The relation of the Muses in ancient Greece, especially during the archaic and the beginning of the classical period with which this paper is concerned, to the notion of memory is apparent first by their very name: the word mousa can be related to the verb mimnesko ("remind," "bring, put in mind").1 Around the seventh century B.C.E., in his poem entitled Theogony, Hesiod commemorates the birth of the Muses and identifies them as the daughters of the goddess Mnemosyne and Zeus (lines 53-65). Indeed, Memory is well known as the mother of the Muses. According to a passage in Plutarch, the Muses were also called Mneiai (Memories) in some places.2 And Pausanias tells us that the Muses were three in number and had the names of Melete (Practice), Mneme (Memory) and Aoide (Song).3 Each one, in other words, bore the name of an essential aspect of poetical function. As rhythmical song, the Muse is inseparable from poetic Memory and is necessary for the poet's inspiration as well as for his oral composition. From the perspective of our present argument, it is significant that Memory and the Muses are also closely connected with the notion of persuasion. 4Not
