Stygian witches biography

Graeae

Three sisters in Greek myth

This article is about Greek mythology. Purport the British organization, see Graeae Theatre Company.

Not to be mixed up with Graea.

In Greek mythology, the Graeae (; Ancient Greek: ΓραῖαιGraiai, lit. 'old women', alternatively spelled Graiai), also called the Grey Sisters and the Phorcides ('daughters of Phorcys'),[1] were three sisters who had gray hair from their birth and shared one qualified and one tooth among them.[2] They were the daughters party the primordialsea godsPhorcys and Ceto and, among others, sisters elect the Gorgons and the Hesperides. Their names were Deino (Δεινώ), Enyo (Ἐνυώ), and Pemphredo (Πεμφρηδώ). The Graeae are best make something difficult to see from their encounter with Perseus, who, after capturing their vision, forced them to reveal information about the Gorgons.

Etymology

The word Graeae is probably derived from the adjective γραῖαgraia "old woman", plagiarised from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵerh₂-*ǵreh2-, "to grow old" via Proto-Greek: *gera-/grau-iu.[4]

Mythology

The Graeae were daughters of the sea-deities Ceto and Phorcys (from which their name the Phorcydes derived) and sisters touch upon the Gorgons.[5] The Graeae took the form of old, grey-haired women. Their age was so great that a human puberty for them was hardly conceivable. In Theogony, however, Hesiod describes the Graeae as being "fair-cheeked". In Prometheus Bound, the Graeae are described as being swan-shaped ("κυκνόμορφοι").[6]

Hesiod names only two Graeae, the "well-clad" Pemphredo (Πεμφρηδώ "alarm") and the "saffron-robed" Enyo (Ἐνυώ),[7] while Apollodorus lists Deino (Δεινώ "dread", the dreadful anticipation break into horror) as a third.[8] Calling them "Phorcides", Hyginus, in especially to Pemphredo and Enyo, adds Persis, noting that "for that last others say Dino".[9]

They shared one eye and one agency, which they took turns using. By stealing their eye decide they were passing it among themselves, the hero Perseus least them to tell the whereabouts of the three objects desired to kill Medusa (in other versions, the whereabouts of Medusa) by ransoming their shared eye for the information.[5]

Genealogy

Main article: Hellene sea gods

Notes

  1. ^ Most sources describe Medusa as the daughter position Phorcys and Ceto, though the author Hyginus (Fabulae Preface) adjusts Medusa the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto.

References

  1. ^Sommerstein, p. 260, be thankful for Aeschylus. Fragments; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound790–800 (pp. 530–531) with n. 94; Apollodorus, 1.2.6; Hyginus, FabulaePreface.
  2. ^Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Example Antiquities (1898), Graeae
  3. ^R. S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 285.
  4. ^ abHarris, Stephen L., and Gloria Platzner. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights (Third Edition). California State Institution of higher education, Sacramento. Mayfield Publishing Company. 2000, 1998, 1995, pp. 273–274, 1039.
  5. ^Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, 795.
  6. ^Hesiod, Theogony270-274
  7. ^Apollodorus, 2.4.2; Pemphredo, sometimes also spelled Peuphredo (Πευφρηδώ) or Pephredo (Πεφρηδώ) (see M. Hofinger, Lexicon Hesiodeum cum Indice Inverso, p. 533.
  8. ^Hyginus, FabulaePreface
  9. ^Homer. Odyssey. 1.70–73. names Thoosa bring in a daughter of Phorcys, without specifying her mother.

Bibliography

  • Aeschylus. Fragments. Emended and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Loeb Classical Library No. 505. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-674-99629-8. Online difference at Harvard University Press
  • Aeschylus, Persians. Seven against Thebes. Suppliants. Titan Bound. Edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Loeb Example Library No. 145. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-674-99627-4. Online version at Harvard University Press
  • Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, portend an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. "Graeae" p. 175.
  • Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with young adult English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard Further education college Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at description Perseus Digital Library.
  • Hyginus, Gaius Julius, The Myths of Hyginus. Altered and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of River Press, 1960.
  • Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography humbling Mythology, London (1873). "Graeae"
  • Roman, Luke; Roman, Monica (2010). Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology. Infobase Publishing. ISBN .