Muses--The Greek Muses

"I lost my muse," has long been synonymous with writer's block or stage-fright. It means that inspiration has left us. We can also attribute the term "muse" to someone whose beauty or amiable qualities inspires us to do our best at whatever it is we do. And I'm sure we all know that the term is derived from nine demi-goddesses of Greek mythology.

Most people are familiar the the more popular Nine Muses born of the Titaness Mnemosyne (personification of memory) and Zeus, born from nine consecutive nights of laying together. Some sources also speculate that they were the daughters of Harmonia. But! According to mythological evidence, there was a lesser known first generation of muses, born of Urania and Gaia. The two-generational theory probably stems from a discrepancy in regional mythology, as most inconsistencies do.

So I will use the next ten days or so to summarize all twelve muses. I do not have all the information on all of them, but hopefully I can provide enough to get both of us started.