Graces, Gratiae, Charites, in the heathen theology, were fabulous deities, three in number, who attended on Venus. Their names are, Aglia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne; i.e. shining, flourishing, and gay; or, according to some authors, Pasitha, Euphrosyne, and Aegiale. They were supposed by some to be the daughters of Jupiter and Eurynome the daughter of Oceanus; and by others, to be the daughters of Bacchus and Venus.

Some will have the Graces to have been four; and make them the same with the Hours ("hours"), or rather with the four seasons of the year. A marble in the king of Prussia's cabinet represents the three Graces in the usual manner, with a fourth seated and covered with a large veil, with the words underneath, Ad Sores IIII. But this group we may understand to be the three Graces, and Venus, who was their sister, as Gracilis being daughter of Jupiter and Dione.

The graces are always supposed to have hold of each other's hands, and never parted. They were painted naked, to show that the Graces borrow nothing from art, and that they have no other beauties than what are natural.

Yet in the first ages they were not represented naked, as appears from Pausanias, lib. vi. and lib. ix. who describes their temple and statues. They were of wood, all but their head, feet, and hands, which were white marble. Their robe or gown was gilt: one of them held in her hand a rose, another a dye, and the third a sprig of myrtle.