The word "museum," from the ancient Greek mouseion, originally referred to any location sacred to the Muses (Mousa). The Muses, who were the ancient Greek goddesses of the arts, were honored and revered by poets, playwrights, and artists. Any place inhabited by the Muses was likewise considered sacred and a source of divine inspiration. The playwright Euripides, for example, in the fifth century B. C. E., described mouseia as places of beauty and nature where birds sang and poets were inspired.

In the fourth century B. C. E., a formal sanctuary dedicated to the Muses was established just below Mount Helicon, a mountain in central Greece. According to legend, the Muses first appeared to the poet Hesiod (ca. 700 B. C. E.) on this very hillside, telling him to sing of the gods as he tended his father's sheep. The sanctuary featured an open-air amphitheater, where statues and other...