thumb|349x349px|Print of Clio, made in the 16th–17th century. Preserved at the [[Ghent University Library.]]

In Greek mythology, Clio ( , ; ), also spelled Kleio, Cleio, or Cleo, is the muse of history,

Etymology

Clio's name is derived from the Greek root κλέω/κλείω (meaning "to recount", "to make famous" or "to celebrate"). The name's traditional Latinisation is Clio, but some modern systems such as the American Library Association-Library of Congress system use K to represent the original Greek kappa, and ei to represent the diphthong ει (epsilon iota), thus Kleio.

Depiction

Clio, sometimes referred to as "the Proclaimer", is often represented with an open parchment scroll, a book, or a set of tablets. She is also shown with the heroic trumpet and the clepsydra (water clock). Cesare Ripa's Iconologia, an important source book for artists of the Baroque period, stated that Clio should be depicted with a crown of laurels, a trumpet and an open book.

Mythology

Like all the muses, Clio is a daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. Along with her sister Muses, she is considered to dwell at either Mount Helicon or Mount Parnassos. Other common locations for the Muses are Pieria in Thessaly, near to Mount Olympus. progenitor of the people of Amyclae, dwellers about Sparta. In a scholium to Euripides' Rhesus, she is also the mother of Hymenaeus and Rhesus. According to Apollodorus, Clio was made to fall in love with Pierus by Aphrodite, for Clio had derided her for her love affair with Adonis. Other accounts credit her as the mother of Linus by Magnes, a poet who was buried at Argos, although Linus has a number of differing parents depending upon the account, including several accounts in which he is the son of Clio's sisters Urania or Calliope.

Legacy

In her capacity as "the proclaimer, glorifier and celebrator of history, great deeds and accomplishments" Clio is used in the name of various modern brands, including the Clio Awards for excellence in advertising.

The Cambridge University History Society is informally referred to as Clio; the Cleo of Alpha Chi society at Trinity College, Connecticut, is named after the muse. Likewise, the undergraduate student outreach group for the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania is known as the Clio Society, and the first sorority founded at SUNY Geneseo, Phi Kappa Pi, began as the Alpha Clionian literary society. "Clio" also represents history in some coined words in academic usage: cliometrics, cliodynamics.

Clio Bay in Antarctica is named after the muse, as is the city of Clio, Michigan.

<gallery widths="160" heights="200" mode="packed">

File:Statue of Clio in Berlin.jpg|Statue of Clio by Albert Wolff in Berlin

File:Moreelse Clio - muse of history.jpg|Clio, Muse of History by Johannes Moreelse

File:Gentileschi, Artemisia - Clio - 1632.jpg|Clio, the Muse of History (1632) by Artemisia Gentileschi.

File:Pierre Mignard - Clio - WGA15654.jpg|The Muse Clio (c. 1689) by Pierre Mignard

File:Christian Bernhard Rode - Die Muse Klio.jpg|The Muse Clio by Bernhard Rode

File:Charles Meynier - Clio, Muse of History - 2003.6.5 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tiff|Clio, Muse of History (1800) by Charles Meynier

File:Car of history.jpg|Car of History, a chariot clock depicting Clio, by Carlo Franzoni, 1819, in National Statuary Hall

File:HC Lea grave LH Philly.jpg|Sculpture of Clio by Alexander Stirling Calder on the tomb of historian Henry Charles Lea

</gallery>

See also

  • Muses in popular culture

Notes

References

  • Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
  • Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 3, Cat-Cyp, editors: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2003. . Online version at Brill.
  • Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
  • Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

Further reading

  • Bartelink, Dr. G. J. M. (1988). Prisma van de mythologie. Utrecht: Het Spectrum.
  • van Aken, Dr. A. R. A. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • Warburg Institute Iconographic Database
  • KLEIO from The Theoi Project