Thalia (Grace)

Thalia
Goddess of festivity and rich banquets
Member of The Charites
A statue of Thalia in Achilleion palace, Corfu
Affiliation	Aphrodite
Major cult centre	Boeotia
Abode	Mount Olympus
Personal information
Parents	Zeus and Eurynome
Siblings	Euphrosyne and Aglaea and several paternal half-siblings

In Greek mythology, Thalia or Thaleia (/ˈθeɪliə/^[1] or /θəˈlaɪə/;^[2] Ancient Greek: Θάλεια, romanized: Tháleia, lit. 'the joyous, the abundance') was one of the three Charites or Graces, along with her sisters Aglaea and Euphrosyne.^[3]

The Greek word thalia is an adjective applied to banquets, meaning rich, plentiful, luxuriant and abundant.

Family

Typically, they were the daughters of Zeus and Oceanid Eurynome.^[3] Alternative parentage may be Zeus and Eurydome, Eurymedousa, or Euanthe; Dionysus and Kronois; or Helios and the Naiad Aegle.^[4][5][6]

In art

In art, they were usually depicted dancing in a circle. Thalia was the goddess of festivity and rich banquets and was associated with Aphrodite, as part of her retinue.^[7][8]

• 
  Thalia depicted with her sisters in Antonio Canova's sculpture The Three Graces

In popular culture

• The Charite Thalia is referred to in Neal Stephenson's book The Diamond Age.^[9]
• Thalia Grace is the demigod daughter of Zeus in the series Percy Jackson & the Olympians.^[10]
  • Her brother, Jason Grace, keeps the last name, but is named after a Greek Hero named Jason.

Notes

References

• Apollodoros, Library (I, 3, 1).
• Hesiod, Theogony (v. 907–909).
• Orphic hymns (LIX on the Charites).
• Pausanias, Description of Greece (IX, 35, 1).
• Pindar, Odes (Olympics, 14, str. 1–2).
• Grimal, Pierre, over&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. "Thalia" 2. p. 442.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Thaleia" 4.