My daughter was reading a Greek myth about how Perseus came to cut off the head of the Medusa to whom he was guided by the Graeae. The Graeae were three weird women (witches?) who had only one eye and passed it back and forth between themselves. Some questions about the Graeae:
a) How is this pronounced?
b) Was this mentioned in The Odyssey by any chance?
c) Was this the inspriation for Shakespeare’s three witches in “MacBeth”?
That’s odd. I forgot what they were called, but remember where they lived, in Aeaea. Didn’t they also only have one tooth that they passed back and forth among themselves?
Wasn’t that an eye? Its been years since I’ve read any of it, so I may be wrong.
Both a tooth and an eye.
Lots of stuff came in threes in fairy tales and legends. I don’t usually peg it on Greek influence, just on it being a number that gives a lot of play (two sides and a decider, two extreme behaviours both of which are bad and a third middle who’s the right one…)
The Graeae (I’m not sure how to pronounce it, either. I say “Gray-Eye”. In the original Greek, transliterated, it’s Graiai) were three monsters who had the forms of old women. They shared one eye among themselves and, accorduing to some, one tooth as well. They were the daughters of Phorkys (Phorcus), the “Old Man of the Sea”, and Ketos (Cetus) the Sea Monster. Interestingly enough, these are the parents of the Gorgons, who were also triplet monsters. Because of their father, they were also called the Phorkides.
They only occur in the myth of Perseus, although they’re mentioned elsewhere in mythology. I don’t recall their being in the Iliad and the Odyssey, although they might be mentioned in one or the other. If you want to read their story, you can find it in Apollodorus’ Biblioteka (The Library). Apollodorus was a collector of myths from vatrious places. A great stylist he wasn’t, but he’s invaluable as a reference. He almost certainly took his account from the much earlier writer Pherekydes, whose work we have in fragmentary form. Ovide retold the story, changing some things.
Perseus had to go to the Graeae to get information, but exactly what information differs from teller to teller. In some he needs to find from them the way to the Nymphs, who will give him the wonder-weaponsd he needs to defeat the Gorgon. In others he needs to find out from them the way to the Gorgons themselves. You wouldn’t think that a bunch of old ladies with one eye and one tooth would be much of a threat, but they were apparently dangerous. Perseus crept among them and grabbed the Eye, holding it hostage until they told him what he needed to know. According to one account, after they told him, he threw the eye into Lake Tritonis in Africa, rather than returning it.
The fact that there are two sets of three monstrous sisters of Phorkys and Ketos that Perseus has to overcome sttrongly suggests to me that they are doublets – two variant forms of essentially the same myth that ended up both being preserved because they werre too good to throw one out. he version with him craftily getting the Eye from the Graeae is just too irresistable to be thrown out, but the story of the snaky, petrifying Gorgons is scarier, so they got top billing and the Graeae were reduced to supporting pl;ayers. They don’t show up in any other myths. There is one undoubted picture of them on a Greek Pyxis lid, showing Perseus stealing the Eye:
http://www.visart.uga.edu/courses/arhi4030/slides/greek_classical/pyx-pers-gorg.html
There are a few questionable other illustrations of them, but I’m not convinced.
I once asked somweone else who had written about them if there was a relationship between the three Graeae and three Gorgons and three Fates, and he said “Of Course!” It’s not obvious to me. I have a theory about why there are three Gorgons and Theree Graeae, and I spell it out in my book (e-mail me and and I’ll tell you more), but it’s not obvious to me that thjis extends to all the other sets of three semi-divine figures (of which there are a surprising number in Greek and Roman mythology). Nevertheless, other people made the same connection. Look at the Disney movie Hercules, where the Three Fates have that single Eye they pass from one to another. There’s no mythological basis for identifying the two sets, and I’m sure the Disney artists did it for the sake of the nifty images and storytelling.
By the way, that’s Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
I don’t know if they inspired Shakespeare’s Three Witches. I suspect he number three, which has mystic significance, itself could suggest the number, and that if a classical model was needed the Three Fates would be more direct. As I note, others think the Three Fates and the Three Graeae are directly relasted. I’m not convinced.
According to Bulfinch’s Mythology The Graeae, aka the gray maids, were three sisters born with gray hair. They are, according to Bulfinch, the personification of the terrors of the sea.
When I had a high school course in mythology (do they still even teach it in high schools?), the teacher used Anglicized pronunciations similar to the way doctors and scientists pronounce their Latin terms and phrases. So the place where they lived, Aeaea, was “ee-EE-uh”, and Graeae was presumably “GREE-ee”.
The famous Lowbrow artist, SHAG, did a print based on this story.
http://www.shag.com/Heroes/Blindsisters.html
A cool reinterpretation of a Classical theme.
Interesting Pic.
Here, for contrast, is the picture of the “Stygian Witches” (who are obviously supposed to be the Graeae – maybe they didn’t want to worry about how to pronounce it) from the Ray Harryhausen movie Clash of the Titans:
http://re3.mm-a5.yimg.com/image/3251449038
They remind me of the oldest witch in Roman Polanski’s version of Macbeth.
If I recall correctly, in the game Kings Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, there is a bit where Rosella has to deal with three characters who seem like some kind of amalgam of Macbeth’s witches and the Gaeae.
-FrL-
And, for comparison, here are the Fates from the Disney Hercules:
