Before the likes of Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey - works that immortalised the Greek Heroes
and Gods, such stories were passed back and forth orally from person to person, allowing for
variations in certain regions as is natural when a narrative is disseminated across a large area.
But the structures of the stories remained consistent for the most part
and this might be due to the earlier tradition of orators within societies,
who would proclaim the tales of the gods and the heroes and spin such stories with the use
of their memories - memories perhaps of a much older age, from a previous generation long gone,
when the gods and the heroes were believed to have once presided over the earth. In ancient Greece,
much of society could be owed to the gods from the sun, the moon and the elements,
to the fundamental acts of trade, shelter, food, family and even love. So it comes as no surprise
really that one’s memories were also overseen by a deity, one who allowed the orators and the very
people themselves to remember the gods as vividly as if they had never left. In this instance,
memory itself became a possession of one deity in particular and something of a gift from this
deity, allowing the Greeks to recall the past. This goddess was known as Mnemosyne, a Titaness
from the times before the dominance of Zeus. Mnemosyne was known as one of the 12 children
of the primordial beings Ouranus and Gaia, the sky and the earth respectively.
Her name - Mnemosyne, was derived from the Greek word - mnēmē, that which means memory
or remembrance and so we can see how she obtained her sphere of influence and she was naturally
associated with the giving or facilitating of one's memories.
The term mnemonic - a helpful phrase and or system created to help people retain information was also
inspired by the Greek mnēmē and was possibly inspired by Mnemosyne for her relationship
with the domain of memory and the aiding of mortals with their memories. In some ideas,
she was also considered to be a goddess of time, for she represented the ability
of memorisation within mortals that allowed them to preserve their stories and histories
in a time before written records were kept. In the golden age of the Titan rule, it was Cronus
who ruled supreme over the earth after having usurped his father Uranus and there was said to
be something of peace during this time, where humans and gods lived side by side in harmony.
But all was not as it seemed, for when Cronus’ became paranoid that he would be usurped himself
by his own child, not unlike how he had usurped his father, he began to consume his children.
Eventually, this prophecy came true, for Zeus would slay Cronus in an epic war
known as the Titanomachy and it was with this that the Titans were eroded by the dominance of
Zeus and his olympian siblings. We understand that many of the male Titans were cast into the void
known as Tartarus, whilst others were damned to gruelling fates. But for the most part,
Zeus did not appear to harm the female Titans and would in fact revere them to some degree,
desiring them as wives and concubines, but ultimately allowing them their freedom.
Whilst their roles within the cosmos were transferred to the new generation of gods
and goddesses, they were not thought to be persecuted in the same way the male Titans were.
Mnemosyne’s role during this time is unfortunately just as vague as her Titan brothers and sisters.
Whilst she was considered to be the goddess of memory, it is unclear what side she took during
the war between Cronus and Zeus, nor whether she had any involvement in the confrontation. In fact,
prior to Zeus, there does not seem to be much in the way of relevance of this particular Titan, nor
much in the way of detail as to what she actually used her influence over memories for - though
some authors do propose some interesting ideas. What we do know from the mythology however, is
that our randy supreme overlord Zeus was of course at it again. When he laid eyes upon Mnemosyne,
as he had done with Dione and Asteria, he became infatuated with her and sought to pursue her.
But unlike his other attempts, it would appear that Zeus took some caution in his engagement
of the Titan and probably cautious that she was aware of his concupiscent reputation,
he disguised himself as a mortal shepherd.
With this disguise, he was able to approach Mnemosyne without raising her suspicions and
with his predatory cunning and charm, he was able to sleep with her for nine consecutive nights.
As a result of their copulation, Mnemosyne gave birth to nine children on nine consecutive nights.
These daughters were Calliope(Cuh-lia-pee) who represented epic poetry,
Clio who represented history, Erato (Eruh-toh) who represented love poetry, Euterpe (Eu-ter-pee) who
represented music and lyrical poetry, Melpomene (Mel-poma-nee) who represented tragedy,
Polyhymnia (Poly-hymn-nia) who represented hymns, Terpsichore (Turp-Shic-oree) who
represented dance, Thalia who represented comedy and Urania who represented astronomy.
These daughters would be known as the nine younger muses and would possess their own
influence within the creative arts. Hesiod’s Theogony tells
us Hesiod, Theogony 53 ff : "Them [the Mousai (Muses)]
in Pieria did Mnemosyne, who reigns over the hills of Eleuther [in Pieria, near Mount Olympos],
bear of union with the father, the son of Kronos (Cronus) [Zeus], a forgetting of ills and a rest
from sorrow. For nine nights did wise Zeus lie with her, entering her holy bed remote from the
immortals. And when a year was passed and the seasons came round as the months waned, and many
days were accomplished, she bare nine daughters, all of one mind, whose hearts are set upon song
and their spirit free from care, a little way from the topmost peak of snowy Olympos (Olympus)."
With the birth of the younger muses, Mnemoysne slips out of the mythology and the concept of
memory within the stories is not something that becomes touched upon very often. It
might be said that with the rise of Zeus and the Olympians, the mortals would never forget them,
for the Olympians would rule forever. With this, having memory of the gods would not be necessary
given their eternal presence, and so Mnemosyne and her service became largely redundant.
However, there does exist an account of Mnemosyne serving a role within the Underworld and there
somewhere in the depths of this dark land sat a pool which also shared her name.
This Mnemosyne pool would coincide with the River Lethe - Lethe being the goddess of Oblivion
and also a goddess of forgetfulness, in essence the antithesis of Mnemosyne.
In some tellings, Lethe was believed to oversee her river that would see newly
dead mortals who drank from it lose their memories of their former life.
However, those who were proven to be worthy were able to find themselves at the pool of Mnemosyne,
sometimes even dubbed as the river of memory, and here after having drank from her pool,
their memories were restored. The synchronicity of the Lethe and Mnemosyne rivers
was thought to have been simulated at the Oracle of Trophonius at the ancient Greek town Lebadeia.
In this region, Mnemosyne and Lethe were considered to be goddesses of prophecy and
it was believed that by drinking from both waters, one could hear their future uttered.
Another more detailed account by second century Greek geographer Pausanias, tells us
that the supplicant at the river Lethe was taken there by priests where he was told to drink in
order to forget. With this, he enters a state of calm having forgotten his prior thoughts,
before being led to the waters of Mnemosyne. There he drinks and there he begins to remember more
of his thoughts. He then returns to the Oracle of Trophonius and is sat upon the chair of Mnemosyne,
where he reveals everything he has learned. After the priests learn of this information,
the supplicant enters a state of paralysis and terror, for he becomes unconscious
of both himself and his surroundings. In a few days, he recovers from this condition however.
In other variations, it was believed that those seeking direction would appease Mnemosyne with
gifts and tributes, which would allow them to remember their dreams when they awoke - those
which were believed to hold glimpses of the future. In fact, in the worship of the medicine
God Asclepius, his cult, who were thought to be able to cure various maladies and ailments, would
often make offerings to Mnemosyne in the hopes that the sufferer experiencing various symptoms
would remember any visions in their dreams that might assist them in their recovery.
Further ideas suggest that both Lethe and Mnemosyne appeared in Hades as physical
representations of their rivers and that it was the souls of those who had possessed a neutral
morality in life, by having done neither good nor bad, would be picked upon by Lethe. These neutral
souls could be found wandering the Asphodel Meadows in the afterlife, where they would be
taken by Lethe and forced to drink from her rivers so that they would forget their former lives.
But it was also thought that if one was righteous enough, they would find their way to Mnemosyne who
would replenish their memories of their past life by allowing them to sip from her waters.
In the religious practices of Orphism meanwhile, believers were taught to ignore the offerings
of Lethe when they reached the Underworld and to instead accept the offerings of Mnemosyne,
which would prevent reincarnation and instead restore them as they were.
Many Greek poets and storytellers would find themselves calling upon Mnemosyne themselves
before reciting their works, perhaps in an effort to solidify their memory and assist them
in recounting the tales accurately. Perhaps most notably, Greek philosopher Plato in Euthydemus
begins by invoking the Muses and Mnemosyne, to help in the recital of his narrative. Furthermore,
we also see authoritative figures receive a certain mastery over speech in Hesiod’s Theogony,
where kings and poets attribute their prowess in articulation to Mnemosyne and the Muses.
But by the time written literature transcended the oral recitations of the stories, Mnemosyne,
much like the other Titans, faded into the echoes of the past, for mankind became less reliant on
their memories and more dependent or at least, appreciative of the certainty of written accounts.
Naturally, because memory was so essential in the oral culture of the ancient Greeks,
Mnemosyne was considered, at least at some point, to have been a most crucial deity
in the progression of early society. But indeed, like many of the Titans,
she was relegated to becoming essences of an old, archaic world that had come long before
and would soon come to bear little relevance in a world occupied by the new gods and the heroes.
Let me know which Titan you’d like to see appear here next
and what you thought about today’s installment of Greek Mythology Explained. As always,
if you’ve enjoyed today’s episode then don’t forget to give it a thumbs up and
don’t forget to subscribe for more content just like this.
Furthermore, if you like Greek Mythology as much as I do, you might want to check out
our book Greek Mythology Explained, where we retell a couple of a favourite myths
and explore the meanings and themes behind them. With that being said, I hope you all have a good
evening and I’ll see you in the next one. Until next time!