View source for Calliope

{{Short description|Muse of epic poetry}}
{{about|the muse|the steam instrument|Calliope (instrument)|other uses}}
{{Infobox deity
|type = Greek
|name = Calliope
|image = Calliope.jpg
|caption = Detail of painting ''The Muses Urania and Calliope'' by [[Simon Vouet]], in which she holds a copy of the ''[[Odyssey]]''
|god_of = Goddess of Epic Poetry
|symbols = Lyre
|member_of = the [[Muses]]
|abode = [[Mount Olympus]]
|parents = [[Zeus]] and [[Mnemosyne]]
|siblings = [[Euterpe]], [[Polyhymnia]], [[Urania]], [[Clio]], [[Erato]], [[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]], [[Terpsichore]], [[Melpomene]] and [[Zeus#Offspring|several paternal half-siblings]]
|consort = [[Apollo]], [[Oeagrus]], [[Zeus]]
|children = [[Orpheus]], [[Linus of Thrace|Linus]], the [[Corybantes]]
}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Calliope''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|l|aɪ|.|ə|p|i}} {{respell|kə|LY|ə|pee}}; {{langx|grc|Καλλιόπη|Kalliópē|beautiful-voiced}}) is the [[Muse]] who presides over [[eloquence]] and [[epic poetry]], so called from the [[ecstatic]] [[harmony]] of her voice. [[Hesiod]] and [[Ovid]] called her the "Chief of all Muses".<ref>[[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). Neither Kirk nor Leaf makes such a claim in their commentaries on the ''Iliad''. They simply say that she is "the Muse" (Μοῦσα). Kirk does say that it was conventional for Muses to invoked at the beginning of oral poems, since the process of the oral tradition was for the Muse to "sing" through the singer. See G. S. Kirk, ed., ''Books 1–4'', vol. I in ''The Iliad: A Commentary'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 51; and Walter Leaf, ed., ''Books I–XII'', vol. I of ''The Iliad''. 2nd ed. (London: Macmillan, 1900), p. 3.</ref>
[[File:Fresco of the muse Calliope, from the Villa Moregine.jpg|thumb|[[Fresco]] of Calliope, muse of epic poetry, from the Villa Moregine, western triclinium A]]

==Mythology==
Calliope had two famous sons, [[Orpheus]]<ref name="H&E">Hoopes And Evslin,''The Greek Gods''. {{ISBN|0-590-44110-8}}, {{ISBN|0-590-44110-8}}, 1995, page 77. "His father was a Thracian king; his mother the muse Calliope. For a while, he lived on Parnassus with his mother and his eight beautiful aunts and there met Apollo who was courting the laughing muse Thalia. Apollo was taken with Orpheus, gave him his little golden lyre, and taught him to play. And his mother taught him to make verses for singing."</ref> and [[Linus of Thrace|Linus]],<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''Bibliotheca'' 2.4.9: "This Linus was a brother of Orpheus; he came to Thebes and became a Theban."</ref> by either [[Apollo]] or King [[Oeagrus]] of [[Thrace]]. She taught Orpheus verses for singing.<ref name="H&E"/> 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]].<ref>[[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."</ref> She is said to have defeated the daughters of [[Pierus (king of Macedonia)|Pierus]], king of Thessaly, in a singing match, and then, to punish their presumption, turned them into [[magpies]].<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/141#5.294 5.294–340], [https://topostext.org/work/141#5.662 662–678]</ref>

In some accounts, Calliope is the mother of the [[Korybantes|Corybantes]] by her father Zeus.<ref>[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/144#10.3.19 10.3.19]</ref> Phrontis, thought by [[Daniel Albert Wyttenbach]] to be the mother of [[Lysis of Taras|Lysis]], is also described as Calliope's daughter according to [[Plutarch]]'s ''[[Moralia]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Plutarch |year=1927 |title=Plutarch's Moralia |url=https://archive.org/details/plutarchsmoralia10plut_0/page/368/mode/2up?q=calliope |website=The Internet Archive |publisher=Cambridge University Press; Harvard University Press |pages=368–369}}</ref>

She was sometimes believed to be [[Homer]]'s muse for the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Nagy|first=Gregory|date=2018-08-16|title=A re-invocation of the Muse for the Homeric Iliad|url=https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/a-re-invocation-of-the-muse-for-the-homeric-iliad/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-18|website=Classical Inquiries|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430172423/https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/a-re-invocation-of-the-muse-for-the-homeric-iliad/ |archive-date=2019-04-30 }}</ref> The Roman epic poet [[Virgil]] invokes her in the ''[[Aeneid]]'' ("Aid, O Calliope, the martial song!").<ref>Virgil, ''Aeneid'' 9.525</ref> In some cases, she is said to be the mother of [[Siren (mythology)|Sirens]] by the [[River gods (Greek mythology)|river-god]] [[Achelous]].<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid'' 5.864</ref> Another account adds that Calliope bore [[Rhesus of Thrace|Rhesus]] to the river-god [[Strymon (mythology)|Strymon]].<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[Rhesus (play)|Rhesus]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/50#342 347]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://topostext.org/work/150#1.3.4 1.3.4]</ref>

==Depictions==
[[File:Calliope, muse de l'éloquence et de la poésie épique.jpg|thumb|''Calliope, muse de l'éloquence et de la poésie épique (Calliope, muse of eloquence and epic poetry)'']]

Calliope is usually shown with a writing tablet in her hand. At times, she is depicted carrying a roll of paper or a book, or wearing a gold crown. She is also depicted with her children.

The Italian poet [[Dante Alighieri]], in his ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', refers to Calliope:
{{poemquote|Here rise to life again, dead poetry!
Let it, O holy Muses, for I am yours,
And here Calliope, strike a higher key,
Accompanying my song with that sweet air
which made the wretched Magpies feel a blow
that turned all hope of pardon to despair|Dante, trans. Esolen,<ref>{{cite web | title=The Unsheathing of Dante | url=https://www.dappledthings.org/deep-down-things/7323/the-unsheathing-of-dante }}</ref> "Purgatorio", Canto I, lines 7 to 12}}

==Honours==
[[Calliope Beach]] in [[Antarctica]] is named after the muse, as is the [[calliope hummingbird]] of North and Central America, and the [[calliope (music)|calliope]] steam organ. Calliope Saddle is part of the Thisbe Valley Track in the Catlins Forest, South Otago, NZ. The Queensland town of Calliope is another location named after the muse, and is located in central Queensland.

==See also==
* [[Muses in popular culture]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|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].
*[[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'' translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. [https://topostext.org/work/126 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica''. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0227 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[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].
*[[Plutarch]] (1927). "Plutarch's Moralia". ''The Internet Archive''. Cambridge University Press; Harvard University Press. pp.&nbsp;368–369.<ref name=":0" />
* [[Ovid|Publius Ovidius Naso]], ''Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Virgil|Publius Vergilius Maro]], ''Aeneid.'' Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Publius Vergilius Maro, ''Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics''. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*[[Strabo]], ''The Geography of Strabo.'' Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Strabo, ''Geographica'' edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0197 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.]

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Calliope}}
* [https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaKalliope.html CALLIOPE in The Theoi Project]
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-008319 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database]

{{Muses}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ancient Greek epic poetry]]
[[Category:Daughters of Zeus]]
[[Category:Muses (mythology)]]
[[Category:Female lovers of Apollo]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Divine women of Zeus]]
[[Category:Greek mythology of Thrace]]