Drama. Thalia was the Muse of comedy and bucolic poetry. She wore a comic mask, an ivy wreath, and the light, thin-soled shoes of the comic actor, and carried a shepherd’s staff. In some sources, Thalia and Apollo are mentioned as the parents of the Corybantes, priests of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, whom they followed with wild dances and music.
     Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy, was her sister’s antithesis. Under her ivy wreath she bore a tragic mask and was shod in the tragic actor’s thick-soled, high boots; she occasionally carried a sword or a club. She is sometimes said to be the mother of the Sirens by the river-god Achelous. In art, Thalia and Melpomene are often depicted together.