Irlandos: New page: In Greek mythology, a '''Charis''' (Χάρις) is one of several '''Charites''' (Χάριτες; Greek: "'''Graces'''"), goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human cr...

2008-11-17T15:16:54Z

New page: In Greek mythology, a '''Charis''' (Χάρις) is one of several '''Charites''' (Χάριτες; Greek: "'''Graces'''"), goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human cr...

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In [[Greek mythology]], a '''Charis''' (Χάρις) is one of several '''Charites''' (Χάριτες; [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]: "'''Graces'''"), goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility. They ordinarily numbered three, from youngest to oldest: [[Aglaea]] ("Beauty"), [[Euphrosyne]] ("Mirth"), and [[Thalia]] ("Good Cheer"). In Roman mythology they were known as the '''Gratiae''', the "Graces."

The Charites were usually considered the daughters of [[Zeus]] and [[Eurynome]], though they were also said to be daughters of [[Dionysus]] and [[Aphrodite]] or of [[Helios]] and the [[naiad]] [[Aegle]]. [[Homer]] wrote that they were part of the retinue of Aphrodite. The Charites were also associated with the [[Hades|underworld]] and the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]].

The river [[Cephissus (Boeotia)|Cephissus]] near [[Delphi]] was sacred to them.

==Regional differences==
Although the Graces usually numbered three, according to the [[Sparta]]ns, Cleta, not Thalia, was the third, and other Graces are sometimes mentioned, including [[Auxo]], [[Charis]], [[Hegemone]], [[Phaenna]], and [[Pasithea]].

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] interrupts his ''[[Description of Greece]]'' (book 9.xxxv.1 - 7) to expand upon the various conceptions of the Graces that had developed in different parts of mainland Greece and [[Ionia]]:

:"The [[Boeotia]]ns say that [[Eteocles]] was the first man to sacrifice to the Graces. Moreover, they are aware that he established three as the number of the Graces, but they have no tradition of the names he gave them. The [[Lacedaemonia]]ns, however, say that the Graces are two, and that they were instituted by [[Lacedaemon]], son of [[Taygete]], who gave them the names of [[Cleta]] and [[Phaenna]]. These are appropriate names for Graces, as are those given by the Athenians, who from of old have worshipped two Graces, [[Auxo]] and [[Hegemone]]... It was from [[Eteocles]] of [[Orchomenus]] that we learned the custom of praying to three Graces. And [[Angelion]] and [[Tectaus]], sons of Dionysus, who made the image of [[Apollo]] for the [[Delia]]ns, set three Graces in his hand. Again, at Athens, before the entrance to the [[Acropolis]], the Graces are three in number; by their side are celebrated mysteries which must not be divulged to the many. [[Pamphos]] (Πάμφως or Πάμφος) was the first we know of to sing about the Graces, but his poetry contains no information either as to their number or about their names. [[Homer]] (he too refers to the Graces ) makes one the wife of [[Hephaestus]], giving her the name of Grace. He also says that Sleep was a lover of Pasithea, and in the speech of Sleep there is this verse:--

::''Verily that he would give me one of the younger Graces.''

:"Hence some have suspected that Homer knew of older Graces as well. [[Hesiod]] in the ''[[Theogony]]'' (though the authorship is doubtful, this poem is good evidence ) says that the Graces are daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, giving them the names of Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia. The poem of Onomacritus agrees with this account. Antimachus, while giving neither the number of the Graces nor their names, says that they are daughters of Aegle and the Sun. The elegiac poet Hermesianax disagrees with his predecessors in that he makes Persuasion also one of the Graces."

==In art==

On the representation of the Graces, Pausanias wrote,

:"Who it was who first represented the Graces naked, whether in sculpture or in painting, I could not discover. During the earlier period, certainly, sculptors and painters alike represented them draped. At [[Smyrna]], for instance, in the sanctuary of the [[Nemesis (mythology)|Nemeses]], above the images have been dedicated Graces of gold, the work of Bupalus; and in the Music Hall in the same city there is a portrait of a Grace, painted by [[Apelles]]. At [[Pergamon|Pergamus]] likewise, in the chamber of [[Attalus I|Attalus]], are other images of Graces made by Bupalus; and near what is called the Pythium there is a portrait of Graces, painted by Pythagoras the Parian. Socrates too, son of Sophroniscus, made images of Graces for the Athenians, which are before the entrance to the Acropolis. Also, Socrates was know to have destroyed his own work as he progressed deeper into his life of philosophy and search of the conscious due to his iconoclastic attitude towards art and the like. All these are alike draped; but later artists, I do not know the reason, have changed the way of portraying them. Certainly to-day sculptors and painters represent Graces naked."

==See also==
*[[Aglaea]]
*[[Euphrosyne]]
*[[Thalia]]

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Greek mythology]]

Charites - Revision history

Irlandos: New page: In Greek mythology, a '''Charis''' (Χάρις) is one of several '''Charites''' (Χάριτες; Greek: "'''Graces'''"), goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human cr...