Why Clio?

One of the great things about the ancient Greco-Roman religion was that there was a god or goddess for everyone. Like hunting? Artemis is for you. Home-maker? Try Hera. Need help with your love life? Call on Aphrodite. There was a god, demi-god, or hero/heroine for every life event, and even the occupations had their patron deity. Artists, who for the Greeks included those who practiced the art of the historian and— oddly enough to us—  astronomers, had the muses: nine sisters who personified the inspiration that drove mankind to create art. Clio is the muse of history.

It’s an interesting view into the classical mindset that Clio is second of the sisters, junior only to Calliope, the muse of Epic poetry. In Greek, her name is Κλειώ, which means literally  “to celebrate” or “to make famous.” Combined with her maternal heritage – her mother being Mnemosyne or “remembrance” (and the source of our word for memory aid: “mnemonic”), we get what we know as history: the celebration of things remembered, of the past.

That’s exactly what this blog is meant to be. A way of experiencing the past using its tools, technologies and  techniques, tasting its food and moving to its pace. A way of appreciating the past through the books, movies and material goods that have come down to us, whether they are “classics” or not. A way to hand on what we know and give the past a future by preserving a little of who we have been so that we can educate those who will be.

So having invoked our Muse, let’s get on to living in the past. I hope you’ll have as much fun following my journey as I think I’ll have in making it.