Thalia (Muse)

For one of the three Graces, see Thalia (grace). For other uses see Thalia (disambiguation).

Thalia  /θəˈlaɪə/ (Ancient Greek: Θάλεια, Θαλία; "the joyous, the flourishing", from Ancient Greek: θάλλειν, thállein; "to flourish, to be verdant") was the Muse who presided over comedy and idyllic poetry. In this context her name means "flourishing", because the praises in her songs flourish through time.^[1] She was the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the eighth-born of the nine Muses.

According to pseudo-Apollodorus, she and Apollo were the parents of the Corybantes.^[2] Other ancient sources, however, gave the Corybantes different parents.^[3]

She was portrayed as a young woman with a joyous air, crowned with ivy, wearing boots and holding a comic mask in her hand. Many of her statues also hold a bugle and a trumpet (both used to support the actors' voices in ancient comedy), or occasionally a shepherd’s staff or a wreath of ivy.

In popular culture

• Thalia was portrayed by Actress Penelope Lagos in the 2008 TV pilot "Muse" written by Rudy Cecera.
• Thalia was also the main character in Clea Hantman's "Goddesses" series.
• Thalia also appeared as the short, stout, clumsy Muse in the Walt Disney original movie Hercules
• The character of Thalia Grace in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series appears to be named after this muse.

Notes

References

• Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 9780631201021. "Thalia" 1. p. 442.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Thaleia" 1.

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Thalia Thalia] at Wikimedia Commons

• Theoi.com - Thaleia
• Facebook Page for Thalia