Graeae

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Graeae

The Graeae (English translation

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
: "old women", "gray ones", or "gray witches", alternatively spelled Graiai (G?a?a?), Graiae, Graii), were three sisters with one eye and one tooth shared among them, and one of several trios of archaic goddesses in Greek mythology. The Graeae were daughters of Phorcys

Phorcys

In Greek mythology, Phorcys, or Phorkys , was one of the names of the "Old Man [or One] of the Sea", the primeval Greek sea gods, who, according to Hesiod, was the son of Pontus and Gaia ....
, one aspect of the "old man of the sea," and Ceto

Ceto

In Greek mythology, Cetus , also called Ceto or Cetea, was a hideous sea monster, a daughter of Gaia and Pontus . The asteroid 65489 Ceto was named after her, and its satellite Ceto I Phorcys after her husband....
, and thus were among the Phorcydes

Phorcydes

In Greek mythology the Phorcydes were the children of Phorcys and Ceto and include the Hesperides, the Graeae, the Gorgons, Scylla and other nymphs and monsters, mostly associated with the sea....
, all of which were archaic beings either of the sea or chthonic

Chthonic

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The Graeae (English translation

English language

Phorcys

Ceto

Phorcydes

Chthonic

Chthonic designates, or pertains to, deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in relation to Ancient Greek religion.Greek khthon is one of several words for "earth"; it typically refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the Landscape or the land as territory ....
deities. The Graeae took the form of three grey-haired old women, though poets might give them the euphemistic designation "beautiful." Their age was so great that a childhood for them was hardly conceivable. Hesiod

Hesiod

Hesiod was a Greek language oral poet, his date is uncertain but leading scholars agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the Eighth-century BCE....
reports their names as Deino ("dread", the dreadful anticipation of horror), Enyo ("horror" the "waster of cities" who had an identity separate from this sisterhood) and Pemphredo ("alarm") (Theogony, 270-274; also Apollodorus

Apollodorus

Apollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greeks scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace....
, ii.4.2; sometimes spelled Porphredo or Demphredo). Hyginus

Gaius Julius Hyginus

Gaius Julius Hyginus was a Latin author, though whether a native of Spain or of Alexandria it is not clear, a pupil of the famous Alexander Cornelius, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus, by whom he was made superintendent of the Palatine library, according to Suetonius' minor works, De Grammaticis, 20....
adds a fourth, Persis or Perso.

Like another set of crones at the oldest levels of both Germanic and Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse, Viking or Scandinavian mythology comprises the beliefs, myths and legends of the Norse paganism of the North Germanic language people, including those who settled on Faroe Islands and Iceland, where most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled....
, they had but one eye and one tooth among them. These were shared and the sisters took turns in using them. By stealing their eye while they were passing it between them, the hero Perseus forced them to tell the whereabouts of their sisters, the Gorgon

Gorgon

In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a vicious monster with sharp fangs. She was a protective deity from early religious concepts. Her power was so strong that one attempting to look upon her, would be turned to stone, therefore, such images were put upon items from temples to wine kraters for protection....
s, ransoming the seeing eye for the information. The Graeae can be compared with the three spinners of Destiny

Destiny

Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a Predeterminism future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the universe....
(the Moirae

Moirae

The Moirae or Moerae , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed personifications of destiny . The Greek word moira literally means a part or portion, and by extension one's portion in life or destiny....
), the northern European Norns

Norns

The Norns are a kind of d?sir, numerous female beings who rule the fates of the various races of Norse mythology.According to Snorri Sturluson's interpretation of the V?lusp?, the three most important norns, Ur?r , Ver?andi and Skuld come out from a hall standing at the Well of Ur?r and they draw water from the well and take sand t...
, or the Baltic goddess Laima

Laima

Laima was the personification of destiny and of luck in Latvian mythology and Lithuanian mythology. She was associated with childbirth, marriage, death, proliferation, and domesticity; she was also the patron of pregnancy women....
and her two sisters. In the movie Clash of the Titans

Clash of the Titans

For the metal concert tour by the same name, see Clash of the Titans Clash of the Titans is a 1981 in film fantasy and mythology film based on the myth of Perseus....
, the Graeae were called the Stygian Witches.