The Graces

The Charites, the Graces (Roman Gratiae), are the three goddesses of grace, beauty, charm, and joyful giving — Aglaia (Splendour), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer). Companions of Aphrodite and the Muses, they bestow the loveliness and delight that adorn life, art, and festivity.

The Neoplatonists found meaning even in their dance: the three Graces, joined hand in hand in a ring, became an emblem of the rhythm of giving, receiving, and returning — the circling generosity by which good flows out from its source and back again, an image dear to the philosophy of beauty.