Muse Erato is the muse of love poetry. Erato - muse of love and wedding poetry

Ancient Greek muse - patroness of artand science. They inspired the creation of masterpieces, helped to focus on the main and valuable, to see the beautiful even in the most common and simple things. One of the nine sisters, Erato's muse, was associated with love lyrics and wedding songs. She inspired the manifestation and praise of the best of feelings, taught selflessly to give in to love.

Origin versions

In Greek mythology, there are severalvariants of the legend of the origin of the muses, as well as various information about their number. One version says that the virgins were the daughters of Uranus and Gaia. They are called today archaic muse. According to Pausanius, the cult of these creatures was founded by the giants of Aloade, who were called Ot and Efialt. There were only three Muses: Meleta (which means "experience"), Mnem ("memory"), Aoyda ("song").

In ancient sources there are indications that ninethe goddesses appeared after the arrival of Pierre from Macedonia. He established the number of Muses familiar to us today and gave them names. There is an opinion in ancient texts that there were older and younger patrons of the arts. The first were the daughters of Gaia and Uranus, the latter - Zeus. The Olympic muse (the one most often mentioned by poets and writers) can be said to be heirs of the archaic. According to the version, the most familiar today, the father of all nine was Zeus.

Daughters of the Thunderer

The mother of the muses in this tradition is Mnemosyn(or Mnemosyn) - Titanide, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia. The goddess in the mythology of the ancient Greeks represented the embodiment of memory. Zeus in the image of a shepherd came to Mnemosyne for nine nights, and soon she gave birth to beautiful muses. Daughters have adopted from the mother the ability to remember the past, know the present and see the future.

Nine sisters: Muse Erato, Clio, Terpsichore, Calliope, Euterpe, Polyhymnia (Polymnia), Urania, Melpomene and Thalia - patronized each particular kind of art. They gave inspiration to those who were favored, and cruelly punished all those who insulted or disappointed them. The favorites of the muses were poets, musicians and dancers, as well as historians and astronomers. Painting and sculpture of the ancient Greeks considered less valuable and attributed them to the number of crafts.

Muses and their symbols

Finding out each of the nine sisters is easy on thoseobjects that they hold in their hands. Clio, responsible for the history, is most often depicted with a scroll of parchment. Sometimes she holds a sundial: history and time are two inseparably related categories.

The muse of Calliope's epic poetry usually appears ina dreamy girl with a stylus (wand, which squeezed out signs on wax tablets) and a plaque for writing. Her sister Terpsichore, patronizing the dancers, does not part with her musical instruments. Typically, this is a lyre or harp. Her head is adorned with a laurel wreath.

Melpomena and Thalia - the muse, especially revered intheater. Under their protection are tragedy and comedy. Melpomene can be recognized by the sad mask that the muse holds in one hand. The second is often occupied by a dagger or sword - a reminder of the square that awaits the disobedient divine will of people. Talia also holds a mask, but cheerful. In addition, the comedy muse is often depicted with a rod or tympanum in his hands.

The attribute of Euterpe, responsible for lyrical poetry,- flute. The muse of solemn hymns Polyhimnia painters and sculptors is depicted frozen in meditation and leaning against a rock. Often her hands hold a scroll.

Urania is the muse of astronomy. Perhaps it's the easiest to learn. Attributes of the muses are the compasses and the globe. And finally, Erato is the muse of love and wedding poetry. She always holds a lyre (or cithara), capable of producing the most gentle and beautiful sounds.

Muse Erato: biography

Erato, like her eight sisters, is considered a daughterZeus and Mnemosyne. With other muses, she loved to dance round the mountains and sources of clean water. The habitat of the muses is often called Parnassus with the Kastalic key at the foot or Helicon in the place where the source of the Ipokrena beats.

Erato had a beloved Mal (from Eupidavra), from which she gave birth to her daughter Cleophemus.

Life as art

Getting into myths, an observant person does notwill overlook the fact that the muse did not just give inspiration to his favorites. They explained how best to deal with this or that aspect of reality, showed that in life worthy of close attention. So, Urania urged to get away from vanity and look to the eternal and primordial: the divine laws, the motion of heavenly bodies. Polyhymnia taught that the word is not just letters in a certain order, but a powerful force, and it can be controlled.

Beautiful as love itself

Erato is the muse of love lyrics. Of course, she favored poets and romantics, but that's not all. It was Erato who taught passionately and passionately about love, inspired men and women to frank confessions. Her very name speaks of the connection between the Muse and the Greek god Eros, the son of Aphrodite. Erato taught to rejoice, gave love not only to men or women, but to peace in all diverse manifestations. Like her sisters, she condemned vanity and self-interest, and patronized only those who are capable of true and deep feelings.

Hamelion

Erato is a muse of love poetry and inspired songs. It is invisibly present, according to ancient Greek ideas, wherever they sing and talk about a wonderful feeling. It is not surprising, therefore, that it is attributed to the creation of a special kind of songs, a gamelion. They performed them only during the wedding ceremony. A lavish celebration in Greece has never been without music and singing. Muse Erato, invisibly present during the first encounters and fervent confessions, accompanies the groom and the bride, decorating the wedding with singing and playing on cithara. True, only if the celebration is the result of mutual attraction and love, not calculation.

Purity and inspiration

As already mentioned, Erato's muse did not like those,who in the feelings, poetry and marriage sought only benefit. The ancient Greeks associated it with purity, including thoughts and spirit. Erato was often portrayed in white translucent clothes. Her head was decorated with roses. The Greeks believed that the muse of Erato is able to give the ability to see beauty in everything, transform the space around him, spiritualize it and fill it with joy. Such a state is familiar to all lovers: every object and person becomes, as it were, glowing from within, a warm uncontrollable flow pours from the heart and wants to create. Such a state fills Erato, the muse of love songs. It helps to heal the wounds of the soul and heart, transforms the world around beyond recognition, filling it with a holiday and bright colors. Erato grants the ability to speak from the heart with feeling and heartfelt, rather than digging feverishly in the head in search of another word. We can say that the muse of wedding songs teaches love as a way of being, poetry - as a method of expressing thoughts, inspiration - as an inexhaustible source of ideas.

All the ancient Greek myths tell ofinterpenetration of the divine and terrestrial worlds. Muses are a kind of connecting link in this process. They give ordinary people particles of divine power, help them to create on a par with immortal Olympians. If you remember what Erato Muse is responsible for and try to experience this state of "love of inspiration", then his closeness to the divine, that is, standing above the ordinary, immeasurable in depth and transforming power, becomes more than obvious.

Today, all nine of the companions of Apollo are daughtersZeus and Mnemosyns, we are well acquainted with the vast number of paintings and sculptures depicting them. Muses and in our days poets, artists and other masters do not hesitate to dedicate their works. Of course, they are attracted by the colorfulness of the image, and perhaps they hope that in today's world it is useful to enlist the support of such ancient and beautiful goddesses.