In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Melete (Μελέτη) was one of the three original (Boeotia

Boeotia

Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...

n) Muses, though there were later nine. Her sisters were Aoide

Aoide

In Greek mythology, Aoide was one of the three original Muses, though there were later nine. Her sisters were Melete and Mneme. She was the muse of song. According to Greek mythology, she is the daughter of Zeus, the King of the Gods, and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory...

 and Mneme

Mneme

In Greek mythology, Mneme was one of the three original Boeotian muses, though there were later nine. Her sisters were Aoide and Melete. She was the muse of memory....

. She was the muse of thought

Thought

"Thought" generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination...

 and meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

. Melete literally means "ponder" and "contemplation" in Greek.

According to Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

 in the later 2nd century AD, there were three original Muses: Aoidē

Aoide

In Greek mythology, Aoide was one of the three original Muses, though there were later nine. Her sisters were Melete and Mneme. She was the muse of song. According to Greek mythology, she is the daughter of Zeus, the King of the Gods, and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory...

 ("song" or "voice"), Meletē ("practice" or "occasion"), and Mnēmē

Mneme

In Greek mythology, Mneme was one of the three original Boeotian muses, though there were later nine. Her sisters were Aoide and Melete. She was the muse of memory....

 ("memory"). Together, these three form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in cult practice. In Delphi three Muses were worshipped as well, but with other names: Nētē, Mesē, and Hypatē, which are the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument, the lyre. Alternatively they were called Cēphisso

Cephisso

In Greek mythology, Cephisso was one of the three Muses that were daughters of Apollo. Her sisters were Apollonis and Borysthenis....

, Apollonis

Apollonis

In Greek mythology, Apollonis was one of the three Muses that were daughters of Apollo. Her sisters were Cephisso and Borysthenis....

, and Borysthenis

Borysthenis

In Greek mythology, Borysthenis was one of the three Muses that were daughters of Apollo. Her sisters were Apollonis and Cephisso....

, whose names characterise them as daughters of Apollo. In later tradition, four Muses were recognized: Thelxinoē

Thelxinoë

In Greek mythology, Thelxinoë was a name attributed to three individuals.*Thelxinoë, one of the sirens. Also known as Thelxiope or Thelxiepia....

, Aoedē, Archē

Arche

Arche is a Greek word with primary senses 'beginning', 'origin' or 'first cause' and 'power', 'sovereignty', 'domination' as extended meanings. This list is extended to 'ultimate underlying substance' and 'ultimate undemonstrable principle'...

, and Meletē, said to be daughters of Zeus and Plusia (or of Uranus).