Aglaea

Aglaea (Aglaia, “the shining one”) was one of the three Charites, or Graces, daughters of Zeus and the Oceanid Eurynome. In Hesiod she was the youngest of the three, and the wife of Hephaestus. Her name was also borne by other, less important figures in Greek myth.

Parents and Sisters

Hesiod says that Zeus took Eurynome, daughter of Oceanus, as his third wife, after Metis and Themis, and that she bore him three beautiful daughters, the Charites: Aglaea, Euphrosyne and lovely Thalia. Desire flows from their glancing eyes, and they look out lovely from beneath their brows (Hesiod, Theogony 907–911). Pausanias gives the same names and parents and adds that the poem of Onomacritus agrees (Pausanias 9.35.5). Pindar addresses Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia as the children of the mightiest of the gods (Pindar, Olympian 14).

Eunomia (Good Order) is a different goddess: Hesiod makes her a daughter of Zeus and Themis, one of the Seasons (Theogony 901–903). Not every tradition counted three Graces or gave them these names. Pausanias reports that the Spartans worshipped two, Cleta and Phaenna, and the Athenians two, Auxo and Hegemone, while the Boeotians said that Eteocles was the first to sacrifice to three (Pausanias 9.35.1–3). Antimachus, he adds, made the Graces daughters of Aegle and the Sun (Pausanias 9.35.5).

The Charites

The Graces appear together as attendants of beauty and festivity. They live beside the Muses in the festivals of the gods (Hesiod, Theogony 64–65), they bathe and anoint Aphrodite with ambrosial oil in Cyprus (Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 61–63), and they put golden necklaces on Pandora with Persuasion (Hesiod, Works and Days 73–75).

Wife of Hephaestus

Hesiod says that the famous lame god Hephaestus made Aglaea, the youngest of the Graces, his flourishing wife (Theogony 945–946). The wife of Hephaestus is named differently elsewhere: the song of Demodocus in the Odyssey makes Aphrodite his wife (Homer, Odyssey 8.266–366), and the Iliad calls his wife Charis, “Grace” (Iliad 18.382–383). Hesiod names no children of Aglaea and Hephaestus.

Other Aglaias

The name was also borne by mortal women. In the Catalogue of Ships, Nireus, the most beautiful man to come to Troy after Achilles, is the son of Aglaia and King Charopos, and led three ships from Syme (Homer, Iliad 2.671–675).

Aglaea Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 64–65, 901–911, 945–946; Hesiod, Works and Days 73–75; Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 61–63; Homer, Iliad 2.671–675, 18.382–383; Homer, Odyssey 8.266–366; Pindar, Olympian 14; Pausanias 9.35.1–5.

See Also: Charites, Zeus, Eurynome, Hephaestus, Euphrosyne, Thalia, Aphrodite