Someone from Northern Ireland looking a bit more closely at Clio.
In the ancient Greek world, Clio was a goddess whose name meant 'to praise' and whose celebrated symbol was the laurel wreath symbolising glory. Her role was to ensure that remembering the past awakened zeal to emulate illustrious deeds. These 'heroic' deeds were violent but, where once they were life-giving, bringing order out of chaos, today they may stimulate cycles of destructive violence. We in Northern Ireland know something of Clio's power to foster violence and even when affronted by bloodshed we may re-enact it, not only as memorial but also in practice.
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Gil Bailie quotes American poet Howard Nemerov: "Tell us no more enchantments, Clio. History has given and taken away; murders become memories, And memories become the beautiful obligations: As with a dream interpreted by one still sleeping, The interpretation is only the next room of the dream."
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