Moirae

In Greek mythology, the white-robed Moirae or Moerae (in Greek Μοῖραι — the "apportioners", often called the The Fates) were the personifications of destiny (Roman equivalent: Parcae, euphemistically the "sparing ones", or Fata; also equivalent to the Germanic Norns). They controlled the metaphorical thread of life of every mortal and immortal from birth to death (and beyond). Even the gods feared the Moirae. Zeus also was subject to their power, as the Pythian priestess at Delphi once admitted. The Greek word moira (μοῖρα) literally means a part or portion, and by extension one's portion in life or destiny. H.J. Rose writes that Nyx ("Night") was also the mother of the Moirae^[1] as she was of the Erinyes, in the Orphic tradition. The three Moirae were:

• Clotho (pronounced in English IPA: /ˈkloʊθoʊ]/, Greek Κλωθώ IPA: [klɔːˈtʰɔː] — "spinner") spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle. Her Roman equivalent was Nona, (the 'Ninth'), who was originally a goddess called upon in the ninth month of pregnancy.
• Lachesis (/ˈlækəsɪs/, Greek Λάχεσις [ˈlɑkʰesis] — "allotter" or drawer of lots) measured the thread of life with her rod. Her Roman equivalent was Decima (the 'Tenth').
• Atropos (/ˈætrəpɒs/, Greek Ἄτροπος [ˈɑtropos] — "inexorable" or "inevitable", literally "unturning",^[2] sometimes called Aisa) was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of a person's death. When she cut the thread with "her abhorrèd shears", someone on Earth died. Her Roman equivalent was Mors ('Death').

In mythology

The Moirae were supposed to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life. The Greeks variously claimed that they were the daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis (the "Institutor") or of primordial beings like Nyx, the Night, Chaos or Ananke, Necessity.

The Moirae, as depicted in an 16th century tapestry

In earlier times, the Moirae were represented as only a few - perhaps only one - individual goddess. Homer's Iliad speaks generally of the Moera, who spins the thread of life for men at their birth (xxiv.209), Moera Krataia "strong Moira" (xvi.334) or of several Moerae (xxiv.49). In the Odyssey (vii.197) there is a reference to the Klôthes, or Spinners. At Delphi, only the Fates of Birth and Death were revered.^[3] In Athens, Aphrodite, who had an earlier, pre-Olympic existence, was called Aphrodite Urania the 'eldest of the Fates' according to Pausanias (x.24.4). A bilingual Eteocretan text has the following Greek translation

Ομοσαι δαπερ Ενορκίοισι.

Omosai d-haper Enorkioisi.

But may he swear [these] very things to the Oath-Keepers

in Eteocretan this is rendered as

--S|TUPRMĒRIĒIA

In which MĒRIĒIA may refer to the divinities later known as the Moirae. Versions of the Moirae also existed on the deepest European mythological level. It is difficult to separate them from the other Indo-European spinning fate goddesses known as the Norns in Norse mythology and the Baltic goddess Laima and her two sisters. Some Greek mythographers went so far as to claim that the Moirae were the daughters of Zeus— paired with either Ananke or, as Hesiod had it in one passage,^[4] Themis or Nyx. The claims of the Moirae's father(s) were contested by Aeschylus, Herodotus, or Plato. The Moirae were usually described as cold, remorseless and unfeeling, and depicted as old crones or hags. The independent spinster has inspired fear rather than matrimony. "This sinister connotation we inherit from the spinning goddess," write Ruck and Staples. See weaving (mythology). Some mythologies depict them instead as the traditional maiden, mother, and crone (see also popular culture, below). Despite their forbidding reputation, Moirae could be worshipped as goddesses. Brides in Athens offered them locks of hair and women swore by them. They may have originated as birth-goddesses and only later acquired their reputation as the agents of destiny. They likewise have forbidding appearances (beards), and appear to determine the fates of all individuals. Compare the Graeae, another set of three old sisters in Greek mythology.

The Moirae in popular culture

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The Fates (whether Parcae or Moirae) make regular appearances in popular culture, produced to appeal to a mass market. The presence of the Fates lends an atmosphere of depth and universality to some productions of market-driven contemporary culture. Alternatively, they may be introduced with a mock-heroic sense of parody.

• Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch are Lloyd Alexander's versions of the Moirae. They appear in the Prydain Chronicles.
• Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick from Terry Pratchett's Discworld are loosely based on the Moirae.
• In an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the Fates are represented by three young women who control people's destinies.
• Once Upon A Winter's Night has the three Fates playing a major role when Camille seeks their aid, they are known as the Maiden, Mother and Crone, Skuld Verdandi Urd who weave the threads of the tapestry of time
• Xena:Warrior Princess has a recurring trio known as The Fates, comprising the Maiden, Mother and Crone, who weave the threads of life (Article at Whoosh).
• In Disney's Hercules, when Hades wishes to know the future, he consults the Fates, who share a single eye among them, a feature of the Graeae of Greek mythology.
• In the spin-off novels to the long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who, the Fates of the Time lord religion are depicted as three women, created when the universe was young. They are Death, Time, and Pain, who sit as maiden, mother, and crone, respectively.
• In the popular cult comic book series The Sandman by Neil Gaiman, the Fates are also the Furies and Hippolyta Hall is their descendant, which allows her to assume these roles.
• In the computer game Loom, the Elders of the Guild of Weavers are named for the Moirae, although one Elder, Atropos, is male.
• The Moirae are depicted in the beginning of the Korean manhwa series Ragnarök.
• In Stephen King's 1994 Insomnia, the Moirae are depicted in the form of three doctors who visit people at the end of their life to cut their thread. Atropos is depicted as a creature of Random while the other two are workers of Fate.
• In Nagano Mamoru's Five Star Stories (a space opera manga), the master fatima meight Dr Chrome Ballanche named his last three masterpiece fatimas after the Greek Fates, Atropos, Lachesis, and Clotho.
• The Fates are depicted in the Incarnations of Immortality novels, and are the focus of With a Tangled Skein.
• In Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne for the PlayStation 2, the main character at one point has to fight the three sisters. First separately, then all three at once later.
• The PlayStation 2 game God of War 2 revolves around Kratos and his quest to seek out the Three Sisters of Fate in order to alter his own destiny, although they are greatly different from mythology: Lakhesis is seen as a flying robed sorceress wielding a staff who uses powerful spells to defend their abode, while Atropos is seen as a flying witch-like sorceress with knife-like fingers, clearly used to cut the threads of each soul. And Clotho, the youngest sister is seen as a massive grotesque maggot-like creature with a woman's torso and head, who uses her many arms to thread the silken threads of the loom. she is suspended in a tower-like structure inside the loom chamber, and is immobile.
• The Moirae are the antagonists in David Brin's novella, "The Loom of Thessaly".
• In the Super Nintendo game Chrono Trigger, the playable character, Robo, comes in contact with, and fights a robot from his past by the name of Atropos XR. Later in the PlayStation game Chrono Cross, the protagonist Serge faces Clotho, one who spins the thread of life, Lachesis, one who measures the thread, and Atropos, one who cuts the threads of life, in the Sea of Eden opposite of Chronopolis in another world. This fight occurs before the showdown with the Dragon God, the second to last boss of the game.
• In the Game Boy Advance game Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis, the player can learn three special techniques that can be used with specific weapons to deal incredible damage but damage the user. These three techniques are named after the Moirae.
• In the Game Boy Advance game Golden Sun 2, three of the most powerful items that player controlled characters can use are the Lanchesis' Rule, Atropos' Rod, and Clothos' Distaff. The Clothos' Distaff restores health; the Lachesis Rule unleashes Apocalypse; and, the Atropos' Rod also featured a special attack called Life Shear.
• Joseph Conrad alludes to the Fates in his novella Heart of Darkness when Marlow prepares to leave for Africa.
• *Progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer wrote a three-part music piece called "The Three Fates", with the parts called "Clotho", "Lachesis" and "Atropos" respectively. The piece is heard on their first album.
• The weird sisters in Shakespeares novel "Macbeth" are portrayed as the fates meddling in the affairs of mortals.

Footnotes

1. ^ H.J. Rose, Handbook of Greek Mythology, p.24
2. ^ Compare the ancient goddess Adrasteia, the "inescapable".
3. ^ Kerenyi 1951:32.
4. ^ Hesiod, Theogony, 904.

References

• Thomas Blisniewski, '1992. 'Kinder der dunkelen Nacht: Die Ikonographie der Parzen vom späten Mittelalter bis zum späten 18. Jahrhundert. (Cologne) Iconography of the Fates from the late Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century.
• Robert Graves, Greek Myths
• Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion 1903. Chapter VI, "The Maiden-Trinities"
• Karl Kerenyi, 1951. The Gods of the Greeks (Thames and Hudson)
• Harry Thurston Peck, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898. [1]
• Herbert Jennings Rose, Handbook of Greek Mythology, 1928.
• Carl Ruck and Danny Staples, The World of Classical Myth, 1994.
• William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, article on Moira, [2]

External links

• Information on the Moirae at a Greek Mythology website