A Muse Amuses -- Greek Mythology and Today

In Greek mythology, Erato (?????) is one of the Greek Muses. The name means "desired" or "lovely", being derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes alludes to in Book III of his ArgonauticaApollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, Book III ll 1-5, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/830/830-h/830-h.htm#2H_4_0005.

Erato is the Muse of lyric poetry, especially love and erotic poetry. In the Orphic hymn to the Muses, it is Erato who charms the sight. Since the Renaissance she is often shown with a wreath of myrtle and roses, holding a lyre, or a small kithara, a musical instrument that Ap...

Category: File - :Muse reading Louvre CA2220.jpg|thumb|Muse reading a scroll, perhaps Clio - Attic red-figure lekythos, Boeotia c. 435-425 BC - Louve

The Muses (Ancient Greek , hai mo?sai Modern Greek ?? ??????, i moúses.: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- "think"from which mind and mental are also derived; so OED ) in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths. Originally said to be three in number, by the Classical times of the 400s BC, their number had grown and become set at nine goddesses who embody the arts and inspire the creation process with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing, traditiona...

Sharon Yvonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She first achieved international recognition for her performance in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her role in Casino. Stone also has diabetes.

Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann (born Jul 26, 1983) is an American fashion model of Italian descent. She is the daughter of Italian actress and model Isabella Rossellini and American Jonathan Wiedemann (a Harvard-educated Microsoft design manager and former fashion model), who were married from 1983 to 1986 after having met at a Calvin Klein photo shoot. Her maternal grandparents were Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. Elettra has an adopted younger brother Roberto (born 1992).

Elettra was born and raised in New York City and attended high school at the United Nations International School, where she became fluent in French. Growing up, Elettra suffered from scoliosis, a condition that had also afflicted her mother, and had to wear a back brace 23 hours a day from the ages of twelve to sev...