REPRESENTATIONS OF THE CHORUS OF THE MUSES AND THE EVIDENCE OF THEIR MUSICALITY IN THE ICONOGRAPHY OF GREEK VASES

Abstract

The Muses are goddesses widely known for their relationship with the arts, the most characteristic of which is music – considering the etymological origin of the word. Literary descriptions of the Muses forming a choir accompanying the god Apollo are varied, beginning in the Hesiodic Theogony, in which their choral formation is presented. Among the characteristics associated with the choir of the Muses, harmony stands out, which can be understood from the musical to the metaphysical sphere. However, it is not only in literary records that this formation, as well as the relationship of the choir with Apollo, the god of music, can be verified. This work aims to observe the iconographic records of the choral formation of the Muses as iconographic characteristics of the goddesses themselves, seeking to identify in the images traits that reflect their musicality. Thus, the analysis that follows proposes not only to reflect on the elements that represent its harmony, but also possible notions of rhythm, an element so present in the choirs of Greek Antiquity, especially when we think of Greek theater from the 5th century BC.