Between Tradition and Innovation: Genealogy, Names and the Number of the Muses

Abstract

This work forms part of a larger project attempting to describe the image, place, and function, as well as the methods of perception of the Muses in the antiquity. It should be stressed that those aspects of the Muses’ image in the Greek culture have been considered particularly worthy of analysis, which have been hitherto ignored or insufficiently highlighted in the research. Thus, among a number of issues under investigation there is for instance the question of the Muses’ place in the ancient Greek religion, the question of the Muses’ gender, or the problem of the relations between poetologische Bildersprache and the culture of a given period, including, among others, analyses of the scenes of poetic initiation. This study, however, is focused exclusively on the question of the genealogy, names, and number of the Muses. To date, this particular subject-matter has not been approached more comprehensively, while the existing analytical studies are either superficial or flawed with methodological shortcomings.