Mnemosyne

MnemossineBy Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

In Greek mythology, Mnemosyne or Mnemosyne (in ancient Greek, Μνημοσύνη Mnēmosýnē, from μνήμη mnếmē, 'memory'), was the personification of memory. This titan was the daughter of Gaia and Urano, and the mother of the muses with Zeus. In Hesiod's Theogony, kings and poets were given the power to speak with the authority of Mnemosyne (memory) through their special relationship with the muses. Zeus is said to have enjoyed from his aunt Mnemosyne in the hills of Pieria for nine consecutive nights, from which "nine like-minded young women, interested only in song" were born. At least one author says that in order to approach the Titaness, Zeus posed as shepherd. These nine sisters are called "Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polyhymnia, Urania and Calliope; this is the most important because it assists the venerable kings". daughter of Jupiter and Clymene.

Mnemosyne was also the name of a river in Hades, opposite Lethe, according to a series of Greek funerary inscriptions from the 4th century BC. C. written in dactylic hexameters. The souls of the dead drank from Lethe so that they could not remember their previous lives when they reincarnated. Initiates were encouraged to drink from the Mnemosyne River when they died, rather than Lethe. These inscriptions could be related to a secret mystery religion, or else to the poetry of Orpheus. Pausanias mentions a statue of Mnemosyne in Athens and also tells us that those who wished to consult the oracle of Trophonius in Boeotia were alternately made to drink from two sources called "Lete" and "Mnemosyne" (or Oblivion and Memory, demons by nature antagonistic). A similar procedure is described in the myth of Er at the end of The Republic, by Plato. Again Pausanias observed in his travels that in Athens the statues of Athena Paionia , Zeus, Mnemosyne, the Muses and Apollo were exhibited.

As Mneme (Μνημη), that is, the personification of Memory, she was one of the three muses that in early times were worshiped in Ascra in Boeotia, whose cult was started by the gigantic Aloadas. But there also seems to be a tradition that Mneme was the mother of the Muses, because Ovid calls them by the patronymic of Mnemonides; if it is not true that Mneme is an abbreviation of Mnemosyne. Thus Mnemea ("Memory"), like Musa Uránide (or ancient muse), formed a triad with Meletea ("Practice") and Aedea ("Song"), venerated in a cult of Apollo on Mount Helicon. Alcmán says that Memory has big eyes, because through it we can evoke the past. Diodorus Siculus, who was a historian, but not a poet, also subscribes that: "of the Titanides say that Mnemosyne discovered the uses of the power of reason, and that she gave a designation to each object that surrounds us by means of the names that we use to express what we want and to maintain a conversation with one. The goddess is also credited with the power to bring things to memory and remembrance (mneme ) possessed by men, and it is this power that gave her the name she received."

Offspring

With Zeus (son of Cronus):

• Calíope (Musea of Epic Poetry)
• Clío (Musea of History)
• Euterpe (music museum)
• It was (musea of lyric and erotic poetry)
• Melpomene (Musea of Tragedy)
• Polimnia (roric museum)
• Terpsícore (Musea of Dance)
• Talia (Musea of comedy)
• Urania (Musea of Astronomy)