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{{Short description|Muse of tragedy in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox deity
|type = Greek
|name = Melpomene
|image = Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek - Melpomene.jpg
|caption = Roman statue of Melpomene, 2nd century AD. The muse is shown in a long-sleeved garment with a high belt, clothing that was associated with tragic actors. Her wreath of vines and grapes alludes to [[Dionysus]], the god of the theatre
|god_of = Goddess of Tragedy and Chorus
|symbols = Tragic mask
|member_of = the [[Muses]]
|abode = [[Mount Olympus]]
|parents = [[Zeus]] and [[Mnemosyne]]
|siblings = [[Euterpe]], [[Polyhymnia]], [[Urania]], [[Clio]], [[Erato]], [[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]], [[Terpsichore]], [[Calliope]] and [[Zeus#Offspring|several paternal half-siblings]]
|consort = [[Achelous]]
|children = the [[Siren (mythology)|Sirens]]
}}
[[File:Melpomene (by Joseph Fagnani).jpg|thumb|''Melpomene'' by [[Joseph Fagnani]] (1869)]]
'''Melpomene''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ɛ|l|ˈ|p|ɒ|m|ᵻ|n|iː}}; {{langx|grc|[[wikt:Μελπομένη#Ancient Greek|Μελπομένη]]|Melpoménē|to sing' or 'the one that is melodious}}) is the [[Muse]] of [[tragedy]] in [[Greek mythology]]. She is described as the daughter of [[Zeus]] and [[Mnemosyne]] (and therefore of power and memory) along with the other Muses, and she is often portrayed with a tragic [[theatrical mask]].

== Etymology ==
Melpomene's name (implying the meaning "Songstress"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shipley |first1=Joseph Twadell |author-link1=Joseph Twadell Shipley |date=1 July 2001 |orig-date=1984 |chapter=mei IV |title=The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of Indo-European Roots |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zCx4r72uVKQC |location=Baltimore, Maryland |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=9780801896439 |access-date=2 May 2024 |quote='''mei IV''': limb; then musical section; hence song. Gk ''melos''. ''melodeon'', ''melodious'', ''melody'', etc. ''melisma''. ''dulcimer'', ''melodrama'', originally with music. ''Melpomene'': songstress; Muse of tragedy, which in ancient Greece was sung.}}</ref>) is derived by etymologists from the Ancient Greek verb {{linktext|μέλπω}} (''melpô'') or from its inflexion μέλπομαι (''melpomai'') meaning "to celebrate with dance and song".<ref>Compare: {{cite book |last1= Brewer |first1=Ebenezer Cobham |author-link1=E. Cobham Brewer |title=Etymological and Pronouncing Dictionary of Difficult Words |year=1882 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0HYCAAAAQAAJ |location=London |publisher=Ward, Lock, & Co. |page=645 |access-date=12 May 2022 |quote= melpo, to sing }}</ref> The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' cites μέλπειν (''melpein'' – to sing).<ref>
{{oed | melpomenish}} – "< μέλπειν to sing, of unknown origin".</ref>

== Myth ==
Melpomene is one of the nine [[Muses]], the Muse of tragedy.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Atsma |first=Aaron J. |title=Melpomene |url=https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaMelpomene.html |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=[[Theoi Project]]}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=McPherson |first=Heather |date=2000 |title=Picturing Tragedy: Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse Revisited |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30053950 |journal=Eighteenth-Century Studies |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=401–430 |doi=10.1353/ecs.2000.0029 |jstor=30053950 |issn=0013-2586|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Hesiod]], [[Pseudo-Apollodorus|Apollodorus]], and [[Diodorus Siculus]] all held that Melpomene was the daughter of [[Zeus]] and [[Mnemosyne]]. She was the sister of the other Muses, [[Calliope]], [[Clio]], [[Erato]], [[Euterpe]], [[Polyhymnia]], [[Terpsichore]], [[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]], and [[Urania]].<ref name=":1" /> Apollodorus, [[Lycophron]], and [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]] said that Melpomene was the mother of the [[Siren (mythology)|sirens]],<ref name=":1" /> though some ancient writers identified this role with other figures.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Atsma |first=Aaron J. |title=Sirens (Seirenes) |url=https://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Seirenes.html |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=[[Theoi Project]]}}</ref>

Melpomene is described as singing songs of mourning for people of note after they die, particularly for poets.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Coulter |first1=Charles Russell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sEIngqiKOugC |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities |last2=Turner |first2=Patricia |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-135-96390-3 |pages=317}}</ref>

== Iconography and depiction ==
[[File:Palestra grande di pompei, affreschi di Moregine, primo triclinio , IV stile, epoca neroniana, le muse 08 melpomene.jpg|thumb|Melpomene on an antique fresco from [[Pompeii]]]]
Depictions of Melpomene may include a [[Comedy and tragedy masks|tragic mask]], [[buskin]]s, lyres, scrolls, and a crown of leaves.<ref name=":0" /> She may also be shown with a dagger and a cup. Satirist [[Anthony Pasquin]] described Melpomene as "murder-loving".<ref name=":02"/>

The iconographer [[Cesare Ripa]] described Melpomene in his ''Iconologia''. An English edition describes her as "a gentlewoman all in mourning; she holds a bloody dagger in her right hand; behind her, upon the ground, a garment of cloth of gold, and diverse precious jewels; shod with ''[[cothurni]]''". Another describes her as being "of a grave aspect, in a heroic dress, with her head finely attired; she holds a cup in one hand, and a dagger in the other, with a crown and scepter at her feet; she is shod in buskins, which were used by the ancient tragedians. The grave aspect and heroic dress denote that tragedy is a representation of famous deeds and of history".<ref name=":02"/>

== Invocation and use ==

=== Literature ===
In Greek and Latin poetry since [[Horace]] (d. 8 BC), it was commonly auspicious to invoke Melpomene.<ref>Bruce Merry, ''Encyclopedia of Modern Greek Literature'' (Santa Barbara CA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), 269-70. {{ISBN|0313308136}}</ref> Horace invokes Melpomene in Ode 3.30, when he describes his poetry as a monument as great as any king's tomb. The poet asks Melpomene to crown him with a [[laurel wreath]] and make him a [[poet laureate]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardie |first=Philip Russell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6LfQEAAAQBAJ |title=Selected Papers on Ancient Literature and its Reception |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |year=2023 |isbn=978-3-11-079885-2 |page=616}}</ref>

=== Visual art ===
The oldest surviving portrait of [[Virgil]], a mosaic dated to the first century, features Virgil between Melpomene and [[Clio]], the muse of history. Theologian Louis A. Ruprecht interpreted this as a commentary on the similarities of recording history and writing fictional works of tragedy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ruprecht |first=Louis A. |date=1997 |title=Clio and Melpomene: In Defense of the Historical Novel |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41299101 |journal=Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=389–390 |jstor=41299101 |issn=0315-7997}}</ref>

The 2018 excavation of a [[Ancient Roman bathing|Roman bathhouse]] in [[Decapolis]] uncovered six mostly preserved statues of the Muses. The statue of Melpomene was 62 centimeters tall and made of [[Pentelic marble]]. Its head was lost, but it was identifiable by the drama mask lying on its thigh.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Al-Bashaireh |first1=Khaled |last2=Weber-Karyotakis |first2=Thomas M. |date=2021 |title=The muses and other statues of the Eastern Roman Baths of Gerasa, Jordan (2018 Campaign): Form and provenance |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352409X21000742 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |volume=36 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.102862|bibcode=2021JArSR..36j2862A |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The tragic actress [[Sarah Siddons]] posed for several paintings depicted as Melpomene in the 1780s and 1790s. The 1784 [[Joshua Reynolds]] painting ''[[Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse]]'' is recognized as a high point in the careers of both Siddons and Reynolds.<ref name=":02"/>

=== Science ===
The minor planet [[18 Melpomene]] was named after the muse by the British [[Astronomer Royal]] in 1852, [[George Biddell Airy]]. He chose a name representing tragedy because his daughter, Elizabeth, had died on the day it was discovered, which was also the thirteenth anniversary of an earlier son's death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schmadel |first=Lutz |url=https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7 |title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2003 |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3 |page=17|doi=10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Muses in popular culture]]
* ''[[The Nine Muses]]''

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* [[John Tzetzes]], ''Book of Histories,'' Book I translated by Ana Untila from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html Online version at theio.com]

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Melpomene}}
*[http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/MousaMelpomene.html Primary sources and basic information concerning Melpomene]
*[https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-7254 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database]

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

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Muses (mythology)]]
[[Category:Daughters of Zeus]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek theatre]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Tragedy]]