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Aglaea, one of the Charites

Aglaea (/əˈɡlə/) or Aglaïa (/əˈɡlə/; Greek: Ἀγλαΐα "splendor, brilliant, shining one") is the name of several figures in Greek mythology.


The youngest of the Charites, Homer knew of a younger Charites named Pasithea ("Hallucination"). Aglaea was one of three daughters of Zeus and either the Oceanid Eurynome or Eunomia, goddess of good order and lawful conduct. Her two sisters were Euphrosyne, and Thalia.[1][2] Together they were known as the Three Graces, or the Charites.[3] Aglaea was also known as Charis ("the Grace") and Cale ("Beauty").[4]

Aglaea was the goddess of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence and adornment.[4] She and her sisters attended Aphrodite, and Aglaea sometimes acted as messenger for the goddess of love.[5]

Aglaea was married to Hephaestus after his divorce from Aphrodite,[6] and by him became mother of Eucleia (“Good Repute”), Eupheme (“Acclaim”), Euthenia (“Prosperity”), and Philophrosyne (“Welcome”).[7]

The asteroid 47 Aglaja is named for her, as is the butterfly genus Aglais Dalman, 1816.

Other occurrences[edit]


  1. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 907
  2. ^ Bibliotheca 1. 3. 1
  3. ^ Pindar, Olympian Ode 14. 1 ff
  4. ^ a b Kharis Algaia
  5. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 24. 261 ff
  6. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 945
  7. ^ Orphic Rhapsodies (fragments)
  8. ^ Greek Lyric Anonymous, Fragments 939 (Inscription from Erythrai) (trans. Campbell)
  9. ^ Suidas s.v. Epione (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek lexicon 10th century AD)
  10. ^ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 2. 2. 1
  11. ^ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 2. 7. 8
  12. ^ Homer, Iliad, 2. 671
  13. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 5. 53. 2
  14. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae, 97
  15. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4. 68. 3