THANKS. — From Lat. Gratiae, Gr. χάριτος, they are goddesses symbolizing beauty, bestowers of joy and, in general, of whatever delights life. Hesiod (Theog., 907) makes them daughters of Zeus and the Oceanid Eurynome (i.e., according to the exegesis of the naturalistic school, of the sky and of the dawn) and gives their names: Euphrosyne (= Joy), Aglaia (= Splendour), Thalia (= Flourishing).
On account of this significance of integral gladness they are conceived as inseparable and, as such, at first represented holding hands, clad in long chitons, later embraced and nude, though of a nudity not wanton, which justifies the epithet applied to them by Horace (Od., 1, 4, 6) of decentes, in which are combined the ideas of comeliness and propriety. Pindar (Ol., 14, 1) extols them as bestowers of wisdom, beauty, and splendour. In Athens they were venerated at the foot of the Acropolis, but their principal seat of worship was at Orchomenus in Boeotia. On account of the affinity of their number the Greeks often associated feminine deities in triads (cf. J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion, Oxford 1922, p. 286), and on account of the affinity of their significance the Graces are often associated with the Seasons, patronesses of the three seasons of the year, with the Nymphs and with the Muses. Their attributes are dice, flowers, and musical instruments.