Euterpe

Euterpe was born as one of the daughters of Mnemosyne, Titan goddess of memory, and fathered by Zeus, god of the gods. Her sisters include Calliope (muse of epic poetry), Clio (muse of history), Melpomene (muse of tragedy), Terpsichore (muse of dancing), Erato (muse of erotic poetry), Thalia (muse of comedy), Polyhymnia (muse of hymns), and Urania (muse of astronomy). Sometimes they are referred to as water nymphs having been born from the four sacred springs on Helicon which flowed from the ground after Pegasus, the winged horse, stamped his hooves on the ground. The mountain spring Cassotis on Mount Parnassus was sacred to Euterpe and the other Muses. It flowed between two high rocks above the city of Delphi, and in ancient times its sacred waters were retained for the use of the Pythia, the priests, priestesses, as well as the oracle of Apollo. Pausanias, Description of Greece (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1918), Perseus Digital Library. http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.24.7 (Accessed November 5, 2024) Lewis C., Short C., A Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879), Perseus Digital Library. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3DCastalia (Accessed November 5, 2024)

File:Euterpe_Pérez_Galdós.jpg

Along with her sister Muses, Euterpe was believed to have lived on Mount Olympus where she and her sisters entertained their father and the other Olympian gods with their great artistry. Later on, tradition also placed them on Mount Helicon in Boeotia where there was a major cult center to the goddesses, or on Mount Parnassus where the Castalian spring was a favorite destination for poets and artists.{{cite web|last1=Cartwright|first1=Mark|title=Muse|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/muse/|website=World History Encyclopedia|access-date=21 May 2018}}

Some people believe that she invented the aulos or double-flute, though most mythographers credit Marsyas or Athena with its invention. Some say she also invented other wind instruments. Euterpe is often depicted holding a flute in artistic renditions of her.

Pindar and other sources (the author of the BibliothecaEuripides, Rhesus 347; Apollodorus, [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.3.4 1.3.4]., and ServiusServius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 1.469), describe the Thracian king Rhesus, who appears in the Iliad, as son of Euterpe and the river-god Strymon; Homer calls him son of Eioneus.{{cite book|last1=Cancik|first1=Hubert|last2=Schneider|first2=Helmuth|title=Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Classical tradition|date=2006}}

File:Muse_Euterpe,_Denarius,_56_B.C.,_Rome.jpg]]

Euterpe's role, alongside her sisters, was to entertain the gods on Mount Olympus. She inspired the development of liberal and fine arts in Ancient Greece, serving as an inspiration to poets, dramatists, and authors such as Homer.

Traditionally, musicians would invoke Euterpe to inspire, guide and assist them in their compositions. Such petitions might take the form of a prayer for divine inspiration from the muse.{{cite book |last1=Hoffman |first1=D. |title=The New Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics |last2=Schelling |first2=Felix E. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-691-03271-9 |editor=Brogan |editor-first=T.V.F. |edition=3rd |location=Princeton, N.J. |pages=802–803 |chapter=Muse |editor-last2=Preminger |editor-first2=Alex}}

File:Mosaïque murale Euterpe.jpg|Roman mosaic of Euterpe, 2nd century

File:Euterpe pavlovsk.jpg|Euterpe statue (St. Petersburg, Pavlovsk, Old Sylvia, Central area)

File:Euterpe .jpg|Teatro Juárez

File:Politeama PA 05.jpg|The bronze "Quadriga with Apollo and Euterpe" (the muse of lyric poetry) on the Teatro Politeama (1867–1874) in Palermo (Italy) by sculptor Mario Rutelli with riders on the sides fashioned by Benedetto Civiletti.

File:Teatro Lido 2.JPG|Interior del Teatro Lido, Medellín.

File:Simon Vouet - Euterpe, The Muse of music and lyric poetry.jpg|Euterpe, The Muse of music and lyric poetry by Simon Vouet

File:Chopin div. 11 Père-Lachaise.jpg|Sculpture of Euterpe at the grave of Frédéric Chopin at Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France

{{Reflist}}

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
• Euripides, The Rhesus of Euripides translated into English rhyming verse with explanatory notes by Gilbert Murray, LL.D., D.Litt., F.B.A., Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford. Euripides. Gilbert Murray. New York. Oxford University Press. 1913. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0238 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Euripides, Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 3. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0119 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0129 Greek text available from the same website].
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. {{ISBN|978-0674995796|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
• Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. {{ISBN|978-0198145318|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
• Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0053 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].

{{Commons category|Euterpe}}

{{wiktionary|Euterpe}}

• [https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaEuterpe.html EUTERPE from The Theoi Project]
• [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-007537 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database]

{{Muses}}

{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

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Category:Muses (mythology)

Category:Women of Apollo

Category:Music in Greek mythology

Category:Children of Zeus

Category:Music and singing goddesses

Category:Metamorphoses characters

Category:Wisdom goddesses

Category:Ancient Greek poetry