Muse

In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μοῦσαι, Mousai: from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- "think", from which mind and mental are also derived) are nine goddesses or spiritual guides who embody the arts and inspire the creation process with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing, traditional music and dance. They were water nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon and Pieris; from the latter they are sometimes called the Pierides. The Olympian system set Apollo as their leader, Apollon Mousagetes. Not only are they used in modern English to refer to an inspiration, as when one cites his/her own artistic muse, but also in the words "amuse" or "musing upon", which are rooted in their name.

According to Hesiod's Theogony (seventh century BC), 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.

Compare the Roman inspiring nymphs of springs, the Camenae, and also the apsara in the culture of classical India.