Charites

's painting Primavera in the Uffizi Gallery. In Hesiod's Theogony, the Charites are the three daughters of Zeus: Aglaea ("Splendor"), Euphrosyne ("Joy"), and Thalia ("Good Cheer"), by the Oceanid Eurynome (also called Hermione). The identical genealogy is given by Apollodorus. The same three names are also given by Pindar, with a possible reference to their "father" Zeus and no mother mentioned. Although the Charites were usually considered to be Zeus' daughters and three in number, their names as well as their parentage and number varied. Homer mentions Pasithea as "one of the youthful Graces", and perhaps has "Charis" (the singular form of "Charites"), as the name of another, but does not give their parentage, number, or any other of their names. The geographer Pausanias gives other variations, some regional. He says that, according to Boeotian 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. 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]". While Hesiod has Eurynome, and Antimachus has Aegle, as the mother of the Charites, other names were also given. According to Orphic Hymn 60, the Charites ("Aglaea, Thalia, ... Euphrosyne") were the daughters of Zeus and Eunomia. The Stoic philosopher Cornutus includes the names Eurynome, and Aegle, he gives other names for mothers as well: Eurydome, Eurymedousa, Hera, and Euanthe. Nonnus has his three Charites (Hesiod's Aglaea, Homer's Pasithea, and Hermesianax's Peitho) being the daughters of Dionysus and Coronis. 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. ==Mythology==

The Charites' major mythological role was to attend the other Olympians, particularly during feasts and dances. They attended Aphrodite by bathing and anointing her in Paphos before her seduction of Ankhises and after she left Olympus when her affair with Ares is found out. Additionally, they are said to weave or dye her peplos. Along with Peitho, they presented Pandora with necklaces to make her more enticing. Pindar stated the Charites arranged feasts and dances for the Olympians. They also danced with the Seasons, Hebe, Harmonia and Aphrodite in celebration of the arrival of Apollo among the gods of Olympus, while Artemis sang and Apollo played the lyre. They were often referenced as dancing and singing with Apollo and the Muses. Pindar also referred to them as the guardians of the ancient Minyans and the queens of Orchomenus who have their thrones beside Pythian Apollo's. 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. One of the Charites had a role as the wife of the smith god Hephaestus. Hesiod names the wife of Hephaestus as Aglaea. 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. 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 or Classical era literature or arts, and it does not appear to have a connection to cult. == Cult ==

'', Antonio Canova's first version, now in the Hermitage Museum|280x280px The cult of the Charites is very old, with their name appearing to be of Pelasgian, 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. A temple was dedicated to the Charites near the Tiasa river in Amyclae, Laconia that was reportedly founded by the ancient King of Sparta, Lacedaemon. , 1831. Louvre.|left|280x280px 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 Herakles. ==Visual art==

Ancient art ; Ancient folklore held that it was sculpted by Socrates, though this is unlikely. 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 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 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. , now in Siena Cathedral|left 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. Indeed, a large marble Graeco-Roman group, which was a key model in the Renaissance, List of notable artworks with images resembling the three Charites • Anonymous • Anonymous • 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 • Antonio Canova (1799) The Three Graces • Agostino Carracci • Paul Cézanne • Antonio da Correggio (1518); • Francesco del Cossa, Allegory of April, 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 & Co. advertisement (c. 1900) • Eduard Zimmermann, "Fountain of the Three Graces" (Drei Grazien Brunnen) in the ETH Zurich main building (1921). • Pablo Picasso The Three Graces (1925) • Germain Pilon • 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==