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The Muses are the Olympian goddesses of music song and inspiration, and daughters of Zeus, Ruler of the Olympian Gods, and Mnemosyne, a Titaness and goddess of memory. Predisposed to music, song and entertainment, they spent most of their time entertaining the Olympian gods, but also to serving as sources of inspiration to mortal man. They often served as judges to mortal displays of talent and sometimes inflicted punishments on those who abused their talents, such as the Messenian bard Thamyris and the Phaeacian poet Demodocus. In the Fifteenth century BC, King Pierus of Pieria, where Mount Helicon was located, a peak sacred to the Muses, honored the Muses by naming his daughters after them, but when the daughters began to claim their singing was superior to the Muses, they transformed the mortal girls into chattering magpies. The Muses also took offense when the Sirens, daughters of Melpomene, one of their own, began to rival their own talents, and exiled them to the island of Anthemoessa taking care to clip their wings so they could not depart. The Thracian king Pyreneus also lured the Muses to his home as guests, but upon discovering his amorous intentions, they departed upon the wind. The Muses did not however object to being courted by the handsome god, Apollo. A few of them had children by him. According to legend, the Muses even created the riddles imparted to the Sphinx of Thebes. During the Roman Empire, they were known as the Camenae. The Muses possess the conventional physical attributes of the Olympian gods. Like all Olympians, they are immortal: they have not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means. They are immune to all Earthly diseases and are resistant to conventional injury. If somehow wounded, their godly life force would enable them to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of their bodily molecules to cause them a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for a god of significant power, such as Zeus or Poseidon or for a number of Olympian gods working together to revive them. They also possess superhuman strength (a typical Olympian goddess can lift (press) 25 tons) and their Olympian metabolism provides them with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Olympian flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the Olympians' superhuman strength and weight.) Each of the Muses also has a capacity for tapping and manipulating magical energies. Calliope, as the eldest of the Muses and their leader, can conjure spheres of light and mystical force, and Urania can manipulate psychokinetic fields to cause probable but not improbable events to occur. They can travel through dimensions, such as from Earth to Olympus, alter their forms and that of other beings and objects (such as when they turned the daughters of Pierus into birds) and inflict curses upon mortals ranging from blindness to an inability to speak. They had clairvoyant and precognitive abilities akin to prophesy; they could sense beings of literary, artistic and musical potential and appear to them for guidance. They were extra-ordinarily graceful and could fly at will, even materializing wings at will to fly at atmospheric heights. First Appearance: Thor Annual 1 |
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| Calliope
is the Muse of epics and ballads. The eldest of the Muses, she married
the mortal king Oeagrus and gave birth to Orpheus, who grew up to be a
great musician and adventurer as one of the Argonauts. Orpheus died of
grief over the death of his love, Eurydice, and was reincarnated as the
extra-dimensional being who calls himself, Morpheus, the god of dreams. Calliope
also arbitrated in place of her father as to how her sisters, Aphrodite
and Persephone
would divide their romance of Adonis.
First Appearance: Thor Annual 1 |
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| Clio (Cleio)
is
the Muse of memory and history. In ancient Greece, she laughed at
Aphrodite for having an infatuation with the Phoenician prince Adonis
that ended in tragedy. Aphrodite had her revenge by sending Cupid to
smite Clio with love for the Magnesian prince, Pierus. She gave birth to
his son and heir, Hyacinth.
First Appearance: Thor Annual 1 |
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| Erato is
the Muse of poems and poetry. Not much is known about her personal
activities, but she has often been present on Olympus during visits from
the Asgardian gods Thor
and Odin. Apollo considered her among his favorite
paramours.
First Appearance: Thor Annual 1 |
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| Euterpe
is the Muse of song and music. By the river-god, Strymon, she became
mother of the Thracian king Eioneus, father of King Rhesus, who
supported King Priam at Troy.
Over the years since the end of worship of the Olympian gods, Euterpe has taken several mortal identities. In modern years, she has appeared in Southern California to roller skate. Called herself Kira, she served as inspiration to a dancer named Daniel McGuire. McGuire even joined her to inspire songwriter Sonny Malone. First Appearance: (historical) Thor Annual 1, (recent) Xanadu (1980) |
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| Melpomene
is the Muse of drama and tragedy. Often wearing a mask of tragedy, she
became the second wife of the river-god, Achelous and gave birth to five
goddesses known as the Sirens. The Sirens were playmates of the young
goddess Persephone and eventually grew to rival their mother and aunts
in song and dance. Melpomene refused to any harsh treatment of her
children and her daughters were exiled to the island of Anthemoessa
where they lured sailors to their deaths, although they might have also
been punished for allowing Persephone to be abducted by Hades. In modern
years, Melpomene took on the mortal identity of Sarah Little for writer
Steven Phillips and served as his inspiration for his new book.
Influenced by Melpomene, Phillips' wife Laura opened her own bakery.
First Appearance: (historical) Thor Annual 1, (recent) The Muse (1998) |
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| Polyhymnia
is the Muse of hymns and ballads. Over the years, she has appeared on
earth under mortal identities to inspire mortals. She has often been
present on Olympus during visits from the Asgardian gods Thor and Odin.
Over several years, her mortal facades have included that of female minstrels
and balladeers.
First Appearance: Thor Annual 1 |
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| Terpsichore
is the Muse of dance. She was also foster-mother to the nieces, The
Sirens, but when they proved to excel over the Muses in song and dance, Terpsichore
and Melpomene along with the rest of the Muses jealously exiled the
Sirens to Anthemoessa. In modern years, she has inspired mortals to
create and develop myriad creative forms of dance from behind the mortal
facade of a choreographer.
First Appearance: Thor Annual 1 |
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| Thalia (Thaleia)
is the Muse of humor and comedy. Often wearing the theatrical mask of
humor, she was loved by Apollo and gave birth to the Corybantes,
young gods who followed and served the Phrygian goddess, Cybele. In
modern years, she travels numerous comedy circuits inspiring mortal
comedians of their potential.
First Appearance: Thor Annual 1 |
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| Urania is
the Muse of astrology and astronomy. She was one of the many paramours
of the god Apollo, and gave birth to his son, Linus, who became the
music teacher of the young Hercules.
First Appearance: Thor Annual 1 |
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