Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...

, Melete (Μελέτη) was one of the three original Boeotian muses before the Nine Olympian Muses were founded. Her sisters were

Aoede In Greek mythology, Aoede ( grc, Ἀοιδή, ''Aoidē'') was one of the three original Boeotian muses, which later grew to five before the Nine Olympian Muses were named. Her sisters were Melete and Mneme. She was the muse of voice and song ...

and Mneme. She was the muse of

thought In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...

and

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

. Melete literally means "ponder" and "contemplation" in Greek. According to Pausanias in the later 2nd century AD, there were three original Muses:

Aoidē In Greek mythology, Aoede ( grc, Ἀοιδή, ''Aoidē'') was one of the three original Boeotian muses, which later grew to five before the Nine Olympian Muses were named. Her sisters were Melete and Mneme. She was the muse of voice and song. ...

("song" or "voice"), Meletē ("practice" or "occasion"), and

Mnēmē In Greek mythology, Mneme ( grc-gre, Μνήμη, Mnḗmē) was one of the three original Boeotian muses, along with her sisters Aoede and Melete before Arche and Thelxinoë were identified, increasing the number to five. Later, the Nine Ol ...

("memory"). Together, these three form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in cult practice. In Delphi three Muses were worshipped as well, but with other names: Nētē, Mesē, and Hypatē, which are the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument, the lyre. Alternatively they were called Cēphisso,

Apollonis Apollonis (; grc, Ἀπoλλωνίς means "of Apollo") was one of the three younger Mousai Apollonides (Muses) in Greek mythology and daughters of Apollo, who were worshipped in Delphi where the Temple of Apollo and the Oracle were located. T ...

, and Borysthenis, whose names characterise them as daughters of Apollo. In later tradition, four Muses were recognized: Thelxinoē,

Aoedē In Greek mythology, Aoede ( grc, Ἀοιδή, ''Aoidē'') was one of the three original Boeotian muses, which later grew to five before the Nine Olympian Muses were named. Her sisters were Melete and Mneme. She was the muse of voice and song. ...

, Archē, and Meletē, said to be daughters of Zeus and Plusia (or of Uranus).

See also