In Greek mythology, the Charites (;[ Charites Definition & Meaning, dictionary.com, Retrieved 21 April 2025] ), singular Charis (), also called the Graces, are goddesses who personify beauty and grace.[Tripp, s.v. Graces; Arafat, s.v. Charites (which adds "charm"); Grimal, s.v. Charites (which calls them "goddesses of beauty and perhaps also, in their earliest form, of the powers of vegetation."); Schachter, s.v. Charites (which says they are "goddesses who embody beauty, happiness and abundance".] According to Hesiod, the Charites were Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, who were the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, the daughter of Oceanus. However in other accounts, their names, number and parentage varied. In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae. Hesiod has Aglaea as the wife of Hephaestus, and in the Iliad Hera promises to give a Charis named Pasithea to Hypnos as bride. Otherwise they have little independent mythology, usually described as attending various gods and goddesses, especially Aphrodite.[Arafat, s.v. Charites; Schachter, s.v. Charites; Tripp, s.v. Graces; Grimal, s.v. Charites.]
In Roman and later art, the three Charites are generally depicted nude in an interlaced group, but during the Archaic Greece and Classical Greece periods of Greece, they were typically depicted as fully clothed,
Parentage, number, and names
In
Hesiod's
Theogony, the Charites are the three daughters of Zeus: Aglaea ("Splendor"),
Euphrosyne ("Joy"), and Thalia ("Good Cheer"), by the
Oceanid Eurynome.
[Hard, p. 208; Gantz, p. 54; Hesiod, Theogony 906–11.] The identical genealogy is given by Apollodorus.
[Apollodorus, 1.3.1.] The same three names are also given by
Pindar, with a possible reference to their "father" Zeus and no mother mentioned.
[Pindar, Olympian 14.1–16.] Although the Charites were usually considered to be Zeus' daughters and three in number, their names as well as their parentage and number varied.
[Hard, p. 208; Grimal, s.v. Charites; Tripp, s.v. Graces.] Homer mentions
Pasithea as "one of the youthful Graces",
[Homer, Iliad 14.263–269; compare with Statius, Thebaid 2.286.] and perhaps has "Charis" (the singular form of "Charites"), as the name of another,
[Gantz, p. 54, which notes that Homer's "Charis" may not, in fact, be a proper name; Homer, Iliad 18.382–283.] but does not give their parentage, number, or any other of their names.
[Arafat, s.v. Charites; Schachter, s.v. Charites.]
The geographer Pausanias gives other variations, some regional.[Arafat, s.v. Charites; Schachter, s.v. Charites; Pausanias, 9.35.1–5.] He says that, according to tradition, Eteocles, the king of Orchomenus, established three as the number of Charites, but that the Athenians and Spartans worshipped only two. For the Athenians the two Charites were Auxo and Hegemone, while for the Spartans they were Cleta and Phaenna.[Parada, s.v. Charites; Pausanias, 9.35.1–2.] Also, according to Pausanias, the Hellenistic poet Hermesianax said that Peitho ("Persuasion") was one of the Charites, and the poet Antimachus said that the Charites were the "daughters of Aegle and the Sun [Helios]".[Parada, s.v. Charites; Pausanias, 9.35.5.]
While Hesiod has Eurynome, and Antimachus has Aegle, as the mother of the Charites, other names were also given. According to Orphic Hymns 60, the Charites ("Aglaea, Thalia, ... Euphrosyne") were the daughters of Zeus and Eunomia.[ Orphic Hymn 60, 2–3.] The Stoicism philosopher Cornutus includes the names Eurynome, and Aegle, he gives other names for mothers as well: Eurydome, Eurymedousa, Hera, and Euanthe.[Boys-Stones, c. 15, §§ 18–20; Lang, pp. 18–20; Torres, p. 15; Cornutus, Compendium of Greek Theology 15. Colluthus, The Rape of Helen 174–175 also has Hera as the mother of the Charites.] Nonnus has his three Charites (Hesiod's Aglaea, Homer's Pasithea, and Hermesianax's Peitho)[Keightley, p. 192; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24.261–264.] being the daughters of Dionysus and Coronis.[Dionysus as father: Nonnus, Dionysiaca 16.131–2, 33.4–11; Dionysus as father by Coronis: Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48.553–556, with note: "Coronis as mother of the Charites is heard of only here; she seems to have nothing to do with Coronis the mother of Asclepios by Apollo.")]
A purported summary of a lost poem by an otherwise unknown poet "Sostratus", while naming the three Charites, adds to Homer's Pasithea, and Hesiod's Euphrosyne, the name Kale, saying that it was she who was the wife of Hephaestus.[Cameron, p. 150. This summary is found in the Homeric commentary of the twelfth-century bishop Eustathius, whose likely source was Ptolemy Chennus (O'Hara p. 173). Cameron discusses this summary in his chapter on "Bogus Citations", which argues that Sostratus, as well as the summary of his supposed lost poem, are just one of the many fabrications of Ptolemy Chennus.]
Mythology
The Charites' major mythological role was to attend the other Olympians, particularly during feasts and dances.
[Milleker, p. 69.] They attended Aphrodite by bathing and anointing her in
Paphos before her seduction of
Anchises and after she left Olympus when her affair with Ares is found out.
[ Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite, 58.] Additionally, they are said to weave or dye her
peplos.
[Homer, Iliad, 5.338] Along with
Peitho, they presented
Pandora with necklaces to make her more enticing.
[Hesiod, Works and Days, 69] Pindar stated the Charites arranged feasts and dances for the Olympians.
[Pindar, Olympian Ode 14, 1-20] They also danced with the
Horae, Hebe,
Harmonia and Aphrodite in celebration of the arrival of
Apollo among the gods of Olympus, while
Artemis sang and Apollo played the lyre.
[ Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo, 186] They were often referenced as dancing and singing with Apollo and the
Muses.
[Hesiod, Theogony, 63] Pindar also referred to them as the guardians of the ancient
Minyans and the queens of Orchomenus who have their thrones beside
Apollo.
The Charites appear to have a connection to Hera, where some ancient authors reference her as their nurse.[Colluthus, Rape of Helen 88.] In the Iliad, as part of her plan to seduce Zeus to distract him from the Trojan War, she offers to arrange Hypnos's marriage to Pasithea, who is referred to as one of the younger Charites.[Homer, Iliad, 265]
One of the Charites had a role as the wife of the smith god Hephaestus. Hesiod names the wife of Hephaestus as Aglaea.[Hesiod, Theogony, 945 ff.] In the Iliad, she is called Charis, and she welcomes Thetis into their shared home on Olympus so that the latter may ask for Hephaestus to forge armor for her son Achilles.[Homer, Iliad, 18.382-385] Some scholars have interpreted this marriage as occurring after Hephaestus's divorce from Aphrodite due to her affair with Ares being exposed. Notably, however, some scholars, such as Walter Burkert, support that the marriage of Hephaestus and Aphrodite as an invention of the Odyssey, since it is not represented within other Archaic Greece or Classical era literature or arts, and it does not appear to have a connection to cult.
Cult
The cult of the Charites is very old, with their name appearing to be of
Pelasgians, or pre-Greek, origin rather than being brought to Greece by Proto-Indo-Europeans.
The purpose of their cult appears to be similar to that of nymphs, primarily based around fertility and nature with a particular connection to springs and rivers.
One of the earliest centres of worship for the Charites was the
Cyclades including
Paros, with epigraphical evidence for a cult to the Charites dating to the sixth century B.C.E. on the island of
Santorini.
Scholars have interpreted them as chthonic deities connected to fertility due to the absence of wreaths and flutes in ceremonies. An aetiological explanation for the lack of music and garlands was from a myth involving
Minos. He was said to have been sacrificing to the Charites on the island of Paros when he learned of his son's death in Athens and stopped the music and ripped off his garlands in grief.
Dance, however, appears to be strongly connected with their cult, which is similar to the cults of
Dionysus and
Artemis.
Although the Charites were most commonly depicted in the sanctuaries of other gods, there were at least four temples exclusively dedicated to them in Greece. The temple regarded as their perhaps most important was that in Orkhomenos in Boeotia, where their cult was thought to have originated. There were also temples to the Charites in Ermioni, Sparta, and Elis.[Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.34.10, 3.14.6, 6.24.6] A temple was dedicated to the Charites near the Tiasa in Amyclae, Laconia that was reportedly founded by the ancient King of Sparta, Lacedaemon.[Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3.18.6]
In Orkhomenos, the goddesses were worshipped at a very ancient site with a trio of stones, which is similar to other Boiotian cults to Eros and Heracles.
In cult, the Charites were particularly connected with Apollo and appear to be connected to his cult on Delos; however, this connection is not present in other cults to Apollo.
There was a festival in honour of the Charites which was called Charisia (Χαρίσια). During this festival there were dances all night and at the end a cake was given to those who remained awake during the whole time.[ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Charisia]
Visual art
Ancient art
Despite the Charites usually being depicted nude entwined in a "closed symmetrical group" for the last two millennia, this was a later development, as in depictions from
Archaic Greece and
Classical Greece, they are finely dressed,
and usually shown in a line, as dancers. In contrast, the third century BCE poets
Callimachus and Euphorion describe the trio as being nude.
The earliest representation of these goddesses was found in a temple of Apollo in Thermon dated to the seventh to sixth century BCE.
Kenneth Clark describes the "complicated" pose of the Three Graces facing inwards with interlaced arms as "one of the last beautiful inventions of antique art". He thought it was invented in the 1st century BCE, based on the proportions of the figures, and notes that none of the many survivals from antiquity are of "high quality".[They are all "either mediocre commercial pieces or such rough imitations as local masons might make of a subject which was popular, but not yet sanctified by time". Clark, 85] The opportunity for artists to show their skill in representing figures with three nude female figures seen from different angles has been a factor in the enduring popularity of the subject.
One of the earliest known Roman representations of the Graces was a wall painting in Boscoreale dated to 40 BCE, which also depicted Aphrodite with Eros and Dionysus with Ariadne.
Renaissance onwards
Clark writes that "For some reason the nakedness of the Graces was free from moral opprobium, and in consequence they furnished the subject through which pagan beauty was first allowed to appear in the 15th century".
[Clark, 86] Indeed, a large marble Graeco-Roman group, which was a key model in the Renaissance,
when it was in the Piccolomini Library, is now displayed in
Siena Cathedral.
The Charites are depicted together with several other mythological figures in Sandro Botticelli's painting Primavera. Raphael also pictured them in a small painting now in the Musée Condé (Chantilly, France). Among other artistic depictions, they are the subject of famous sculptures by Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen. The vast majority use a variant of the closed group pose.
A group of three trees in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park are named "The Three Graces" after the Charites.
List of notable artworks with images resembling the three Charites
-
Anonymous
-
Anonymous
[ Mosaico de las tres gracias]
-
Jean Arp (16 September 18867 June 1966) The Three Graces (1961)
-
Francesco Bartolozzi
-
Jacques Blanchard (1631–33) Man surprising Sleeping Venus and Graces
-
Giulio di Antonio Bonasone
-
Sandro Botticelli (1482); detail of Primavera;
-
Marie Bracquemond (1880) Trois femmes aux ombrelles
[Bouillon, Jean-Paul. Kane, Elizabeth (1984-1985). " Marie Bracquemond." Woman's Art Journal. 5(2): 21-27.]
-
Antonio Canova (1799) The Three Graces
-
Agostino Carracci
-
Paul Cézanne
-
Antonio da Correggio (1518);
-
Francesco del Cossa, , Palazzo Schifanoia, School of Ferrara.
-
Maurice Raphael Drouart
-
Ewen Feuillâtre The Three Graces : Aglaea, Euphrosyne & Thalia (2020)
-
Hans Baldung Grien (1540)
-
Ludwig Von Hofmann
-
Laura Knight
-
Jean-Baptiste van Loo (1684–1745) at the Château de Chenonceau
-
Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1348–50) Allegory of Good Government
-
Aristide Maillol, Les Trois Nymphes (1930-1937)
-
Jacob Matham
-
Arthur Frank Mathews
-
Henry Moore, Three Standing Figures (1947)
-
Bruce Peebles advertisement (c. 1900)
-
Pablo Picasso The Three Graces (1925)
-
Germain Pilon
[ Monument du coeur d'Henri II]
-
Jacopo Pontormo (1535)
-
James Pradier (1831) Les Trois Grâces
-
Jean-Baptiste Regnault Les Trois Grâces (1797–1798)
-
Peter Paul Rubens
-
Raphael Sanzio
-
Anna Soghomonyan, Three Graces (2020)
-
Cosimo Tura (1476–84) detail of Allegory of April
-
Unknown artist, The Three Graces sculpture in Indianapolis
-
Kehinde Wiley Three Graces
-
Joel-Peter Witkin
See also
Footnotes
(The Imagebase links are all broken)
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Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Arafat, Karim, s.v. Charites, published online 22 December 2015, in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Tim Whitmarsh, digital ed, New York, Oxford University Press. .
-
Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, The Orphic Hymns, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. . Internet Archive. Google Books.
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Boys-Stones, George, L. ANNAEUS CORNUTUS, GREEK THEOLOGY, ToposText.
-
Cameron, Alan, Greek Mythography in the Roman World, Oxford University Press, 2004. .
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Kenneth Clark, The Nude, A Study in Ideal Form, orig. 1949, various edns, page refs from Pelican edn of 1960
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Colluthus, The Rape of Helen in Oppian, Colluthus, Tryphiodorus, translated by A. W. Mair, Loeb Classical Library No. 219, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1928. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
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Fisher, Nick, "Kharis, Kharites, festivals, and social peace in the classical Greek city," in Ralph M. Rosen and Ineke Sluiter (Eds), Valuing Others in Classical Antiquity (Leiden, Brill, 2010) (Mnemosyne Supplements, 323).
-
Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2).
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Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, . "Charites" p. 99
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Hard, Robin (2004), The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, . Google Books.
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Homer, Iliad, Volume II: Books 13-24, translated by A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt, Loeb Classical Library No. 171, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1999. Online version at Harvard University Press. .
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Keightley, Thomas, The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy, Whittaker and Company, 1838. Google Books.
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Lang, C., Cornuti Theologiae Graecae Compendium, Leipzig 1881. Internet Archive.
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Nonnus, Dionysiaca, Volume II: Books 16–35,, translated by W. H. D. Rouse, Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive (1940).
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Nonnus, Dionysiaca, Volume III: Books 36–48, translated by W. H. D. Rouse, Loeb Classical Library No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive (1940, reprinted 1942).
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O'Hara, James J., "Sostratus Suppl. Hell. 733: A Lost, Possibly Catullan-Era Elegy on the Six Sex Changes of Tiresias", in Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-2014), 1996, Vol. 126 (1996), pp. 173-219. .
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Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Pindar, Olympian Odes. Pythian Odes. Edited and translated by William H. Race. Loeb Classical Library No. 56. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1997, revised 2012. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
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Schachter, Albert, s.v. Charites, in Brill’s New Pauly Online, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and, Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry, published online: 2006.
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Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Charis"
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Statius, Thebaid, Volume I: Thebaid: Books 1-7, edited and translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Loeb Classical Library No. 207, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2004. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
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Torres, José B., Lucius Annaeus Cornutus: Compendium de Graecae Theologiae traditionibus, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2018. Online version at De Gruyter.
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Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). .
External links
