Charites

The Charities (Charis) were the three (or more) minor goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, and fertility. In Roman mythology they were known as the Gratiae, or the "Graces". They are somewhat similar to the Horae and the Muses.

Family
The Charites were usually considered the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome (or Eurydome, Eurymedousa, and Euanthe). In other versions they were instead daughters of Dionysus and Aphrodite, or of Helios and the naiad Aegle.

Homer wrote that they were part of the retinue of Aphrodite.

Myths & Legends
The usual list of the main three Graces, from youngest to oldest, is Aglaea ("Splendor"), Euphrosyne ("Mirth"), and Thalia ("Good Cheer"). These three daughters of Zeus and Eurynome are generally agreed upon by the poets Hesiod, Onomacritus, and potentially Homer.

The Charites were also associated with the Greek underworld and the Eleusinian Mysteries. The river Cephissus near Delphi was sacred to the three goddesses.

Other Graces/Charities
Although the Graces usually numbered three, according to the Spartans, Cleta, not Thalia, was the third, and other Graces are sometimes mentioned, including:
 * Auxo (One of the Horae, of Growth)
 * Hegemone
 * Peitho (persuasion)
 * Phaenna (gratitude and benevolence)
 * Pasithea (rest and relaxation, she became Hypnos' wife)
 * In some variants, "Charis" was an individual Grace, rather than the name for all of them. Charis or Cale (meaning "grace") was said to be a wife of Hephastus according to Homer. According to Hesiod, the "Charis" or "Grace" who was married to Hephestus was Aglaea.

Regional Differences in Number and Names of the Graces
Depending on the poet, and the region they came from, there are differences in how many Graces there are, what their names were, and who their parents were. In his Description of Greece, Pausanias described some of these poets/regions of Greece and Ionia and their discrepanies. For example, Antimachus, while giving neither the number of the Graces nor their names, said that the graces are daughters of Aegle and the Sun.

Two Graces

 * Lacedaemon, son of Taygete, instituted 2 Graces in his homeland named Cleta ("Sound" or "Renowned") and Phaenna ("Light" or "Bright").
 * The Athenians originally worshipped 2 Graces named Auxo ("Increase" or "Growth") and Hegemone ("Leader" or "Queen"), Later Hermesianax added Peitho ("Persuasion") as a third.

Three Graces

 * Nonnus gives their three names as Pasithea, Peitho and Aglaia.
 * Homer depicted a Grace named Charis as a wife of Hephaestus. He also says that Sleep was a lover of Pasithea ("Hallucination"), and in the speech of Sleep there is this verse, hinting that he may know of the elder graces as well: Verily that he would give me one of the younger Graces.
 * Sostratus gives the names as Pasithea, Cale ("Beauty") and Euphrosyne;  Pasithea for Aglaia and Cale for Thalia, Euphrosyne is unchanged.

Five Graces

 * An ancient vase painting at s the following names as five: Antheia ("Blossoms"), Eudaimonia ("Happiness"), Paidia ("Play"), Pandaisia ("Banquet"), Pannychis ("Night Festivities")—all referring to the Charites as patronesses of amusement and festivities.

Origins
Pausanias also wrote of who first sacrified to the graces, followed by a commissioned scultpture, and the first who was recorded to have sung about the Graces:
 * "The Boeotians 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...
 * 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 Delians, 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."

Depictions 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 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 Pergamus likewise, in the chamber of 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 known 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."

During the Renaissance, the Roman statue group of the three graces in the Piccolomini library in Duomo di Siena inspired most themes.

The Charites are depicted together with several other mythological figures in Sandro Botticelli's painting Primavera. Raphael also pictured them in a painting now housed in Chantilly in France. Among other artistic depictions, they are the subject of famous sculptures by Antonio Canova and Bertel Thorvaldsen.

A group of three trees in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park are named "The Three Graces" after the Charites.