Polyhymnia

Polyhymnia (/pɒliˈhɪmniə/; Greek: Πολυύμνια; "the one of many hymns"), alternatively Polymnia (Πολύμνια) was in Greek mythology the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn, dance, and eloquence as well as agriculture and pantomime. Her name comes from the Greek words "poly" meaning "many" and "hymnos", which means "praise".[1] She is depicted as very serious, pensive and meditative, and often holding a finger to her mouth, dressed in a long cloak and veil and resting her elbow on a pillar. Polyhymnia is also sometimes credited as being the Muse of geometry and meditation.[2]

Roman statue of Polyhymnia, 2nd century AD, depicting her in the act of dancing.

In Bibliotheca historica, Diodorus Siculus wrote, "Polyhymnia, because by her great (polle) praises (humnesis) she brings distinction to writers whose works have won for them immortal fame...".[3] She appears in Dante's Divine Comedy: Paradiso. Canto XXIII, line 56, and is referenced in modern works of fiction.

Polyhymnia was also described as the mother of Triptolemus by Cheimarrhoos, son of Ares[4], and of the musician Orpheus by Apollo.[5]

Polyhymnia in astronomy

In astronomy, there are nine asteroids named after the Muses. The one named after Polyhymnia is a main belt asteroid discovered by Jean Chacornac, a French astronomer, in 1854.[2]

Dedications

On Mount Parnassus, there was a spring that was sacred to Polyhymnia and the other Muses. It was said to flow between two big rocks above Delphi, then down into a large square basin. The water was used by the Pythia, who were priests and priestesses, for oracular purposes including divination.[2]

Depiction in arts
gollark: Somewhat bad, in my IMO opinion.
gollark: It's actually quaternionic.
gollark: To some extent I guess you could ship worse/nonexistent versions of some machinery and assemble it there, but a lot would be interdependent so I don't know how much. And you'd probably need somewhat better computers to run something to manage the resulting somewhat more complex system, which means more difficulty.
gollark: Probably at least 3 hard. Usefully extracting the many ores and such you want from things, and then processing them into usable materials probably involves a ton of different processes you have to ship on the space probe. Then you have to convert them into every different part you might need, meaning yet more machinery. And you have to do this with whatever possibly poor quality resources you find, automatically with no human to fix issues, accurately enough to reach whatever tolerances all the stuff needs, and have it stand up to damage on route.
gollark: 3.00005.

References
  1. "Polyhymnia". theoi. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  2. "Polyhymnia". talesbeyondbelief. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  3. Diodorus Siculus Library of History (Books III - VIII). Translated by Oldfather, C. H. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 303 and 340. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1935.
  4. Scholia on Hesiod, Works and Days, 1, p. 28
  5. Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.23
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