Erato

{{Short description|Muse of erotic and lyric poetry in Greek mythology}} {{Other uses|Erato (mythology)|Erato Records|Erato (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox deity | type = Greek | name = Erato | image = Erato monte calvo.jpg | caption = Roman statue of Erato (2nd century AD), playing the kithara or lyre | god_of = Goddess of erotic and lyrical poetry | symbols = Lyre, kithara | member_of = the Muses | abode = Mount Olympus | parents = Zeus and Mnemosyne | siblings = Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Urania, Clio, Calliope, Thalia, Terpsichore, Melpomene and several paternal half-siblings | consort = Malus (Μάλος) | children = Cleophema }} [[File:Palestra grande di pompei, affreschi di Moregine, primo triclinio , IV stile, epoca neroniana, le muse 04 erato.jpg|thumb|right|Erato on an antique fresco from Pompeii]] In Greek mythology, '''Erato''' ({{IPAc-en|'|Er|@|t|oU}}; {{langx|grc|Ἐρατώ}}) is one of the Muses, associated with erotic lyric poetry.<ref>Bloch, para. 1.</ref> 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''.<ref>Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica'' [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/830/830-h/830-h.htm#2H_4_0005 3.1–5]</ref>

== 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 myrtle and roses, holding a lyre, or a small kithara, a musical instrument often associated with Apollo.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Cartwright|first1=Mark|title=Kithara|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Kithara/|access-date=15 April 2016|encyclopedia=World History Encyclopedia|date=24 June 2012}}</ref> 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 Titaness Mnemosyne, and the sister to Calliope, Clio, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia and Urania.<ref>Hesiod, ''Theogony'' 53 ff., 78, 915 ff.; Apollodorus, 1.3.1; Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca historica'' 4.7.1</ref>

Her father gave Erato to Malus (eponym of Malea), as a bride and by him became the mother of Cleophema who bore Aegle (Coronis) by Phlegyas.<ref name="Isyllus, Hymn to Asclepius">Isyllus, ''Hymn to Asclepius'' [http://www.attalus.org/poetry/paeans.html#F 128.37 ff.]</ref>

== Development == [[File:erato.jpg|thumb|left|''Erato'' by Simon Vouet]] Erato was named with the other muses in Hesiod's ''Theogony''. She was also invoked at the beginning of a lost poem, ''Rhadine'' ({{lang|grc|Ῥαδινή}}), that was referred to and briefly quoted by Strabo.<ref>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.</ref> 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<ref>Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio'' 7.5.13</ref> and Erato has linked again with love in Plato's ''Phaedrus'';<ref>Plato, ''Phaedrus'' 259</ref> 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.<ref>Richard Hunter, editor. ''Jason and the Golden Fleece'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), p. 66 note.</ref>

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== * Muses in popular culture

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

== References == * 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. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version] and [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text] at the Perseus Digital Library. *Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica''. Translated by Robert Cooper Seaton. R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 1. London: William Heinemann. 1912. [https://topostext.org/work/126 Online version at the Topos Text Project]. * Apollonius Rhodius ''Argonautica''. George W. Mooney, ed. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0227 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library]. * 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. {{ISBN|9004122680}}. * 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. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html 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. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0540 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library]. * 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. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version] and [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0129 Greek text] at the Perseus Digital Library. *Pausanias. ''Description of Greece''. English translation by W. H. S. Jones. 4 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' 3 vols. Leipzig: Teubner. 1903. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Strabo, ''The Geography of Strabo.'' Edition by H. L. Jones. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann. 1924. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. * Strabo, ''Geographica'', translated and edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0197 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

== Further reading ==

* Van Aken, A. R. A. (1961). {{lang|nl|Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie}}. Amsterdam: Elsevier. * Bartelink, G. J. M. (1988). {{lang|nl|Prisma van de mythologie}}. Utrecht: Het Spectrum. * Cooper, J. C., ed. (1997). ''Brewer's Book of Myth and Legend''. Oxford: Helicon. * Lurker, Manfred (2004). ''Routledge Dictionary of Gods and Demons''. London: Routledge.

==External links== {{Commons category|Erato}} * [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-007210 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database]

Category:Muses (mythology) Category:Ancient Greek poetry Category:Ancient Greek erotic literature Category:Daughters of Zeus Category:Metamorphoses characters