Parnassus

rebirth...reiniciar

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

If you're wondering...

What is Parnassus?
Parnassus, from the Greek Parnassos, a mountain in central Greece that is sacred to the god of music, poetry, etc., Apollo and the Muses (protectors of the arts, from Latin Musa, from Greek Mousa, literally, "muse, music, song,"

***side notes:
Muses
-daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Titan goddess of memory and the inventor of words)
-their specialties and names are traditionally;
  • Calliope (epic poetry)
  • Clio (history)
  • Erato (love poetry, lyric art)
  • Euterpe (music, especially flute)
  • Melpomene (tragedy)
  • Polymnia (hymns)
  • Terpsichore (dance)
  • Thalia (comedy)
  • Urania (astronomy)
Why Parnassus?
Because when I learned of the title of a dictionary of prosody used in English public schools for centuries as a guide to Roman poetry -"A Step to Parnassus" (or Gradus ad Parnassum)

**note: Parnassus wasn't originally going to be my blog's site. It was to be Thetis (name of a sea nymph or Nerid, mother of Achiles), sometimes in poetry (which I take to be "meaning"), "the sea personified". But when I read the tidbit of Parnassus that was in the same page, I decided to forego it and chose Parnassus instead.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tidbit. :)