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The Muses

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Muses in Greek mythology, goddesses who presided over the civilised arts and the life of the mind including poetry, song, music and dance.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Muses and their role in Greek mythology, when they were goddesses of poetry, song, music and dance: what the Greeks called mousike, 'the art of the Muses' from which we derive our word 'music.' While the number of Muses, their origin and their roles varied in different accounts and at different times, they were consistently linked with the nature of artistic inspiration. This raised a question for philosophers then and since: was a creative person an empty vessel into which the Muses poured their gifts, at their will, or could that person do something to make inspiration flow?

With

Paul Cartledge
Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge

Angie Hobbs
Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Sheffield

And

Penelope Murray
Founder member and retired Senior Lecturer, Department of Classics, University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Image: 'Apollo and the Muses (Parnassus)', 1631-1632. Oil on canvas. Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665).

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Thu 19 May 2016 21:30
大象传媒 Radio 4

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LINKS AND FURTHER READING

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READING LIST:

Kathleen Christian, Clare Guest and Claudia Wedepohl (eds.), The Muses and their Afterlife in Post-Classical Europe (Warburg Institute, 2014)

Pierre Destr茅e and Penelope Murray (eds.), A Companion to Ancient Aesthetics (Wiley Blackwell, 2015), especially 鈥楶oetic Inspiration鈥� by Penelope Murray

Hesiod (trans. M. L. West), Theogony (Penguin Classics, 2000), especially 1-115

Penelope Murray and Peter Wilson (eds.), Music and the Muses: The Culture of Mousike in the Classical Athenian City (Oxford University Press, 2004)

Homer (trans. E. V. Rieu), Iliad (Penguin Classics, 2014), especially 2.484-92

Homer (trans. E. V. Rieu), Odyssey (Penguin Classics, 2009), especially 8.62-4

Plato (trans. Chris Emlyn-Jones and Trevor Saunders), Early Socratic Dialogues (Penguin Classics, 2005), especially Ion

Plato (trans. C. J. Rowe), Phaedrus (Penguin Classics, 2005), especially 245a and 248d

Plato (trans. Trevor Saunders), Laws (Penguin Classics, 2005), especially 719c

Efrossini Spentzou and Don Fowler (eds.), Cultivating the Muse: Struggles for Power and Inspiration in Classical Literature (Oxford University Press, 2002)

Credits

Presenter Melvyn Bragg
Interviewed Guest Paul Cartledge
Interviewed Guest Angie Hobbs
Interviewed Guest Penelope Murray
Producer Simon Tillotson

Broadcasts

  • Thu 19 May 2016 09:00
    大象传媒 Radio 4
  • Thu 19 May 2016 21:30
    大象传媒 Radio 4

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    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.