MNEMOSYNE

Today I was in a paper store called Note Bene, on Park Avenue. There was a lot of choice. My friend was admiring the pens, but I liked seeing notebooks from France (Clairefontaine), Germany (Leuchtsturm) and Moleskin. I saw a series of notebooks called Mnemosyne, and found myself googling the name that was so familiar, and likely a root to mnemonic.

Mnemosyne was the mother of the 9 muses with Zeus (his dwelling place is Mount Parnassus). She was the Titan goddess of memory and remembrance. She and Zeus created the goddesses of arts, literature and science. Each had a domaine, and are identifiable by their attributes seen in paintings and sculptures from the second to the twentieth century.

In alphabetical order, the nine muses (all minor goddesses) and their domains and attributes, in Greek mythology were:

Calliope (the superior muse, inspiring Homer to write the Iliad and the Odyssey- Epic Poetry, rhetoric, music, writing - Writing Tablet, also laurels in one hand and two Homeric poems in the other
Clio - History - Scrolls, also book in left hand and clarion (trumpet) in her right
Erato - Lyric (love) Poetry - Cithara (Lyre family) and love arrows with bow.
Euterpe - Song and elegiac (death, love and war) poetry - Aulos (flute-like)
Melpomene - Tragedy - Tragic Mask
Polyhymnia - Hymns, Geometry, Grammar - Veil, looks to the heavens
Terpsichore - Dance, Harp, Education - Lyre, wreath of laurels on her head, dances
Thalia - Comedy - Comic Mask
Urania - Astronomy -  Compass, Stars, Celestial Sphere


Pope Julius II commissioned four frescoes to represent the four areas of human knowledge for the Palace of the Vatican. Parnassus, with Apollo, the nine muses, and 18 poets, represent Poetry. The other three frescoes represent philosophy, religion and law.