MOIRAE

:''For other meanings, see Fate, a disambiguation page. See also The Fates.
In Greek mythology, the white-robed 'Moirae' or 'Moerae' (in Greek — 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'' () 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 , Greek — "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' (, Greek — "allotter" or drawer of lots) measured the thread of life with her rod. Her Roman equivalent was ''Decima'' (the 'Tenth').

★ 'Atropos' (, Greek — "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').
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 or of primordial beings like Nyx, Chaos or Ananke.

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: was providing a ''father'' even for the Moirae a symptom of how far Greek mythographers were willing to go, in order to modify the old myths to suit the patrilineal Olympic order? The claim was certainly not acceptable to 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. Even Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick from Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' are loosely based on the Moirae.
Compare the Graeae, another set of three old sisters in Greek mythology.

Contents

The Moirae in popular culture

Footnotes

References

External links

The Moirae in popular culture

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.

★ 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

★ 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 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.

★ The Moirae are the antagonists in David Brin's novella, "The Loom of Thessaly".

★ In the PlayStation 2 game '', the Moirae are demons which the protagonist must fight and is later able to create the three fates as allies.

★ 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 '', 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 Lachesis Rule unleashes Apocalypse, and the Atropos' Rod also featured a special attack called Life Shear.

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