In Greek mythology, Erato (; ) is one of the Muses, associated with erotic Greek lyric.[Bloch, para. 1.] The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully suggested in the invocation to Erato that begins Book III of his Argonautica.[Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1–5]
Function
Erato is the Muse of lyric poetry, particularly erotic poetry, and mimic imitation. In the Orphic hymn to the Muses, it is Erato who charms the sight. Since the
Renaissance she has mostly been shown with a wreath of
Myrtus communis and
, holding a
lyre, or a small
kithara, a musical instrument often associated with
Apollo.
In
Simon Vouet's representations, two turtle-doves are eating seeds at her feet. She is sometimes depicted holding a golden arrow, symbolizing "eros", the feeling she inspires in everybody; at times she is accompanied by
Eros, holding a torch.
Family
In Hesiod's genealogy, Erato is the daughter of
Zeus and the
Titans Mnemosyne, and the sister to
Calliope,
Clio,
Euterpe,
Melpomene,
Polyhymnia,
Terpsichore, Thalia and
Urania.
[Hesiod, Theogony 53 ff., 78, 915 ff.; Apollodorus, 1.3.1; Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 4.7.1]
Her father gave Erato to Malus (eponym of Cape Maleas), as a bride and by him became the mother of Cleophema who bore Aegle (Coronis) by Phlegyas.[Isyllus, Hymn to Asclepius 128.37 ff.]
Development
Erato was named with the other muses in
Hesiod's
Theogony. She was also invoked at the beginning of a lost poem,
Rhadine (Ῥαδινή), that was referred to and briefly quoted by
Strabo.
[In Geography 8.3.20; Strabo's attribution of the poem to Stesichorus was refuted by H. J. Rose, "Stesichoros and the Rhadine-Fragment", The Classical Quarterly 26.2 (April 1932), pp. 88–92.] The love story of
Rhadine made her supposed tomb on the island of
Samos a pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers in the time of Pausanias
[Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 7.5.13] and Erato has linked again with love in
Plato's
Phaedrus;
[Plato, Phaedrus 259] nevertheless, even in the third century BC, when Apollonius wrote, the Muses were not yet as inextricably linked to specific types of poetry as they became.
[Richard Hunter, editor. Jason and the Golden Fleece (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), p. 66 note.]
Erato is also invoked at the start of book 7 of Virgil's Aeneid, which marks the beginning of the second half or "Iliadic" section of the poem.
See also
Notes
-
Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library. Translated by Sir James George Frazer. 2 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version and Greek text at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. Translated by Robert Cooper Seaton. R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 1. London: William Heinemann. 1912. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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Apollonius Rhodius Argonautica. George W. Mooney, ed. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Bloch, René, "Erato (1)", in Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 5, Equ – Has, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Leiden, Brill, 2004. .
-
Diodorus Siculus. The Library of History. Translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. 12 vols. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's web site at the University of Chicago.
-
Diodorus Siculus. Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1–2. Immanel Bekker, Ludwig Dindorf and Friedrich Vogel, eds. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Hesiod. Theogony. In The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann. 1914. Online version and Greek text at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Pausanias. Description of Greece. English translation by W. H. S. Jones. 4 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig: Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H. L. Jones. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Strabo, Geographica, translated and edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Further reading
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Van Aken, A. R. A. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
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Bartelink, G. J. M. (1988). Prisma van de mythologie. Utrecht: Het Spectrum.
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Cooper, J. C., ed. (1997). Brewer's Book of Myth and Legend. Oxford: Helicon.
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Lurker, Manfred (2004). Routledge Dictionary of Gods and Demons. London: Routledge.
External links
