Graeae



The Graeae (English translation: "old women", "gray ones", "gray sisters", or "gray witches"; alternatively spelled Graiai (Γραῖαι), Graiae, Graii), were three sisters who shared one eye, one ear and one tooth among them. They are one of several trios of archaic goddesses in Greek mythology. The Graeae were daughters of Phorcys, one aspect of the "old man of the sea," and Ceto. Thus, they were among the Phorcydes, all of which were primordial deities of the sea or of the earth. The Graiae were sisters to the Gorgons. The Graeae took the form of old grey-haired women; though, at times poets euphemistically described them as "beautiful." Their age was so great that a human childhood for them was hardly conceivable. Hesiod reports their names as Deino (Δεινώ "dread", the dreadful anticipation of horror), Enyo (Ἐνυώ "horror" the "waster of cities" who had an identity separate from this sisterhood) and Pemphredo (Πεμφρηδώ "alarm"). Hyginus adds a fourth, Persis or Perso.

Like another set of crones at the oldest levels of both Germanic and Norse mythology, they shared one eye and one tooth, which they took turns using. By stealing their eye while they were passing it amongst themselves, the hero Perseus forced them to tell the whereabouts of the three objects needed to kill Medusa (in other versions the whereabouts of Medusa herself), by ransoming their shared eye for the information. One might compare the Graeae with the three spinners of Destiny, (the Moirae); the northern European Norns; or the Baltic goddess Laima and her two sisters; though all are distinct trios.

Modern depictions

 * In the video game Titan Quest: Immortal Throne, the player has to kill the Graeae in order to give their eye to Medea.
 * In Clash of the Titans (and its 2010 remake) the Graeae are called the "Stygian Witches".
 * In The Sea of Monsters, the second Percy Jackson & the Olympians novel, the Grey Sisters were taxi drivers operating in the New York area.
 * In the 1988 Sierra game King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, you must steal the eye from the three witches in order to barter it for a puzzle piece that is critical to solving the game.
 * In the Disney adaptation of Hercules (1997 film), the Graeae are amalgamated with the Moirae. Physically these characters are Graeae (even shown sharing the single eye) but they act as the Fates emotionally and mentally.