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In Greek mythology, Calliope ("beautiful-voiced", also spelled Kaliope or Kalliope, in Greek, Καλλιόπη, pronounced in English /kə'laɪəpi/ ka-LIE-oh-pee) was the muse of epic poetry, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and is now best known as Homer's muse, the inspiration for the Iliad and the Odyssey.
She had two sons, Orpheus and Linus, by either Apollo or the king Oeagrus, of Thrace. She was the oldest and wisest of the Muses, as well as the most assertive. She was represented by a stylus and wax tablets.
She 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.
Fiction
Calliope is a character in the graphic novel Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. Her story is in the collection Fables & Reflections. According to the comic's canon, Morpheus was actually the lover and husband of Calliope, and the father of Orpheus.
The author Nick Sagan, son of famous author Carl Sagan, also makes reference to Calliope in his debut novel, Idlewild. In his book, the main character, Halloween, suffers amnesia after a power surge, referred to as the Calliope Surge. The author also makes reference to Calliope being the daughter of Mnemosyne, the personification of memory.
A magical woman named Calliope acts as a Muse for the protagonist of the novel Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff. Though she is never explicitly said to be the Calliope of Greek mythology, she is immortal, magical, and is described as enjoying retsina and feta, both Greek foods.
Tony Award winner Lillias White provided the voice for the muse Calliope in Walt Disney Pictures film Hercules.
On the season four Simpsons episode Treehouse of Horror III, school nerd Martin Prince dressed as Calliope during the Simpsons' Halloween party (and gets punched in the stomach by Nelson, who's dressed as a pirate).
Jackie Hoffman played the muse Calliope in the musical Xanadu, which opened in 2007 on Broadway.
Calliope is a character in the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Calliope is the name of the daughter of Kratos, the protagonist of the God of War video game series.
Calliope is also the name of a female character in Francesca Lia Block's novels Ecstasia and Primavera. These works are heavily influenced by myth.
Calliope is the name of the punk rock heiress protagonist of Andrew Foster Altschul's novel Lady Lazarus.
Calliope (Kalliope) is a new German Magazine for Literature and Art, which also publishes original texts in English or art from English and other European artists.
Welsh band 'El Condor Pasa' have a song titled 'Calliope'.
New Zealand rock band The Veils also have a song titled 'Calliope'.
In the Xena: Warrior Princess season 4 episode "A Tale of Two Muses," a town of worshipers of Calliope is convinced to overturn their ban on dancing, a dictate they believe Calliope handed down. (The episode is a pastiche of Christian revivalists.
In the 2005 movie Sahara, William H. Macy's yacht is named the Calliope.
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