Euphrosyne Explained

Type:	Greek
Euphrosyne
Deity Of:	Goddess of good cheer, joy and mirth
Member Of:	The Charites
Affiliation:	Aphrodite
Cult Centre:	Boeotia
Abode:	Mount Olympus
Parents:	Zeus and Eurynome Erebus and Nyx^[1]

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Euphrosyne (; grc|Εὐφροσύνη|Euphrosúnē) is a goddess, one of the three Charites, known in ancient Rome as the Gratiae (Graces). She was sometimes called Euthymia (grc|Εὐθυμία||happiness) or Eutychia (grc|Εὐτυχία||good cheer).^[2]

Family

According to Hesiod, Euphrosyne and her sisters Thalia and Aglaea are the daughters of Zeus and the Oceanid nymph Eurynome.^[3] Alternative parentage may be Zeus and Eurydome, Eurymedousa, or Euanthe;^[4] Dionysus and Coronis;^[5] or Helios and the Naiad Aegle.^[6]

The Roman author Hyginus, in his Fabulae, also mentions a figure named Euphrosyne, who is the daughter of Nox (Night) and Erebus (Darkness).^[7]

Mythology

Euphrosyne is a goddess of good cheer, joy and mirth.^[8] Her name is the female version of the word euphrosynos, "merriment". Pindar wrote that these goddesses were created to fill the world with pleasant moments and good will.^[9] The Charites attended the goddess of beauty Aphrodite.^[10]

In art, Euphrosyne is usually depicted with her sisters dancing.

Cults

Euphrosyne and her sisters' main cult was located in Athens, Sparta, or Boetia.^[11]

Legacy

In art and literature

• Euphrosyne is depicted with the other two Graces, Aglaea and Thalia, at the left of the painting in Botticelli's Primavera. The sculptor Antonio Canova made a well-known piece in white marble representing the three Graces, in several copies including one for John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford.^[12]
• Joshua Reynolds painted Mrs. Mary Hale, wife of General John Hale, as Euphrosyne in 1766.
• John Milton invoked her in the poem L'Allegro.^[13] She also has a singing part as the spirit of mirth in John Dalton and Thomas Arne's 1738 musical adaptation of Milton's Comus and speaks the epilogue.^[14]

In science

• The asteroid 31 Euphrosyne is named after the goddess, as is the Euphrosinidae family of marine worms.
• Augustin Pyramus de Candolle named a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae Euphrosyne.

References

• Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863–1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pindar, Odes translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pindar, The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.

Notes and References

1. [Hyginus]
2. [Pindar]
3. [Hesiod]
4. [Lucius Annaeus Cornutus|Cornutus]
5. [Nonnus]
6. [Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]
7. [Hyginus]
8. Book: Larson, Jennifer. Ancient Greek Cults. Routledge. 2007. 978-0415491020. New York, NY. 162–163.
9. Pindar, Olympian Ode 14.1-20
10. Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite 58
11. Web site: www.britannica.com. 2016-08-31.
12. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/t/the-three-graces/ The Three Graces.
13. "Milton, L'Allegro and Il Penseroso "
14. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QSV4P_4zrjAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=comus+%22John+Dalton%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=comus%20%22John%20Dalton%22&f=false Comus, a Mask (Now adapted to the Stage)