“Aglaea * Euphrosyne * Thalia
In ascending order of age we have Aglaea (Splendour), Euphrosyne (Mirth) and Thalia (Good health or happiness). The three sisters have been obsessively painted and sculpted for thousands of years as the embodiments of beauty, charm, and creativity. As the benign face of the ancient triple goddess, even Hesiod and Homer can seem vague about their origins, and so there are conflicting stories of them being the daughters of either Aphrodite, Apollo, Zeus, or Dionysus. Like the furies, their chapel stood in the caves around the Acropolis, where ancient mysteries were performed.”
Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.
