Muses- Roman GroupCollective"Goddesses of the Arts"

The Camenae

Before the Muses arrived from Greece, Rome had the Camenae. They were prophetic nymphs who lived in a grove near the Porta Capena, where a sacred spring fed into the valley. Varro records the site in his De Lingua Latina. King Numa Pompilius established the grove as part of his religious reforms, and the Vestal Virgins drew water from the Camenae's spring for their rites.

The Camenae sang, but they were creatures of prophecy and ritual, not of the full range of arts the Greek Muses governed. When Roman culture pulled the Muses into its pantheon, the Camenae gave them a home. Latin poets used the names interchangeably.

Ambracia

In 187 BCE, Marcus Fulvius Nobilior conquered the Aetolian city of Ambracia and carried statues of the nine Muses back to Rome. He built a temple in the Circus Flaminius and dedicated it to Hercules Musarum, Hercules of the Muses. The poet Ennius had accompanied Nobilior on the campaign, and he celebrated the dedication. A general and a poet, a strongman-god and nine goddesses of art, all under one roof.

The temple became the meeting place of the collegium poetarum, Rome's guild of poets. Virgil, a century and a half later, opened the Aeneid with "Musa, mihi causas memora," calling on one of the nine by the singular. Horace went further. In the Odes, he claims the Muses sheltered him as a child when a falling tree nearly killed him. They were his protectors, he said, not only his inspiration.

The Pierides

Ovid tells the one story where the Muses had to defend their own claim. Nine mortal sisters, daughters of Pierus, challenged them to a singing contest. Minerva visited the Muses on Mount Helicon to hear what had happened. The Muses told her: the Pierides sang, and they sang back. The nymphs judged. The Muses won.

The punishment was immediate. The Pierides opened their mouths to protest and heard themselves screaming. Feathers covered their arms. They became magpies, chattering birds that can mimic any sound but say nothing of their own.