Charites

Charites [Graces] were the daughters, according to Hesiod, of Zeus and the Oceanide Eurynome. Yet other sources say of Zeus and Aphrodite. The Graces were three in number, Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thaleia. Of all the creations of the religious imagination of the Greeks none was so pure in concept, so irreproachable and attractive as the three sisters. Poetry, oratory, music, and the dance owed their charm to the Graces. Donors of every loveliness or grace, the sisters were originally goddesses of vegetation, responsible for the material prosperity of man. No celebration could take place on Olympus, abode of the gods, without their presence. As Theocritus said, without the Graces man would be incapable of love. The three sisters were associated with Aphrodite and Apollo, but also with Dionysos and Artemis. Their most ancient sanctuary was located in Orchomenos of Boeotia. To them the Athenians had dedicated a temple on the Acropolis. The Graces were worshipped in many parts of ancient Greece as well as in the Aegean islands. In art they were initially depicted as robed in long flowing dress, holding hands in a dance, but in the Hellenistic age were portrayed in the nude. [p. 46]

[Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides. A Chat Publication.]

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