Clio

Clío (detail) by Johannes Vermeer.

In Greek mythology, Clío (Κλειώ / Kleiô, from the root «κλέω» / «kleô», «to praise» or "sing") is the muse of history and epic poetry. Like all muses, she is the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Clio had a son with Piero, king of Macedonia, named Hyacinthus. Some sources claim that she was also the mother of Hymenaeus.

She is usually depicted as a girl crowned with laurels, holding a trumpet in her right hand and a book by Thucydides in her left. These attributes are sometimes joined by the globe on which she poses and Time appears next to it, to show that History encompasses all places and all times. Sometimes the statues of her carry a guitar in one hand and a plectrum in the other, as she was also considered the inventor of the guitar. In other much more classical representations, Clio is seen carrying a papyrus scroll in his left hand; at her feet, she has a box for storing scrolls.