Polyhymnia
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Polyhymnia ("the one of many hymns" /pɒlɪ'hɪmniə/) (Πολυύμνια, Πολύμνια), in Greek mythology, was the Muse of sacred poetry, sacred hymn and eloquence as well as agriculture and pantomime. 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 accredited as being the Muse of geometry and meditationTemplate:Fact.
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...".<ref>http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus4A.html 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.</ref>
Literary Appearances
Dante's Divine Comedy: Paradiso. Canto XXIII, line 56.
In popular culture
Polyhymnia is one of the main characters in the 1955 Tom Puss story De Muzenis.