanted training for public life studied with
philosophers like Isocrates who taught primarily oratory and rhetoric.
In democratic Athens such training was appropriate and necessary because power rested with the men who
had the ability to persuade their fellow senators to act.
Most Athenian girls had a primarily domestic education. The most highly educated women were the
hetaerae, or courtesans, who attended special schools where they learned to be interesting companions for the
men who could afford to maintain them.

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Athens

The Nine Muses of the Greek Mythology

Analytically the Nine Muses are:

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