Editing Charites (section)

==Mythology==
[[File:Relief Kharites Glyptothek Munich 241.jpg|thumb|6th-century BCE relief|left]]
The Charites' major mythological role was to attend the other Olympians, particularly during feasts and dances.<ref>Milleker, p. 69.</ref> They attended Aphrodite by bathing and anointing her in [[Paphos]] before her seduction of [[Anchises|Ankhises]] and after she left Olympus when her affair with Ares is found out.<ref>''Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D5 58].</ref> Additionally, they are said to weave or dye her [[peplos]].<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D5%3Acard%3D318 5.338]</ref> Along with [[Peitho]], they presented [[Pandora]] with necklaces to make her more enticing.<ref>Hesiod, ''Works and Days'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0132%3Acard%3D59 69]</ref> Pindar stated the Charites arranged feasts and dances for the Olympians.<ref name=":3">[[Pindar]], Olympian Ode 14, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D14 1-20]</ref> They also danced with the [[Horae|Seasons]], [[Hebe (mythology)|Hebe]], [[Harmonia]] and Aphrodite in celebration of the arrival of [[Apollo]] among the gods of Olympus, while [[Artemis]] sang and Apollo played the lyre.<ref>''Homeric Hymn 3 to Pythian Apollo'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D3 186]</ref> They were often referenced as dancing and singing with Apollo and the [[Muses]].<ref>Hesiod, ''Theogony'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D63 63]</ref> Pindar also referred to them as the guardians of the ancient [[Minyans]] and the queens of [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] who have their thrones beside [[Apollo|Pythian Apollo's]].<ref name=":3" />

The Charites appear to have a connection to [[Hera]], where some ancient authors reference her as their nurse.<ref>[[Colluthus]], ''Rape of Helen'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/colluthus-rape_helen/1928/pb_LCL219.549.xml 88].</ref> In the [[Iliad]], as part of her [[Deception of Zeus|plan to seduce Zeus]] to distract him from the [[Trojan War]], she offers to arrange [[Hypnos]]'s marriage to Pasithea, who is referred to as one of the younger Charites.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D14%3Acard%3D242 265]</ref>

One of the Charites had a role as the wife of the smith god Hephaestus. Hesiod names the wife of Hephaestus as Aglaea.<ref name=hesiod945>Hesiod, ''Theogony'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D901 945 ff].</ref> In the ''Iliad'', she is called Charis, and she welcomes [[Thetis]] into their shared home on Olympus so that the latter may ask for Hephaestus to forge armor for her son [[Achilles]].<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D18%3Acard%3D360 18.382-385]</ref> Some scholars have interpreted this marriage as occurring after Hephaestus's divorce from Aphrodite due to her affair with Ares being exposed. Notably, however, some scholars, such as [[Walter Burkert]], support that the marriage of Hephaestus and Aphrodite as an invention of the [[Odyssey]], since it is not represented within other [[Archaic Greece|Archaic]] or [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] era literature or arts, and it does not appear to have a connection to cult.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Homer's Odyssey|last=Burkert|first=Walter|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199233328|editor-last=Doherty|editor-first=Lillian E.|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|pages=29–43|chapter=The Song of Ares and Aphrodite: On the Relationship between the Odyssey and the Iliad}}</ref>