One of a series greek deities of the fine arts and other intellectual pursuits. They are the daughters of zeus and mnemosyne (memory). There are traditionally nine of them, but their names and what they inspire varied in antiquity. The traditional list is calliope, the muse of heroic epic; clio, of history; euterpe, of the flute; terpsichore, of dance and lyric poetry; erato, of hymns; melpomene, of tragedy; thalia, of comedy; polyhymnia, of mime; and, urania, of astronomy. More generally from antiquity do we inherit the idea that the muses inspire the creative artist. Places were the muses were worshipped were called museums (from the greek mouseion). The most famous of these was the museum of alexandria – importantly distinct from that city's renowned library.