Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/97

 THE GREEK GODS 83 as fatigued and just sinking down to sleep ; thus lie became practically identical with Thanatos, the god of death. Finally, the Platonic conception, that love both blesses and curses and torments the human soul, was expressed by representing Eros as now flatteringly embracing, and again cruelly torturing Psyche (' soul '), who was pictured as a butterfly ( 4), or as a maiden with a butterfly's wings. 112. The Charites (Lat. Gratiae, Eng. 'Graces'), the goddesses of charming grace, were adored in the Boeotian city, Orchomenus, under the symbol of three rough stones, a symbol which, like the stone of Eros in Thes- piae, may have had its origin in the times preceding the dominion of the Minyae. In other localities, even in very ancient times, they were represented as three maid- ens, clothed in long robes, standing in single file, with instruments of music, or with flowers, fruits, and fillets, in their hands. In this type they cannot be distinguished from Muses or Nymphs. In Athens, after the fifth cen- tury B.C., they were usually united in a group, clasping each other's hands ; but not until the third century were they represented as entirely nude and embracing each other. 113. In the Iliad the individual divinity Charis is the wife of Hephaestus ; but Homer is acquainted with a whole family of Charites. Usually Zeus was considered their father, and. Eurynome (' the wide-ruling one '), a daughter of Oceanus, as their mother. Their names are usually Euphrosyne (' cheerfulness '), Thalia ('bloom of life,' 'festal banquet'), and Aglai'a ('brightness'). By these names they are shown to have been goddesses of cheerful sociability, though they may have originally embodied particularly the glad charm of spring, and may have been closely related to the Horae.