Calliope

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For the musical instrument, see Calliope (music). For other uses, see Calliope (disambiguation).

Detail of painting The Muses Urania and Calliope by Simon Vouet, in which she is supposedly holding a copy of The Odyssey

In Greek mythology, Calliope (Kaliope or Kalliope) (Greek: Καλλιόπη, beautiful-voiced) was the muse of epic poetry, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and is now best known as Homer's muse, the inspiration for The Iliad and The Odyssey.

She had two sons, Orpheus and Linus by either Apollo or the Thracian king Oeagrus. She was the oldest and wisest of the Muses, as well as the most assertive. She was the judge in the argument over Adonis between Aphrodite and Persephone, giving each equal time with him. She was represented by a stylus and wax tablets.

She is always seen with a writing tablet in her hand, and sometimes carries a roll of paper or a book or wears a gold crown.

[edit] Calliope in fiction

Calliope is a character in the graphic novel Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. Her story is in the collection Dream Country. According to the comic's canon, Morpheus was actually Calliope's lover and the father of Orpheus. In another deviation from the traditional myths, Calliope is stated as being the youngest of the nine muses, rather than the eldest.

The author Nick Sagan, son of famous author Carl Sagan, also makes reference to Calliope in his debut novel, Idlewild. In his book the main character, Halloween, suffers amnesia after a power surge, referred to as the Calliope Surge. The author also makes reference to Calliope being the daughter of Mnemosyne, the personification of memory.

In Jeffrey Eugenides' novel Middlesex the narrator, a hermaphrodite, is named Calliope, is shortened to Cal after adolescence to denote the change in sex.