The Three Graces

Another point of contact for me is The Three Graces. I’m one of three sisters too (with similar fat thighs). The marble statue to the right is a Roman copy of a Greek work of the 2nd century BC, according to The Met.

They were also called the three Charites, plural of charis. Their parents were serial rapist Zeus and  Eurynome, daughter of the ocean. I like the maternal line. My sisters and I grew up on Long Island, splashing and body surfing in the Atlantic.

In the Theogony, Hesiod calls them “beautiful-cheeked.” “From their eyes desire, the limb-melter, trickles down when they look; and they look beautifully from under their eyebrows” (907). No one has ever described me that way. The youngest (so that’s me), Aglaea , personifies radiance or beauty. (I’ll go with the first.) She married the blacksmith Hephaistos. I married a working-class guy, too, a chef. My sisters are Euphrosyne (joy or mirth), and Thalia (abundance). I’ve got to do more research to figure out who’s who.

Sources:

Cartwright, Mark. “Graces.” Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified May 15, 2016. https://www.ancient.eu/Graces/.

“Marble Statue Group of the Three Graces,” The MET, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/256403

2 thoughts on “The Three Graces

  1. Thank you; so interesting, especially to tie to your familial story. I have three sisters! And four brothers…anything similar to this in sculpture of three (or more or less) brothers?

    Mary Tunstall Staton Charlotte, NC

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    1. Not that I know of, but I haven’t looked. I have just two brothers. Thanks for reading.

      Like

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