The Graces
The Graces were three happy Goddesses of Beauty. They were named:Aglaia, Splendor
Euphrosyne, Mirth
Thalia, Good CheerThey were the first ones to welcome Aphrodite when she was blown to shore by
the East Wind. The three of them rode in a chariot pulled by white geese. Their
name in Greek would have been the Charites. They were the daughters of Zeus
and Eurynome.
The Muses
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The Muses were nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. They played and
sang all of the time and entertained the Gods and Goddesses on Mount Olympus.
They also inspired creativity in everyone. The Muses were:Erato, the Muse of Lyrics
Euterpe, the Muse of Music
Thalia, the Muse of Comedy
Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy
Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance
Urania, the Muse of Astronomy
Clio, the Muse of History
Polyhymnia, the Muse The muse of lyric poetry and sacred hymns, and the inventor of the lyre.
Calliope, the Muse of Epics
Calliope
Chief of the nine Muses. She was the patron of epic poetry. In various accounts she is the mother of Orpheus, or of Hymen and Ialemus, or of Rhesus, or of Linus. And those four groups were sired by four different men, one of whom was the god Apollo.Erato
Erato's name translates as "passionate". She was the most famous of the Muses. She is the Muse of lyric love poetry and mime, usually depicted holding a lyre. Clio is another one of the nine Muses. She was the patron of history, and inventor of historical and heroic poetry. From a union with King Pierus she bore a son, Hyacinthus. He was a handsome lad who was killed by his lover, Apollo. From his blood grew the flower that bears his name.
CENTAURS
Centaurus Progenitor of the centaurs; son of Ixion and a cloud. This unorthodox parentage came about when Ixion, who had thrown his father-in-law into a fiery pit, was purified of the crime by Zeus. Rather than give thanks for the divine favor, he tried to seduce Zeus's wife. Hera warned her husband what was afoot, and Zeus fashioned a cloud into Hera's likeness. Ixion made a pass at the cloud and was caught in the act. He was immediately consigned to the Underworld for eternal punishment, but not before the cloud became pregnant with Centaurus.
Creatures which are half human, half horse. In some of the earliest depictions they have an entirely human body with human forelegs but with the back half of a horse growing out of their backs, later the standard represented develops: a horse's body with a human torso growing out of it (see the various representations under Monsters). Both Herakles and Theseus engage in battles with Centaurs (Centauromachies). Centaurs typically use weapons taken directly from nature like rocks or branches.
Centaurs are usually depicted battling as a group against their human adversaries, but some individuals have a prominent in mythology. Nessos (or Nettos) was the centaur who tried to rape Herakles' wife Deianira and gave her the poisonous 'love potion' that would eventually kill Herakles. Pholos was the host of Herakles - his hospitality led to Herakles' centauromachy (see Apollodoros). The most famous 'good' centaur was Cheiron, the immortal centaur who was wounded by Herakles and allowed by Zeus to give up his immortality rather than live in agony for eternity (Apollodoros' statement that he gave his immortality to Prometheus is a puzzle as Prometheus was immortal anyway, perhaps Herakles, who did become immortal, is meant.) Cheiron was entrusted with the upbringing of the young Jason and Achilles.
In the Theogony Cheiron is the offspring of Phillyra and elsewhere his father is identified as Kronos who had taken on the form of a horse to mate with Phillyra. Cheiron is therefore a unique being. Centaurs in general are explained by Pindar (Pythian 2) as the children of a human called Kentauros, son of Ixion and Hera, who mated with horses.
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