The Graeae in Greek Mythology

The grouping of three old women has played a sinister role in many pieces of literature, one only has to bring Shakespeare’s Macbeth to mind to visualise the three witches from the opening acts. One of the original groupings of three women from literature comes from Greek mythology, and were collectively known as the Graeae.

Perseus and the Graiae - Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898) - PD-art-100

The Graeae were three women normally depicted as the epitome of old age, and their name indeed means the grey ones or old women. They only come to prominence though when their life story crosses that of one of the most famous of Greek heroes, Perseus.

The Graeae were the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, Phorcys being one of the gods of the sea, often called the original old man of the sea, whilst Ceto is often depicted as the original sea monster. This parentage though ensured that the Graeae were sisters to the Gorgons, Sirens, Echidna, Ladon, Scylla and Thoosa. Traditionally they were always depicted as elderly and grey haired women, who were born with only one eye and one tooth between them.

Hesiod, and other contemporary sources name the three Graeae as Enyo, also known as horror, Deino, dread, and Pemphredo, alarm. Enyo is perhaps the most significant of the trio, and is often described as the waster of cities, although there is some conjecture that there were two females in Greek mythology with the same name.

The role of the Graeae was primarily seen as being the guardians of their sisters, the Gorgons, and in particular were the holders of the secret to their location. It was in this role that eventually saw them visited by Perseus, who was in search of their sister, Medusa, in order that his own quest could be brought to a conclusion. Perseus made use of the fear that the Graeae had, a fear of being permanently blind, and so as the sisters passed the one eye between them, Perseus stole in and took it. Perseus then demanded answers to his questions, and held the eye as the bargaining chip. The Graeae were more fearful of losing their eye forever, than they were of failing to fulfill their obligations as secret keeper. Thus Perseus managed to discover the location of the Gorgons.

After the visit of Perseus, the Graeae did not appear again in any mainstream stories from Greek mythology. They were though only one of a number of three sisterhoods that populated the tales, and the likes of the Moirae also played key roles in Greek mythology.

Although often described as being hideous to look at, the Graeae did little to antagonise anyone, and it is a continuing theme amongst stories from Greek mythology, that the hero is not exactly heroic in his dealings with them. Perseus played on their fears and scared information out of the Graeae to his own ends.

Copyright - First Published 6th July 2009

Keywords - Graeae, Graeae Sisters, Perseus and the Graeae, Graeae in Greek mythology, Graeae myth, sisters in Greek mythology,