File:Mythological fictions of the Greeks and Romans (1830) (14592933428).jpg

Identifier: mythologicalfict00mout (find matches)
Title: Mythological fictions of the Greeks and Romans
Year: 1830 (1830s)
Authors: Moutz, Karl Philipp, 1757-1793 Jaeger, Charles Frederick William
Subjects: Mythology, Classical
Publisher: New York : G. & C. & H. Carvill
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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the god, thinking to suipassthe harp with his flute ; and Thamyris, the Thracianbard, who, vain of his talents both in music and poetry,dared challenge the daughters of Mnemosyne themselves,was punished by them with blindness and the loss ofhis lyre, in other words, of his poetical ability. One single Muse, shown by creative art either witha scroll, or two flutes, or a lyre in her hand, often repre-sents in her person all the nine sisters. Yet wheneverthey are distinguished individually, the parchment-scrollsignifies either Clio, the Muse of history, or Polyhym-nia, the Muse of eloquence. The two flutes indicateEuterpe, the Muse of harmony; and the lyre, Erato,the Muse of lyric poesy. Melpomene, the Muse oftragedy, is known by her tragic mask, and the comicindicates Thalia, the Muse of comedy. Calliope, theMuse of epic poetry, is distinguished by a trumpet, andTerpsichore by her dancing attitude. Umnia, whomeasures the course of the stars, turns hei eyes upwardto the sky. F<yqe WA.
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-M^Tt^^ e^/^.^7l^/(^. MORITZ* MYTHOLOGY. 193 All tliese different representations, however, havebeen arbitrarily used by the ancients. The great num-ber of the Muses is to indicate the harmony of thefine arts, that go hand in hand in sisterly union, andmust not be rigorously separated from each other. Inmodern times it has been attempted to assign, with pe-dantic accuracy, to each Muse her own particular avoca-tion ; but the imagination of the ancients acknowledgedhere no limitation. Upon ancient marble coffins thewhole sisterhood of the Pierides are to be seen represent-ed in various mamiers and different attitudes. A seriesof wall-pictures among the antiquities of Herculaneum.is the only monument which exliibits the nine sisters,accurately distinguished from each other, because thename of every one is placed beneath her figure. Thelatter circumstance, however, seems to suggest, that theartist himself did not consider the external charactersof his Muses sufficient to designate them,

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