Thalia (Muse)

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

Roman statue of Thalia from Hadrian's Villa, nowadays at the Prado Museum (Madrid)

Muse of comedy and idyllic poetry, Jean-Marc Nattier

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. 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. Other ancient sources, however, gave the Corybantes different parents.

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

Main article: Muses 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.

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 Thalia at Wikimedia Commons

• Theoi.com - Thaleia
• Facebook Page for Thalia