thumb|Detail of painting The Muses Urania and Calliope by [[Simon Vouet, in which she is holding a copy of the
Odyssey]]
In
Greek mythology,
Calliope (
Greek:
Καλλιόπη,
Kalliope, "beautiful-voiced", pronounced in English /kə'laɪəpi/ ka-LIE-oh-pee, except when referring to the
street in
New Orleans) was the
muse of heroic poetry, daughter of
Zeus and
Mnemosyne, and is now best known as
Homer's muse, the inspiration for the
Iliad and the
Odyssey.
One account says Calliope was the lover of the war god
Ares, and bore him several sons:
Mygdon,
Edonus,
Biston, and
Odomantus - respectively the founders of Thracian tribes known as the
Mygdones,
Edones,
Bistones and
Odomantes.
Calliope also had two famous sons,
Orpheus and
Linus, by either
Apollo or the king
Oeagrus of
Thrace. She taught Orpheus verses for singing . She was the oldest and wisest of the
Muses, as well as the most assertive. She married
Oeagrus close to
Pimpleia,
Olympus.
Calliope is always seen with a writing tablet in her hand. At times, she is depicted as carrying a roll of paper or a book or as wearing a gold crown.