muse and three

"Calliope...epic poetry
Clio...history
Erato...love poetry
Euterpe...lyric poetry
Melpomene...tragedy
Polyhymnia...sacred poetry, hymns
Terpsichore...choral dancing
Thaleia...comedy
Urania...astronomy

Melpomene (Tragedy) and Thaleia (Comedy) are still to be found in our modern culture in the form of the two Greek masks frequently used by acting companies as a symbol or logo. Their deeper significance concerns the ancient annual rites: Thaleia, who appears also in later Roman myth as one of the Three Graces (Thalia, or The Bringer of Flowers), is symbolic of spring, the beginning of a new season, and the birth of a new year-god. Melpomene signifies harvest; the end of a season, and the ritual sacrifice of a year-king "


these two characters seem to immediately apply to what we are studying as far as drama and story telling are concerned. somethin mention in this article, which is the "Three Graces" also hits on another point of all this. There is a huge emphases put on the number 3.

for example:
"Three is the number most associated with the goddess. In Greek and Roman myth, it is the number of the Furies (Gk Erinyes); the number of the Graces, the number of the Hesperides, and the number of the Fates (Moirae). This triplicity of aspects of the goddess is referred to in later goddess lore as three women: a young girl; a nubile woman, and a crone. These three represent the three stages of Woman's relationship with Man, or the three stages of a man's relationship with the goddess. The first, the young girl, symbolises the goddess as Spring or Ceres or Persephone, connoting that man is born of woman.The second, the nubile woman, is Aphrodite or Venus, and refers to Woman's role as lover; mother and nurturer of Man. The third, a crone, is the fearsome aspect of the goddess, referring to Woman's role as layer-out of Man, and to a man's return in death to the unknown, to the goddess."