Editing Moros

{{Short description|Greek mythological figure who personifies doom}}
{{For|the Muslim group in the Philippines, see [[Moros (Philippines)]]. For other uses}}
{{Greek myth (personified)}}

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Moros''' [[Help:IPA/English|/ˈmɔːrɒs/]] or '''Morus''' [[Help:IPA/English|/ˈmɔːrəs/]] ([[Ancient Greek]]: Μόρος means 'doom, fate'<ref>μόρος. [[Henry Liddell|Liddell, Henry George]]; [[Robert Scott (philologist)|Scott, Robert]]; ''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]'' at the [[Perseus Project]].</ref>) is the personified spirit of impending doom,<ref>Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+207&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Doom 211]</ref> who drives mortals to their deadly fate. It was also said that Moros gave people the ability to foresee their death. His [[Roman Empire|Roman]] equivalent was '''Fatum'''.

== Family ==
Moros is the offspring of [[Nyx]], the [[Greek primordial deities|primordial goddess]] of the night. It is suggested by Roman authors that Moros was son of [[Erebus]], primordial god of darkness.<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' Preface; Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'' 3.17</ref> However, in [[Theogony|Hesiod's Theogony]] it is suggested that Nyx [[Virgin birth (mythology)|bore him by herself]], along with several of her other children.

Regardless of the presence or absence of Moros' father, this would make him the brother of the [[Moirai]], or the Fates. Among his other siblings are [[Thanatos]] and the [[Keres]], death spirits who represented the physical aspects of death—Keres being the bringers of violent death and [[Terminal illness|terminal sickness]], while Thanatos represents a more peaceful passing.

== Mythology ==
In ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'', the titular [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]] suggests that he gave humanity the spirit [[Elpis (mythology)|Elpis]], the personification of hope, in order to help them ignore the inevitability of Moros.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, line 244 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg003.perseus-eng1:244-264 |access-date=2024-06-18 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> He is also referred to as "the all-destroying god, who, even in the [[Greek underworld|realm of Death]], does not set his victim free,"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aeschylus, Suppliant Women, line 407 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0085.tlg001.perseus-eng1:407-417 |access-date=2024-06-18 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> further supporting his image as representative of the inevitability of death and suffering.

=== Aeschylus' account ===
Aeschylus, Fragment 199 (from Plutarch, Life and Poety of Homer 157) (trans. Weir Smyth):

"A man dies not for the many wounds that pierce his breast, unless it be that life's end keep pace with death, nor by sitting on his hearth at home doth he the more escape his appointed doom (''peprômenon moros'')."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Perrin|first=Bernadotte|title=Plutarch's Lives|publisher=Harvard University Press.|year=1959–67|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}</ref>

The word ''moros'' is not personified here but the passage provides a clear picture of the concept.

=== Christianity ===
Along with [[Thanatos]], he is associated as the [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse|rider of the pale horse]] in the [[Apocalypse]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Apocalypse of John |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_(King_James)/Revelation |work=The King James Bible |access-date=2023-11-05}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Rev|6:8|SBLGNT;MOUNCE}}</ref>

== Notes ==
<references />

== References ==

* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]], ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Hesiod]], ''Theogony'' from ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0129 Greek text available from the same website].
* [[Cicero|Marcus Tullius Cicero]], ''Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero'' translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891), Bohn edition of 1878. [https://topostext.org/work/137 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* Marcus Tullius Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum.'' O. Plasberg. Leipzig. Teubner. 1917.  [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0037 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

{{Greek mythology (deities)}}

[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Time and fate gods]]
[[Category:Greek primordial deities]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Children of Nyx]]
[[Category:Personifications]]