important, as she provided entertainment for deities of Olympus. Thalia had seven children by Apollo, the god of music and light. Apollo was also Thalia's tutor. Thalia and Apollo's children were known as the Corybantes. The Corybantes were dancers who would often dance and make music to worship Cybele, the Phrygian goddess. Thalia appears in several writings of many known authors, including Hesiod's Theogony. Thalia has also been depicted in several paintings by artists such as Hendrick Goltzius. A painting of Thalia, which is now housed in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, depicts the goddess placed on what appears to be a throne with an ivy wreath on her head and the shepherd's staff placed in her right hand. The painting was created in 1546. Unlike her sisters, Thalia actually was not one of the best known of the Muses in Greek mythology. Family Typically, they were the daughters of Zeus and Oceanid Eurynome. Alternative parentage may be Zeus and Eurydome, Eurymedousa, or Euanthe; Dionysus and Kronois; or Helios and the Naiad Aegle. In art In art, they were usually depicted dancing in a circle. Thalia was the goddess of festivity and rich banquets and was associated with Aphrodite, as part of her retinue. In popular culture The Charite Thalia is referred to in Neal Stephenson's book The Diamond Age. Thalia Grace is the demigod daughter of Zeus in the series Percy Jackson & the Olympians. Her brother, Jason Grace, keeps the last name, but is named after a Greek Hero named Jason. Notes References Apollodoros, Library (I, 3, 1). Hesiod, Theogony (v. 907–909). Orphic hymns (LIX on the Charites). Pausanias, Description of Greece (IX, 35, 1). Pindar, Odes (Olympics, 14, str. 1–2). Grimal, Pierre, over&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, . "Thalia" 2. p. 442. Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Thaleia" 4. Greek goddesses Children of Zeus Children of Dionysus