Polyhymnia

Polyhymnia's name comes from the Greek words "poly", meaning "many", and "hymnos", which means "praise".^[1]

Polyhymnia is depicted as 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]

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]

As one of the Muses, Polyhymnia is the daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne. She was also described as the mother of Triptolemus by Cheimarrhoos, son of Ares,^[4] and of the musician Orpheus by Apollo.^[5]

On Mount Parnassus, there was a spring sacred to the 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]

• In astronomy, there are ten asteroids named after the Muses, and moons named after another two. The one named after Polyhymnia is a main belt asteroid discovered by Jean Chacornac, a French astronomer, in 1854.^[2]

• 
  Polyhymnia, Friedrich Ochs, 1857
• 
  Polyhymnia, Milano
• 
  Polyhymnia, Giovanni Baglione, 1620
• 
  Polyhymnia, Francesco del Cossa, 1455 – 1460
• 
  Polyhymnia, Giuseppe Fagnani, 1869
• 
  Cast of Polyhymnia, Pushkin Museum, Moscow

• Muses in popular culture
• Asteroid 33 Polyhymnia