In Greek mythology, the Pierides (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Πιερίδες) or Emathides (Ἠμαθίδες) were the nine sisters who defied the

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

s in a contest of song and, having been defeated, were turned into birds. The Muses themselves are sometimes called by this name.

Names and family

The Pierides were the daughters of

Pierus Pierus (; ), in Greek mythology, is a name attributed to two individuals: * Pierus, the eponym of Pieria, son of Makednos and father of the Pierides. Antoninus Liberalis9/ref> * Pierus, son of Thessalian Magnes and father of Hyacinth., Apollo ...

, king of Emathia in

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

, by Antiope of Pieria or Euippe of

Paionia In antiquity, Paeonia or Paionia () was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians (or Paionians; ). The exact original boundaries of Paeonia, like the early history of its inhabitants, are obscure, but it is known that it roughly corresponds to m ...

. The sisters were also called Emathides, named after their paternal uncle Emathus. In other sources, they are recounted to be seven in number and named them as Achelois, Neilo,

Tritone In music theory, the tritone is defined as a interval (music), musical interval spanning three adjacent Major second, whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be ...

, Asopo, Heptapora, Tipoplo, and Rhodia.

Mythology

Ovid's account

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

's ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'',

Urania Urania ( ; ; modern Greek shortened name ''Ránia''; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy and astrology. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, her attributes being the globe and compass. T ...

, one of the Muses, recounts their contest with the Pierides to

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

in the following excerpts:

So spoke the Muse. And now was heard the sound of pennons in the air, and voices, too, gave salutations from the lofty trees. Minerva (Athena), thinking they were human tongues, looked up in question whence the perfect words; but on the boughs, nine ugly jays (with Κίσσα and Pica often erroneously translated as
magpie Magpies are birds of various species of the family Corvidae. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent c ...
s by later commentators) perched, those mockers of all sounds, which now complained their hapless fate. And as she wondering stood, Urania, goddess of the Muse, rejoined;—"Look, those but lately worsted in dispute augment the number of unnumbered birds.—Pierus was their father, very rich in lands of
Pella Pella () is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It served as the capital of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. Currently, it is located 1 km outside the modern town of Pella ...
; and their mother (called Evippe of Paeonia) when she brought them forth, nine times evoked, in labours nine, Lucina's ( Eilethyia) aid.—Unduly puffed with pride, because it chanced their number equaled ours these stupid sisters, hither to engage in wordy contest, fared through many towns;—through all Haemonia and
Achaia Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The ...
came to us, and said;—'Oh, cease your empty songs, attuned to dulcet numbers, that deceive the vulgar, untaught throng. If aught is yours of confidence, O Thespian deities, contend with us: our number equals yours. We will not be defeated by your arts; nor shall your songs prevail.—Then, conquered, give Hyantean Aganippe; yield to us the Medusean Fount;—and should we fail, we grant Emathia's plains, to where uprise Paeonia's peaks of snow.—Let chosen
Nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
s award the prize—.'"

The

nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

s became the judges of the musical contest. One of the Pierides sang about the flight of the

Olympian gods upright=1.8, Fragment of a relief (1st century BC1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; from left to right: Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap and staff), Aphrodite (veiled), Ares (helmet and s ...

from the monster Typhoeus:

'Twas shameful to contend; it seemed more shameful to submit. At once, the chosen Nymphs swore justice by their streams, and sat for judgment on their thrones of rock. At once, although the lot had not been cast, the leading sister hastened to begin.—She chanted of celestial wars; she gave the
Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) * Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'g ...
false renown; she gave the Gods small credit for great deeds.—She droned out, "Forth, those deepest realms of earth, Typhoeus came, and filled the Gods with fear. They turned their backs in flight to
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
; and the wearied rout, where Great
Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...
spreads his seven-channeled mouth, were there received. – Thither the earth-begot Typhoeus hastened: but the Gods of Heaven deceptive shapes assumed.—Lo,
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
(
Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...
as
Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
n
Ammon Ammon (; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; '; ) was an ancient Semitic languages, Semitic-speaking kingdom occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Wadi Mujib, Arnon and Jabbok, in present-d ...
's crooked horns attest) was hidden in the leader of a flock;
Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
in a crow;
Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...
in a goat; Diana (
Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...
) in a cat;
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
(
Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...
) in a fish; Saturnian Juno (
Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...
) in a snow-white cow; Cyllenian
Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...
in an Ibis' wings.

Urania and Athena continued their conversation about the great match:

"Such stuff she droned out from her noisy mouth: and then they summoned us; but, haply, time permits thee not, nor leisure thee permits, that thou shouldst hearken to our melodies." "Nay doubt it not", quoth Pallas (Athena), "but relate your melodies in order." And she sat beneath the pleasant shadows of the grove. And thus again Urania; "On our side we trusted all to one." Which having said, Calliope, mother of
Orpheus In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in se ...
of
Leivithra Leibethra or Libethra, in the modern pronunciation Leivithra (), was an ancient Macedonian city at the foot of Mount Olympus, near the present settlement of Skotina. Archaeologists have discovered tombs there from the late Bronze Age (13th–12t ...
, arose. Her glorious hair was bound with ivy. She attuned the chords, and chanted as she struck the sounding strings:

Calliope sang many stories from myths during the contest with the Pierides. The Muse recounted the abduction of

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Persephone ( ; , classical pronunciation: ), also called Kore ( ; ) or Cora, is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the Greek underworld, underworld afte ...

by god of underworld

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

and the sorrow of the young girl's mother, the goddess

Demeter In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...

, for the loss of her beloved daughter. Calliope also told the account of the unrequited love of the river god Alpheus to the nymph Arethusa, and also the adventure of hero

Triptolemus Triptolemus (), also known as Buzyges (), was a hero of Eleusis (Boeotia), Eleusis in Greek mythology, central to the Eleusinian Mysteries and is worshipped as the inventor and patron of agriculture. Triptolemus is credited with being the fir ...

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

, where he encountered the envious King

Lyncus In Greek mythology, King Lyncus (Greek: , ) of the Scythians was taught the arts of agriculture by Triptolemus but he refused to teach it to his people and then tried to kill Triptolemus. Demeter turned him into a lynx as punishment.Hyginus, ''Fab ...

. The following lines described the punishment of the victorious Muses to their vanquished opponents, the Pierides, being transformed into birds:Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'
5.662
/ref>

The greatest of our number ended thus her learned songs; and with concordant voice the chosen Nymphs adjudged the Deities, on Helicon who dwell, should be proclaimed the victors. But the vanquished nine began to scatter their abuse; to whom rejoined the goddess; "Since it seems a trifling thing that you should suffer a deserved defeat, and you must add unmerited abuse to heighten your offence, and since by this appears the end of our endurance, we shall certainly proceed to punish you according to the limit of our wrath." But these Emathian sisters laughed to scorn our threatening words; and as they tried to speak, and made great clamour, and with shameless hands made threatening gestures, suddenly stiff quills sprouted from out their finger-nails, and plumes spread over their stretched arms; and they could see the mouth of each companion growing out into a rigid beak.—And thus new birds were added to the forest.—While they made complaint, these jays that defile our groves, moving their stretched-out arms, began to float, suspended in the air. And since that time their ancient eloquence, their screaming notes, their tiresome zeal of speech have all remained.

Antoninus' account

Another retelling of the contest of Pierides and Muses appeared in

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis () was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between the second and third centuries AD. He is known as the author of ''The Metamorphoses'', a collection of tales that offers new variants of already familiar myths ...

' ''

'':Antoninus Liberalis, ''Metamorphoses'' 9 s.v. ''Emathides'';

Nicander Nicander of Colophon (; fl. 2nd century BC) was a Greece, Greek poet, physician, and grammarian. The scattered biographical details in the ancient sources are so contradictory that it was sometimes assumed that there were two Hellenistic authors ...

tells this tale in his fourth book of his ''Heteroeumena'' ("Metamorphoses").

Zeus made love to Mnemosyne in Pieria and became father of the Muses. Around about that time Pierus, was king of Emathia, sprung from its very soil. He had nine daughters. They were the ones who formed a choir in opposition to the Muses. And there was a musical contest in Helicon.

Whenever the daughters of Pierus began to sing, all creation went dark and no one would give an ear to their choral performance. But when the Muses sang, heaven, the stars, the sea and rivers stood still, while Mount Helicon, beguiled by the pleasure of it all, swelled skywards tilI, by the will of Poseidon, Pegasus checked it by striking the summit with his hoof.

Since these mortals had taken upon themselves to strive with goddesses, the Muses changed them into nine birds. To this day people refer to them as the grebe, the wryneck, the ortolan, the jay, the greenfinch, the goldfinch, the duck, the woodpecker and the dracontis pigeon.

Notes

References

, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, ''Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero'' translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812–1891), Bohn edition of 1878
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*Marcus Tullius Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum.'' O. Plasberg. Leipzig. Teubner. 1917.
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
*Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Peck, Harry Thurston, ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities.'' New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898 *

Quintus Smyrnaeus Quintus Smyrnaeus (also Quintus of Smyrna; , ''Kointos Smyrnaios'') was a Greek epic poet whose ''Posthomerica'', following "after Homer", continues the narration of the Trojan War. The dates of Quintus Smyrnaeus' life and poetry are disputed: by ...

, ''The Fall of Troy'' translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913
Online version at theio.com
*Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''The Fall of Troy''. Arthur S. Way. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1913
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library

William Smith. ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology''. London (1873).
{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology Princesses in Greek mythology Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology Mythology of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)