History
The recorded history of the valley began in the 6th century BC. Its greatest period started in the 3rd century BC with the establishment of the Mouseia festivals (Grk Μουσεῖα), organised every fifth year by the Thespians. Poets and musicians from all over Greece participated in various games. In the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, games in honor of the Roman emperor were added. From that time the emperors sponsored the festivals, which were then called "Great Kaisareia" (Grk Μεγάλα Καισάρεια) because the emperor was honored over the Muses. Winners of the games dedicated their tripods to a sanctuary. Many statues depicting the Muses, famous poets, and musicians stood in the open-air space of the Valley. With the rise of monotheism, the festivals and the valley were abandoned.
Read more about this topic: Valley Of The Muses
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We aspire to be something more than stupid and timid chattels, pretending to read history and our Bibles, but desecrating every house and every day we breathe in.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)
“False history gets made all day, any day,
the truth of the new is never on the news
False history gets written every day
...
the lesbian archaeologist watches herself
sifting her own life out from the shards she’s piecing,
asking the clay all questions but her own.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)