The muses were the goddesses of inspiration or knowledge—not only in the literary and poetic arts but in the sciences as well.

During the seventh century BCE, when The Iliad and The Odyssey were thought to have been composed, there were no written records of what actually happened. The Trojan War had taken place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BCE. How could one possibly describe past events when the players had not only perished, but there was no one alive with firsthand knowledge to relay what had actually happened? To some degree, oral traditions in the form of songs and poems handed down generation to generation filled that void, but they were obviously incomplete. The only ones who knew the full story were the immortal gods who had seen it, and so when an epic poem was being recited it was customary to invoke (call upon) the muse of epic poetry, Calliope, to fill in the blanks.

For instance, in book one of The Iliad, the opening sentence reads:

“Rage—Goddess, sing of the rage of Peleus’
son Achilles,
murderous, doomed, that cost the
Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so
many sturdy souls,
great fighters’ souls, but made their
bodies carrion,
feasts for the dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.
Begin, Muse … ”

The Odyssey begins similarly:

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the
man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course,
once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.”¹

There were nine muses, and their powers for inspiration were legendary. Even today, they influence us. It is from the ancient Greek word mousa (muse) that we get the word music. From their shrine called the mouseion, around which the great library of Alexandria was built, comes our word, museum. Originally, the words “library” and “museum” were synonymous.

Ideas are said to be like spirits. They enter the mind from out of nowhere and inspire those they visit. If one doesn’t act on such inspirations, they depart to seek another. It is these inspired visitations that the poets of old would call upon when they began to speak to their audiences.

Perhaps we should involve the muses as well. I know I do. Does it help, you may ask? For me, surprisingly, it does. Perhaps, it will be the same for you when you create. Try it and be inspired.

1. Robert Fagles’ translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey, 1990 and 1996 respectively.