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In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Moirai (Template:IPAc-en)Template:Emdashoften known in English as the FatesTemplate:Emdashwere the personifications of destiny. They were three sisters: Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (the allotter), and Atropos (the inevitable, a metaphor for death). Their Roman equivalent is the Parcae.<ref>Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Parcae.</ref>
The role of the Moirai was to ensure that every being, mortal and divine, lived out their destiny as it was assigned to them by the laws of the universe. For mortals, this destiny spanned their entire lives and was represented as a thread spun from a spindle. Generally, they were considered to be above even the gods in their role as enforcers of fate, although in some representations, Zeus, the chief of the gods, is able to command them.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The concept of a universal principle of natural order and balance has been compared to similar concepts in other cultures such as the Vedic Ṛta, the Avestan Asha (Arta), and the Egyptian Maat.
EtymologyEdit
The word Moirai, also spelled Moirae or Mœræ,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Moirai in Collins English Dictionary</ref> comes from Template:Langx, which means "lots, destinies, apportioners". It also means a portion or lot of the whole. It is related to meros, "part, lot" and moros, "fate, doom".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The possible derived Latin meritum, "reward", English merit, maybe coming from the Proto-Indo-European language root *(s)mer, "to allot, assign".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In addition, Moira may mean
- portion or share in the distribution of booty ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, "equal booty"),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- portion in life, lot, destiny, ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, "the immortals fixed the destiny"),<ref>Odyssey 19.152: Lidell, op.cit.</ref>
- death ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, "destiny of death"),
- portion of the distributed land.<ref>The citizens of Sparta were called omoioi (equals), indicating that they had equal parts ("isomoiria" ἰσομοιρία) of the allotted land</ref>
- mete and right ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, "according to fate, in order, rightly").<ref>Iliad 16.367: Lidell, op.cit.</ref>
Cross-cultural parallelsEdit
European goddessesEdit
The three Moirai are known in English as the Fates. This derives from Roman mythology, in which they are the Parcae or Fata, plural of Template:Langx,<ref>Online Etymology Dictionary, s.v. "fate", "fairy".</ref> meaning prophetic declaration, oracle, or destiny; euphemistically, the "sparing ones". There are other equivalents that descend from the Proto-Indo-European culture.
In Norse mythology the Norns are a trio of female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men, twining the thread of life. They set up the laws and decided on the lives of the children of men.<ref>Völuspá 20; cf. Henry Adams Bellows' translation for The American-Scandinavian Foundation with clickable names (online text). Template:Webarchive</ref>
Their names were Urðr, related with Old English wyrd, modern weird ("fate, destiny, luck"), Verðandi, and Skuld, and it has often been concluded that they ruled over the past, present and future respectively, based on the sequence and partly the etymology of the names, of which the first two (literally 'Fate' and 'Becoming') are derived from the past and present stems of the verb verða, "to be", respectively,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the name of the third one means "debt" or "guilt", originally "that which must happen".<ref> Online Etymology Dictionary, s. v. "shall".</ref> In younger legendary sagas, the Norns appear to have been synonymous with witches (völvas), and they arrive at the birth of the hero to shape his destiny.<ref>Nordisk familjebook (1913). Uggleupplagan. 19. Mykenai-Newpada. (online text).</ref>
Many other cultures included trios of goddesses associated with fate or destiny. The Celtic Matres and Matrones, female deities almost always depicted in groups of three, have been proposed as connected to the Norns.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In Lithuanian and other Baltic mythologies, the goddess Laima is the personification of destiny, and her most important duty was to prophesy how the life of a newborn will take place.<ref>Greimas Algirdas Julien (1992). Of gods and men. Studies in Lithuanian Mythology. Indiana University Press, p. 111. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>Related to "Iaksmlka", "mark, sign or token" (Rigveda X, 71,2): Monier Williams. Sanskrit-English Dictionary.</ref> With her sisters Kārta and Dēkla, she is part of a trinity of fate deities similar to the Moirai.<ref>Bojtar Endre (1999). Foreword to the past. A cultural history of Baltic people. CEU Press, p. 301. Template:ISBN.</ref> In Hurran mythology the three goddesses of fate, the Hutena, were believed to dispense good and evil, life and death to humans.
Later European cultureEdit
In Dante's Divine Comedy, the Fates are mentioned in both Inferno (XXXIII.126) and Purgatorio (XXI.25-27, XXV.79-81) by their Greek names, and their traditional role in measuring out and determining the length of human life is assumed by the narrator.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the Weird Sisters (or Three Witches) are prophetesses who are deeply rooted in both the real and supernatural worlds. Their creation was influenced by British folklore, witchcraft, and the legends of the Norns and the Moirai.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Hecate, the chthonic Greek goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and three-way crossroads,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> appears as the master of the Three Witches. In ancient Greek religion, Hecate as goddess of childbirth is identified with Artemis,<ref>William Arthur Heidel (1929). The Day of Yahweh: A Study of Sacred Days and Ritual Forms in the Ancient Near East, p. 514. American Historical Association.</ref> who was the leader (ηγεμόνη: hegemone ) of the nymphs.<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Die Geschichte der griechischen Religion. Vol. 1. C. F. Beck, Munich, p. 499 f.</ref>
Outside of EuropeEdit
The notion of a universal principle of natural order has been compared to similar ideas in other cultures, such as aša (Asha) in Avestan religion, Rta in Vedic religion, and Maat in ancient Egyptian religion.<ref>Cf. Ramakrishna (1965:153–168), James (1969:35–36)</ref>
In the Avestan religion and Zoroastrianism, aša, is commonly summarized in accord with its contextual implications of "truth", "righteousness", "order". Aša and its Vedic equivalent, Rta, are both derived from a PIE root meaning "properly joined, right, true". The word is the proper name of the divinity Asha, the personification of "Truth" and "Righteousness". Aša corresponds to an objective, material reality which embraces all of existence.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> This cosmic force is imbued also with morality, as verbal Truth, and Righteousness, action conforming with the moral order.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In the literature of the Mandaeans, an angelic being (Abatur) has the responsibility of weighing the souls of the deceased to determine their worthiness, using a set of scales.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In the Vedic religion, Rta is an ontological principle of natural order which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe. The term is now interpreted abstractly as "cosmic order", or simply as "truth",<ref>Mahony (1998:3).</ref> although it was never abstract at the time.<ref>See the philological work of Own Barfield, e.g Poetic Diction or Speaker's Meaning</ref>
It seems that this idea originally arose in the Indo-Aryan period, from a consideration (so denoted to indicate the original meaning of communing with the star beings) of the qualities of nature which either remain constant or which occur on a regular basis.<ref name="Oldenberg1894">Hermann Oldenberg (1894). Die Religion des Veda. Wilhelm Hertz, Berlin, pp. 30, 195–198.</ref>
The individuals fulfill their true natures when they follow the path set for them by the ordinances of Rta, acting according to the Dharma, which is related to social and moral spheres.<ref name=Brown373>Brown, W. N. (1992). "Some Ethical Concepts for the Modern World from Hindu and Indian Buddhist Tradition" in: Radhakrishnan, S. (Ed.) Rabindranath Tagore: A Centenary Volume 1861 – 1961. Calcutta: Sahitya Akademi. Template:ISBN.</ref> The god of the waters Varuna was probably originally conceived as the personalized aspect of the otherwise impersonal Ṛta.<ref>Ramakrishna, G. (1965). "Origin and Growth of the Concept of Ṛta in Vedic Literature". Doctoral Dissertation: University of Mysore Cf.</ref> The gods are never portrayed as having command over Ṛta, but instead they remain subject to it like all created beings.<ref name=Brown373/>
In Egyptian religion, maat was the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice. The word is the proper name of the divinity Maat, who was the goddess of harmony, justice, and truth represented as a young woman.
It was considered that she set the order of the universe from chaos at the moment of creation.<ref>Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt, Robert A. Armour, American Univ in Cairo Press, p167, 2001, Template:ISBN</ref> Maat was the norm and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In Egyptian mythology, Maat dealt with the weighing of souls that took place in the underworld. Her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls (considered to reside in the heart) of the departed would reach the paradise of afterlife successfully. In the famous scene of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Anubis, using a scale, weighs the sins of a man's heart against the feather of truth, which represents maat. If man's heart weighs down, then he is devoured by a monster.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The three MoiraiEdit
When they were three,<ref>The expectation that there would be three was strong by the 2nd century CE: when Pausanias visited the temple of Apollo at Delphi, with Apollo and Zeus each accompanied by a Fate, he remarked "There are also images of two Moirai; but in place of the third Moira there stand by their side Zeus Moiragetes and Apollon Moiragetes."</ref> the Moirai were:
- Clotho (Template:IPAc-en, Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, "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 (Template:IPAc-en, Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, "allotter" or drawer of lots) measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod. Her Roman equivalent was Decima ("the Tenth").
- Atropos (Template:IPAc-en, Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, "inexorable" or "inevitable", literally "unturning",<ref>Compare the ancient goddess Adrasteia, the "inescapable".</ref> was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person's death; and when their time has come, she cut their life-thread with her "abhorred shears".<ref>"Comes the blind Fury with th'abhorred shears, / And slits the thin spun life." John Milton, Lycidas, l. 75. Template:Wikisource-inline</ref> Her Roman equivalent was Morta ("the dead one").
In the Republic of Plato, the three Moirai sing in unison with the music of the Seirenes. Lachesis sings the things that were, Clotho the things that are, and Atropos the things that are to be.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Pindar in his Hymn to the Fates, holds them in high honour. He calls them to send their sisters, the Hours Eunomia ("lawfulness"), Dike ("right"), and Eirene ("peace"), to stop the internal civil strife.<ref>Pindar, Fragmenta Chorica Adespota 5 (ed. Diehl).</ref>
OriginsEdit
The figure who came to be known as Atropos had her origins in the pre-Greek Mycenaean religion as a daemon or spirit called Aisa.<ref name="Ilias7.52">"Not yet is thy fate (moira) to die and meet thy doom" (Ilias 7.52), "But thereafter he (Achilleus) shall suffer whatever Fate (Aisa) spun for him at his birth, when his mother bore him": (Ilias 20.128 ): M. Nilsson. (1967). Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion Vol I, C.F.Beck Verlag., Műnchen pp. 363–364</ref> Much of the Mycenaean religion survived into classical Greece, but it is not known to what extent classical religious belief is Mycenaean, nor how much is a product of the Greek Dark Ages or later. Moses I. Finley detected only few authentic Mycenaean beliefs in the 8th-century Homeric world.<ref>M. I. Finley (2002). The world of Odysseus. New York Review Books, New York, p. 39 f. (PDF file).</ref> One such belief was the attribution of unexpected events to spirits or daemons, who appeared in special occurrences. Martin P. Nilsson associated these daemons to a hypothetical Pre-Greek religion.<ref name="Nilsson361">Martin P. Nilsson (1967). Die Geschichte der griechischen Religion. Vol. 1. C. F. Beck, Munich, pp. 361–368.</ref>
Another important Mycenaean philosophy stressed the subjugation of all events or actions to destiny and the acceptance of the inevitability of the natural order of things; today this is known as fatalism.<ref name="Nilsson361" />
The concept of moira referred to one's fair allotment or portion, originally one's portion of loot from battle, which was distributed according to strict traditions. The idea eventually began to be applied to one's fair allotment in life. Obtaining more than one's fair portion (ὑπὲρ μοῖραν "over the portion") of loot, or of life in general was possible, but would result in severe consequences because this was considered a violation in the natural order of things. For example, in a passage in the Iliad, Apollo tries three times to stop Patroclus from sacking Troy, warning him that it would be "over his portion".<ref>Iliad 16.705: "Draw back noble Patrolos, it is not your lot (aisa) to sack the city of the Trojan chieftains, nor yet it will be that of Achilleus, who is far better than you are": C. Castoriades (2004). Ce qui fait la Grèce. 1, D'Homère a Héraclite. Séminaires 1982–1983 (= La creation humaine, 2). Éditions du Seuil, Paris, p. 300.</ref>
In particular, the most important parts of the natural order were birth and death. Eventually, the concept of one's destined portion in life began to be personified as a spirit or daemon, referred to as Aisa or Moira, who would determine the appropriate time for one's death at the moment of their birth.<ref name=Ilias7.52/><ref name="Nilsson361" /> In this sense, Moira is a power that governs even the gods.
In another passage of the Iliad, Zeus knows that his cherished son Sarpedon will be killed by Patroclus, but Zeus cannot prevent his fate.<ref>Iliad 16.433: "Ah, woe is me, for that it is fated that Sarpedon, dearest of men to me, be slain by Patroclus, son of Menoetius! And in twofold wise is my heart divided in counsel as I ponder in my thought whether I shall snatch him up while yet he liveth and set him afar from the tearful war in the rich land of Lycia, or whether I shall slay him now beneath the hands of the son of Menoetius."</ref> In a later scene known as the kerostasia, Zeus appears as the arbiter of destiny, using a pair of scales to weigh Hector's destiny and determining that he is fated to die.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The elevation of Moira to a goddess who determines the course of events appears in the newer parts of the epos. In the Odyssey, she is accompanied by the "Spinners", the personifications of Fate, who do not yet have separate names.<ref name="Oddysey7.198">"But thereafter he shall suffer whatever Fate (Aisa) and the dread Spinners spun with her thread for him at his birth, when his mother bore him." (Odyssey 7.198)</ref>
In his writing, the poet Hesiod introduces a moral purpose to the Moirai which is absent in the Homeric poems. In his conception, the Moirai punish not only men but also gods for their sins.<ref name="Hesiod221">Hesiod, Theogony 221–225. "Also Night (Nyx) bare the destinies (Moirai), and ruthless avenging Fates (Keres), who give men at their birth both evil and good to have, and they pursue the transgressions of men and gods... until they punish the sinner with a sore penalty." online The Theogony of Hesiod. Transl. Hugh Evelyn White (1914) 221–225.</ref>
Mythical relationshipsEdit
In the Theogony, Hesiod describes the Moirai as daughters of the primeval goddess Nyx ("night"), and sisters of the Keres ("the black fates"), Thanatos ("death"), and Nemesis ("retribution").<ref name=Hesiod221/> Later in the poem, Hesiod instead calls them daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis ("the Institutor"),<ref name=Theogony901>Theogony 901; The Theogony of Hesiod. Translated by Hugh Evelyn White (1914), 901–906 (online text).</ref> who was the embodiment of divine order and law,<ref name=Finley78>M. I. Finley (1978) The world of Odysseus rev.ed. New York Viking Press p.78 Note.</ref><ref name=Jeffery42>In the Odyssey, Themistes: "dooms, things laid down originally by divine authority", the themistes of Zeus. Body: council of elders who stored in the collective memory. Thesmos: unwritten law, based on precedent. Cf. L. H. Jeffery (1976). Archaic Greece. The City-States c. 700–500 BC. Ernest Benn Ltd., London & Tonbridge, p. 42. Template:ISBN.</ref> placing them as sisters of Eunomia ("lawfulness, order"), Dike ("justice"), and Eirene ("peace").<ref name =Theogony901/>
In the cosmogony of Alcman (7th century BC), first came Thetis ("disposer, creation"), and then simultaneously Poros ("path") and Tekmor ("end post, ordinance").<ref>Τέκμωρ (Τekmor): fixed mark or boundary, end post, purpose (τέκμαρ).</ref><ref>Old English: takn "sign, mark"; English: token "sign, omen". Compare Sanskrit, Laksmi. Entry "token", in Online Etymology Dictionary.</ref> Poros is related with the beginning of all things, and Tekmor is related with the end of all things.<ref>Alcman, frag. 5 (from Scholia), translated by Campbell, Greek Lyric, vol. 2; cf. entry "Ananke" in the Theoi Project.</ref>
Later in the Orphic cosmogony, first came Thesis, whose ineffable nature is unexpressed. Ananke ("necessity") is the primeval goddess of inevitability who is entwined with the time-god Chronos, at the very beginning of time. They represented the cosmic forces of Fate and Time, and they were called sometimes to control the fates of the gods. The three Moirai are daughters of Ananke.<ref>Orphica. Theogonies, frag. 54 (from Damascius). Greek hymns 3rd to 2nd centuries BC; cf. entry "Ananke" in the Theoi Project.</ref>
MythologyEdit
The Moirai were three sisters: Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (the allotter), and Atropos (the inevitable, a metaphor for death). But according to a Latin verse,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> their roles and functions were somewhat different: "Clotho, the youngest of the sisters, presided over the moment in which we are born, and held a distaff in her hand; Lachesis spun out all the events and actions of our life; and Atropos, the eldest of the three, cut the thread of human life with a pair of scissors."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In the Homeric poems Moira or Aisa are related to the limit and end of life, and Zeus appears as the guider of destiny. In the Theogony of Hesiod, the three Moirai are personified, daughters of Nyx and are acting over the gods.<ref name="Hesiod221" /> Later they are daughters of Zeus and Themis, who was the embodiment of divine order and law. In Plato's Republic the Three Fates are daughters of Ananke (necessity).<ref>Plato, Republic 617c (trans. Shorey) (Greek philosopher 4th century BC): Theoi Project – Ananke.</ref>
The Moirai were supposed to appear three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life, as in the story of Meleager and the firebrand taken from the hearth and preserved by his mother to extend his life.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus, story of Meleager in Bibliotheke 1.65.</ref> Bruce Karl Braswell from readings in the lexicon of Hesychius, associates the appearance of the Moirai at the family hearth on the seventh day with the ancient Greek custom of waiting seven days after birth to decide whether to accept the infant into the Gens and to give it a name, cemented with a ritual at the hearth.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> At Sparta the temple to the Moirai stood near the communal hearth of the polis, as Pausanias observed.<ref>Pausanias, 3.11. 10–11.</ref>
As goddesses of birth who even prophesied the fate of the newly born, Eileithyia, the ancient Minoan goddess of childbirth and divine midwifery, was their companion. Pausanias mentions an ancient role of Eileythia as "the clever spinner", relating her with destiny too.<ref>Pausanias, 8.21.3.</ref> Their appearance indicate the Greek desire for health which was connected with the Greek cult of the body that was essentially a religious activity.<ref>Pindar, Nemean VII 1–4</ref>
The Erinyes, a group of chthonic goddesses of vengeance, served as tools of the Moirai, inflicting punishment for evil deeds, particularly upon those who sought to avoid their rightful destiny. At times, the Moirai were conflated with the Erinyes, as well as the death-goddesses the Keres.<ref name=Theoi.Moirai>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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In earlier times they were represented as only a few—perhaps only one—individual goddess. Homer's Iliad (xxiv.209) speaks generally of the Moira, who spins the thread of life for men at their birth; she is Moira Krataia "powerful Moira" (xvi.334) or there are several Moirai (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.<ref>Kerenyi 1951:32.</ref> 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).
Some Greek mythographers went so far as to claim that the Moirai were the daughters of Zeus—paired with Themis ("fundament"), as Hesiod had it in one passage.<ref>Hesiod, Theogony, 904.</ref> In the older myths they are daughters of primeval beings like Nyx ("night") in Theogony, or Ananke in Orphic cosmogony. Whether or not providing a father even for the Moirai was a symptom of how far Greek mythographers were willing to go, in order to modify the old myths to suit the patrilineal Olympic order,<ref>"Zeus obviously had to assimilate this spinning Goddess, and he made them into his daughters, too, although not by all accounts, for even he was bound ultimately by Fate", observe Ruck and Staples (1994:57).</ref> the claim of a paternity was certainly not acceptable to Aeschylus, Herodotus, or Plato.
Despite their forbidding reputation, the Moirai could be placated 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.
According to the mythographer Apollodorus, in the Gigantomachy, the war between the Giants and Olympians, the Moirai killed the Giants Agrios and Thoon with their bronze clubs.<ref>Apollodorus, 1.6.1–2.</ref>
The Moirai were also credited to be inventors of seven Greek letters — A B H T I Y.<ref>Hyginus, Fabulae 277</ref>
Zeus and the MoiraiEdit
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In the Homeric poems Moira is represented as a singular entity whose actions are not governed by the gods. Only Zeus, the chief of the gods, is close to her, and in some cases acts in a similar role.<ref name=Nilsson361 /> Using a weighing scale Zeus weighs Hector's "lot of death" against that of Achilleus. Hector's lot weighs down, and he dies according to Fate. Zeus appears as the guider of destiny, who gives everyone the right portion.<ref name=Nilsson217>Ilias X 209 ff. O.Crusius Rl, Harisson Prolegomena 5.43 ff: M. Nillson (1967). Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion. Vol I . C.F.Beck Verlag. München pp. 217, 222</ref><ref>This is similar to the famous scene in the Egyptian book of the dead, although the conception is different. Anubis weighs the sins of a man's heart against the feather of truth. If man's heart weighs down, then he is devoured by a monster: Taylor, John H. (Editor- 2009), Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: Journey through the afterlife. British Museum Press, London, 2010. pp. 209, 215 Template:ISBN </ref> A similar scenario is depicted on a Mycenaean vase, where Zeus holds a scale in front of two warriors, indicating that he is measuring their destiny before the battle. The belief was that if they die in battle, this was to be accepted as their correct destiny.<ref>M.P.Nilsson, "Zeus-Schiksalwaage ". Homer and Mycenea D 56. The same belief in Kismet. Also the soldiers in the World-War believed that they wouldn't die by a bullet, unless their name was written on the bullet: M. Nillson (1967). Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion. Vol I . C.F.Beck Verlag. München pp. 366, 367</ref>
In Theogony, the three Moirai are daughters of the primeval goddess, Nyx ("Night"),<ref>H.J. Rose, Handbook of Greek Mythology, p.24</ref> representing a power acting over the gods.<ref name="Hesiod221" /> Later they are daughters of Zeus who gives them the greatest honour, and Themis, the ancient goddess of law and divine order.<ref name="Finley78" /><ref name="Jeffery42" />
Even the gods feared the Moirai or Fates, which according to Herodotus a god could not escape.<ref>Herodotus, 1.91</ref> The Pythian priestess at Delphi once admitted that Zeus was also subject to their power, though no recorded classical writing clarifies to what exact extent the lives of immortals were affected by the whims of the Fates. It is to be expected that the relationship of Zeus and the Moirai was not immutable over the centuries. In either case in antiquity we can see a feeling towards a notion of an order to which even the gods have to conform. Simonides names this power Ananke (necessity) (the mother of the Moirai in Orphic cosmogony) and says that even the gods don't fight against it.<ref>Diels-Kranz. Fr.420</ref> Aeschylus combines Fate and necessity in a scheme, and claims that even Zeus cannot alter which is ordained.<ref name="Prometh.515">Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, 510–518: "Not in this way is Moira (Fate) who brings all to fulfillment, destined to complete this course. Skill is weaker far than Ananke (necessity). Yes in that even he (Zeus) cannot escape what is foretold." Theoi Project – Ananke</ref>
A supposed epithet Zeus Moiragetes, meaning "Zeus Leader of the Moirai" was inferred by Pausanias from an inscription he saw in the 2nd century AD at Olympia: "As you go to the starting-point for the chariot-race there is an altar with an inscription to the Bringer of Fate. This is plainly a surname of Zeus, who knows the affairs of men, all that the Fates give them, and all that is not destined for them."<ref>The Greek is Moiragetes (Pausanias, 5.15.5)</ref><ref name="Pausanias, 5.15.5">Pausanias, 5.15.5</ref> At the Temple of Zeus at Megara, Pausanias inferred from the relief sculptures he saw "Above the head of Zeus are the Horai and Moirai, and all may see that he is the only god obeyed by Moira." Pausanias' inferred assertion is unsupported in cult practice, though he noted a sanctuary of the Moirai there at Olympia (5.15.4), and also at Corinth (2.4.7) and Sparta (3.11.8), and adjoining the sanctuary of Themis outside a city gate of Thebes.<ref>"There is a sanctuary of Themis, with an image of white marble; adjoining it is a sanctuary of the Fates, while the third is of Zeus of the Market. Zeus is made of stone; the Fates have no images." (Pausanias, 9.25.4)</ref>
Cult and templesEdit
The fates had at least three known temples, in Ancient Corinth, Sparta and Thebes. At least the temple of Corinth contained statues of them:
- "[On the Akropolis (Acropolis) of Korinthos (Corinth):] The temple of the Moirai (Moirae, Fates) and that of Demeter and Kore (Core) [Persephone] have images that are not exposed to view."<ref>Pausanias, 2.4.7</ref>
The temple in Thebes was explicitly imageless:
- "Along the road from the Neistan gate [at Thebes in Boiotia (Boeotia)] are three sanctuaries. There is a sanctuary of Themis, with an image of white marble; adjoining it is a sanctuary of the Moirai (Moirae, Fates), while the third is of Agoraios (Agoreus, of the Market) Zeus. Zeus is made of stone; the Moirai (Moirae, Fates) have no images."<ref>Pausanias, 9.25.4</ref>
The temple in Sparta was situated next to the grave of Orestes.<ref>Pausanias, 3.11.10</ref>
Aside from actual temples, there was also altars to the Moirai. Among them was notably the altar in Olympia near the altar of Zeus Moiragetes,<ref name="Pausanias, 5.15.5"/> a connection to Zeus which was also repeated in the images of the Moirai in the temple of Despoine in Arkadia<ref>Pausanias, 8.37.1</ref> as well as in Delphi, where they were depicted with Zeus Moiragetes (Guide of Fate) as well as with Apollon Moiragetes (Guide of Fate).<ref>Pausanias, 10.24.4</ref> On Korkyra, the shrine of Apollo, which according to legend was founded by Medea was also a place where offerings were made to the Moirai and the nymphs.<ref>Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.1216 ff. (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.)</ref> The worship of the Moirai are described by Pausanias for their altar near Sicyon:
- "On the direct road from Sikyon (Sicyon) to Phlios (Phlius) ... At a distance along it, in my opinion, of twenty stades, to the left on the other side of the Asopos [river], is a grove of holm oaks and a temple of the goddesses named by the Athenians the Semnai (August), and by the Sikyonians the Eumenides (Kindly Ones). On one day in each year they celebrate a festival to them and offer sheep big with young as a burnt offering, and they are accustomed to use a libation of honey and water, and flowers instead of garlands. They practise similar rites at the altar of the Moirai (Moirae, Fates); it is in an open space in the grove."<ref>Pausanias, 2.11.3-4</ref>
Astronomical objectsEdit
The asteroids (97) Klotho, (120) Lachesis, and (273) Atropos are named for the Three Fates.
See alsoEdit
- Ananke
- Asha
- Deities and fairies of fate in Slavic mythology
- Graeae
- Istustaya and Papaya
- Kallone
- Enchanted Moura
- Laima
- Matrones
- Norns
- Parcae
- Rta
- Three Witches
- Trimurti/Tridevi
ReferencesEdit
BibliographyEdit
- Armour, Robert A, 2001, Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt, American Univ. in Cairo Press, Template:ISBN.
- Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 10, Obl-Phe, editors: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2007. Template:ISBN. Online version at Brill.
- Homer. The Iliad with an English translation. A. T. Murray, Ph.D. (1924), in two volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd.
- Homer. The Odyssey with an English translation. A. T. Murray, Ph.D. (1919), in two volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd.
- 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.
- Markos Giannoulis, 2010. Die Moiren. Tradition und Wandel des Motivs der Schicksalsgöttinnen in der antiken und byzantinischen Kunst, Ergänzungsband zu Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, Kleine Reihe 6 (F. J. Dölger Institut). Aschendorff Verlag, Münster, Template:ISBN.
- Robert Graves, Greek Myths.
- Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion 1903. Chapter VI, "The Maiden-Trinities".
- L. H. Jeffery, 1976. Archaic Greece. The City-States c. 700–500 BC . Ernest Benn Ltd. London & Tonbridge, Template:ISBN.
- Karl Kerenyi, 1951. The Gods of the Greeks (Thames and Hudson).
- Martin P. Nilsson,1967. Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion. Vol I, C.F. Beck Verlag., München.
- Bertrand Russell, 1946. A history of Western Philosophy, and its connections with Political and Social Circumstances from the earliest times to the Present Day. New York. Simon & Schuster p. 148
- Harry Thurston Peck, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898. perseus.tufts.edu
- 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, Template:Usurped
- R. G. Wunderlich (1994). The secret of Crete. Efstathiadis group, Athens pp. 290–291, 295–296. (British Edition, Souvenir Press Ltd. London 1975) Template:ISBN
External linksEdit
- The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of the Moirai)
- The Theogony of Hesiod.Transl.H.E.White (1914)
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