Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse paintings of Melpoméne, she is represented with a tragic mask and also often holds in her other hand a knife or club. In Greek mythology, she is the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who had eight other daughters, Melpoméne's sisters and the eight other muses are: Calliope, muse of epic poetry; Clio, muse of history; Euterpe, muse of flute playing; Terpsichore, muse of dancing; Erato, muse of erotic poetry; Thalia muse of comedy; Polyhymnia, muse of hymns; and Urania, muse of astronomy. Reynolds was inspired not only by Sarah Siddons' extreme talent to embody the tragic heroine in Macbeth, but
Dance of Zalongo but in that context it possibly means a "group of women", as that in ancient Greek drama. An Albanian dance-song called "Vallja e Zallongut" ("Dance of Zalongo") was developed with lyrics that refer to the same aforementioned mass suicide, published in 1961 by Sako Zihnni: Dance of Zalongo The Dance of Zalongo refers to the mass suicide of women from Souli and their children during the Souliote War of 1803, near the village of Zalongo in Epirus, in the then-Ottoman Empire. It occurred on 16 December 1803. The name also refers a number of Greek theatrical dramas and a song