Calliope

Calliope (Ancient Greek: Καλλιόπη, romanized: Kalliópē, lit. 'beautiful-voiced') is one of the Nine Muses of Olympus in Greek mythology. She is the eldest of the nine sisters and is usually assigned to the artistic sphere of epic poetry and eloquence. She is usually portrayed with a scroll or tablet, and a stylus. By Apollo, she was the mother of the Apollonic Muses. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muses".^[1]

Many scholars write of her as having a voice that spreads "ecstatic harmony".

Mythology[]

Calliope was said to be the wisest of all of the Muses. The Muse bore two well-known sons, Orpheus and Linos.

Calliope had two famous sons, Orpheus by either Apollo^[2] or King Oeagrus of Thrace^[3] and Linus.^[4] She taught Orpheus verses for singing. According to Hesiod, she was also the wisest of the Muses, as well as the most assertive. Calliope married Oeagrus in Pimpleia, a town near Mount Olympus.^[5] She is said to have defeated the daughters of Pierus, king of Thessaly, in a singing match, and then, to punish their presumption, turned them into magpies.^[6]

In some accounts, Calliope is the mother of the Corybantes by Zeus.^[7] Phrontis, the mother of Lysis, is also described as Calliope's daughter according to Plutarch's Moralia.^[8] In Pindar's Thremoi (Dirges), which fragments of it survive has an account that said Ialmenus is the son of Calliope and Apollo,^[9]^[10]

The Roman epic poet Virgil invokes her in the Aeneid ("Aid, O Calliope, the martial song!").^[11] In some cases, she is said to be the mother of Sirens by the river-god Achelous.^[12] Another account adds that Calliope bore Rhesus to the river-god Strymon.^[13]

Modern depictions[]

She was depicted in the Disney animation film, Hercules, as the main narrator, along with four of her sisters.

Gallery[]

Classical depictions[]

Paintings[]

Statues[]

Drawings[]

Vases (images from Theoi)[]

Metalwork[]

Modern Depictions[]

References[]

↑ Hesiod, Theogony 79–80: This belief in the goddess's identity, however, really cannot be proved from the text of the Iliad, because there is no evidence as to the referent of θεά (goddess).
↑ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.15
↑ Terpander Frag 15, Timotheus Frag 791, Pausanias 9.30.1, Philostratus Younger 11, Callistratus 7
↑ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.4.9: "This Linus was a brother of Orpheus; he came to Thebes and became a Theban."
↑ Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.2.23–34: "First then let us name Orpheus whom once Calliope bare, it is said, wedded to Thracian Oeagrus, near the Pimpleian height. Men say that he by the music of his songs charmed the stubborn rocks upon the mountains and the course of rivers. And the wild oak-trees to this day, tokens of that magic strain, that grow at Zone on the Thracian shore, stand in ordered ranks close together, the same which under the charm of his lyre he led down from Pieria."
↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.294–340, 662–678
↑ Strabo, Geographica 10.3.19
↑ Plutarch (1927). "Plutarch's Moralia". The Internet Archive. Cambridge University Press; Harvard University Press. pp. 368–369.
↑ Pindar, Dirges Fragment 139: "But in another song did three goddesses (Muses) lull to rest the bodies of their sons . . . the third [Kalliope] sorrowed over Ialmenos, when his strength was stayed by the onset of a raging malady. But the son of Oiagros, Orpheus of the golden sword."
↑ Pindar, Threnoi 3: The opening is in the form of a priamel, culminating in the dirges sung for Calliope’s sons, Linus, Hymenaeus, Ialemus, and evidently for Orpheus as well. 128c Scholion on Euripides, Rhesus 895. “. . . the lament was named before in honor of Ialemus, the son of Apollo and Calliope, as Pindar says (vv. 1–11).”
↑ Virgil, Aeneid 9.525
↑ Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 5.864
↑ Euripides, Rhesus 347; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.3.4

Navigation[]

[1] Hesiod, Theogony 79–80: This belief in the goddess's identity, however, really cannot be proved from the text of the Iliad, because there is no evidence as to the referent of θεά (goddess).

[2] Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.15

[3] Terpander Frag 15, Timotheus Frag 791, Pausanias 9.30.1, Philostratus Younger 11, Callistratus 7

[4] Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.4.9: "This Linus was a brother of Orpheus; he came to Thebes and became a Theban."

[5] Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 1.2.23–34: "First then let us name Orpheus whom once Calliope bare, it is said, wedded to Thracian Oeagrus, near the Pimpleian height. Men say that he by the music of his songs charmed the stubborn rocks upon the mountains and the course of rivers. And the wild oak-trees to this day, tokens of that magic strain, that grow at Zone on the Thracian shore, stand in ordered ranks close together, the same which under the charm of his lyre he led down from Pieria."

[6] Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.294–340, 662–678

[7] Strabo, Geographica 10.3.19

[8] Plutarch (1927). "Plutarch's Moralia". The Internet Archive. Cambridge University Press; Harvard University Press. pp. 368–369.

[9] Pindar, Dirges Fragment 139: "But in another song did three goddesses (Muses) lull to rest the bodies of their sons . . . the third [Kalliope] sorrowed over Ialmenos, when his strength was stayed by the onset of a raging malady. But the son of Oiagros, Orpheus of the golden sword."

[10] Pindar, Threnoi 3: The opening is in the form of a priamel, culminating in the dirges sung for Calliope’s sons, Linus, Hymenaeus, Ialemus, and evidently for Orpheus as well. 128c Scholion on Euripides, Rhesus 895. “. . . the lament was named before in honor of Ialemus, the son of Apollo and Calliope, as Pindar says (vv. 1–11).”

[11] Virgil, Aeneid 9.525

[12] Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 5.864

[13] Euripides, Rhesus 347; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.3.4

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

Muses
Mousai Titanides	Aiode • Melete • Thelxinoe • Arkhe • Mnemosyne
Mousai Olympides	Calliope • Clio • Erato • Euterpe • Melpomene • Terpsichore • Urania • Polyhymnia • Thalia
Mousai Apollonides	Cephiso • Borysthenis • Hypate • Nete • Mese