Erato (sexual passion) In Greek mythology, one of the nine Muses; Muse of love or erotic poetry, lyrics, and marriage songs; daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Her symbol was a lyre. The Muses are invoked at the beginning of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Spenser’s Teares of the Muses and The Fairie Queene (Prologue, 2), Shakespeare’s Sonnet XXXVIII, Gray’s Progress of Poesy (2.3), Milton’s Paradise Lost (book 7.1), Byron’s Childe Harold (1.62), Wordsworth’s “Ode” (1816), and Matthew Arnold’s “Consolation” and Empedocles on Etna.
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante