Urania (/jʊəˈreɪniə/ yoor-AY-nee-ə; Ancient Greek: Οὐρανία, romanized: Ouranía; modern Greek shortened name Ράνια Ránia; meaning "heavenly" or "of heaven") was, in Greek mythology, the muse of astronomy and astrology. Urania is the goddess of astronomy and stars, her attributes being the globe and compass.
The muse Urania is sometimes confounded with Aphrodite Urania ("heavenly Aphrodite") because of their similar name.
Urania was the daughter of Zeus by Mnemosyne and also a great-granddaughter of Uranus.[1] Some accounts list her as the mother of the musician Linus[2] by Apollo[3] or Hermes[4] or Amphimarus,[5] son of Poseidon. Hymenaeus is also said to have been a son of Urania.[6]
Urania is often associated with Universal Love. Sometimes identified as the eldest of the divine sisters, Urania inherited Zeus' majesty and power and the beauty and grace of her mother Mnemosyne.
Urania dresses in a cloak embroidered with stars and keeps her eyes and attention focused on the Heavens. She is usually represented with a celestial globe to which she points with a little staff,[7] and depicted in modern art with stars above her head. She is able to foretell the future by the arrangement of the stars.[8]
Those who are most concerned with philosophy and the heavens are dearest to her. Those who have been instructed by her she raises aloft to heaven, for it is a fact that imagination and the power of thought lift men's souls to heavenly heights.[9]