<eawp: salute>

The Goddesses of Wisdom. Here we have a dozen females vying for the title: the nine muses, Athena, Minerva and Metis. Exhaustive research provides only a partial answer as to the victor. Athena would win, hands down, from a popularity standpoint, if only she could lose the Warrior Goddess distinction. Minerva as well, being a Roman counterpart to the Greek legend, lost her academic soul in contemplating battle. Metis, mother of Athena, was apparently smart enough, but led a rather dull life aside from saving children from being eaten (she wins, hands up, from an intellectual view). The muses signify the arts and sciences, and are a logical runner-up. Of epic song, Calliope; of lyric song, Euterpe; of sacred song, Polyhymnia; of dance, Terpsichore; of erotic poetry, Erato; of astronomy, Urania; of history, Clio; of tragedy, Melpomene; of comedy, Thalia. These nonatuplets are the offspring of Zeus and Mnemosyne and are sometimes considered as one.