Prologue
In the beginning, there was Gaia (mother Earth) and her son, Uranus (Lord of the sky). Although Uranus was Gaia's child, she had children with him. Their children were called Titan/esses. Some of the most important ones in this story of time were Mnemosyne (memory), Rhea and Cronus. Again, interbreeding was common and Rhea had many children with Cronus. One of their most important children was Zeus…but this takes place long before he was King if the Olympians.
Zeus and Mnemosyne has children together, their children were called the Muses. These Muses were one of the first Olympian goddesses. These beautiful goddesses' names were: Calliope (muse of epic poetry); Clio (muse of history); Poylhymnia (muse of mime); Euterpe (of the flute); Terpsichore (of light verse and dance); Erato (of lyrical love poetry); Melpomene (of tragedy); Thalia (of comedy) and Urania (of astronomy).
These goddesses were the source of inspiration to artists, writers and musicians. They originally brought song and such to the world, which was lonely and unhappy before. They were very important. They were assumed to be virgins living near the "edge of the woods". They were worshipped regularly and in fact, not all of them were virgins. They were allowed to be non-virgins, but the one thing they must not do..is bear-child. If they did this, they would no longer be goddesses.
Their over-seer was Apollo, the god of archery, light, music, prophecy and medicine. He was associated with light in such a large form, that he later became the god of the sun. Every hundred years or so, a human female would be chosen to be the Oracle, or the Seer. Apollo was in charge of this, and this is why he was in charge of the Muses. The Muses had to do with everything past, present and future.