Originally called "Pierides" the Muses are water nymphs associated with the springs of Helicon and with Pieris.

The Romans named their nymphs of springs, the Camenae, in Norse Mythology they were the Völva and, in Indian mythology the "Apsarasa".

In Greece their leader was Apollon Mousagetes and according to Hesiod's "Theogony", they are the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory.

For Alcman and Mimnermus, they were even more primordial, springing from Uranus and Gaia. Pausanias records a tradition of two generations of Muses; the first being daughters of Uranus and Gaia, the second of Zeus and Mnemosyne.

Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters of Harmonia (the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares) which contradicts the myth in which they were dancing at the wedding of Harmonia and Cadmus.

Next...