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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 2635680, member: 75937&quot;]This reverse type:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]580719[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I know what you&#039;re thinking--you&#039;re thinking Ol&#039; Roman Collector has gone off the deep end--but basically, the three Graces started off as sacred stones.</p><p><br /></p><p>From Pausanias (9.35.1-3; 9.38.1) we know that the Charites (Graces) were believed to have arrived on earth as aeroliths, rocks that fell at the feet of the legendary king, Eteocles. These rocks were in some way associated with water and the fertile prosperity of the city, as were other aniconic rocks worshipped in centers not far from Orchomenus. As were protecting goddesses of the Cephisian waters, the Charites were bound up with the water-based prosperity of Orchomenus.</p><p><br /></p><p>The relevent passages from <a href="http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias9B.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias9B.html" rel="nofollow">Pausanias</a>:</p><p><br /></p><p>The Boeotians say that Eteocles was the first man to sacrifice to the Graces. Moreover, they are aware that he established three as the number of the Graces, but they have no tradition of the names he gave them. The Lacedaemonians, however, say that the Graces are two, and that they were instituted by Lacedaemon, son of Taygete, who gave them the names of Cleta and Phaenna. These are appropriate names for Graces, as are those given by the Athenians, who from of old have worshipped two Graces, Auxo and Hegemone. Carpo is the name, not of a Grace, but of a Season. The other Season is worshipped together with Pandrosus by the Athenians, who call the goddess Thallo. It was from Eteocles of Orchomenus that we learned the custom of praying to three Graces. And Angelion and Tectaus, sons of Dionysus, who made the image of Apollo for the Delians, set three Graces in his hand. Again, at Athens, before the entrance to the Acropolis, the Graces are three in number; by their side are celebrated mysteries which must not be divulged to the many.</p><p><br /></p><p>At Orchomenus is a sanctuary of Dionysus, but the oldest is one of the Graces. They worship the stones most, and say that they fell for Eteocles out of heaven. The artistic images were dedicated in my time, and they too are of stone.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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