August 13: World Organ Donation Day

The ancient Greeks took the idea of removable and reusable bodyparts quite literally, as is illustrated by the story of the Graiai. These sisters should not be confused with the three Graces, symbols of youth and beauty. The Graiai were old hags, born with grey hair, and symbolised the white foam of the sea. Though Hesiod describes them as “robed in beauty” and having. “fair faces”, in most myths, they appear as rather monstrous. Not unexpectedly, keeping in mind they were the offspring of the seamonsters Keto and Phorkys, and sisters of the Gorgons, of which Medusa was one. They shared one eye and one tooth between them, and took turns to sea or eat. At least, until Perseus came along. He took away their eye, to force them into giving up the location of Medusa. This mutilation enraged mother Keto, and when he eventually kills Medusa, she swears revenge. When Perseus is engaged in his heroic rescue of the Ethiopian princess Andromeda, she launches a vicious attack. I can’t blame her.

Perseus freeing Andromeda, Piero di Cosimo, Uffizi, Firenze, Italy

Riding a Sea Monster, stone palet, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA

Did you know?

• Graiai/Graeae literally stands for “elderly”. Hyginus calls them “Phorkides/Phorcides” (daughters of Phorkis), and names them as Pemphredo, Enyo and Persis or Dino.

• The seamonster Keto/Ceto was depicted in the stars as the constellation Cetus.

• About Perseus: “Shooting Stars”, “Victim Blaming”, “Golden Rain”.

• The mythographer Hesiodos/Hesiodus (7th cent. BC) wrote a “Theogony” about the origins of the universe and the gods.

• The Charites/Graces were the companions of Aphrodite/Venus, cfr. “Love at 7th Sight”, “Persuasion”.