| Moirai | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Members |
Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos |
|
First Appearance |
Greek Myth |
|
Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Moirai (often known in English as the Fates) were 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.
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.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of the Moirai from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Iliad
- The Odyssey
- Theogony
- The Shield of Heracles
- The Homeric Hymns
- Pindar, Odes
- Greek Lyric I Alcman, Fragments
- Greek Lyric III Stesichorus, Fragments
- Greek Lyric III Ibycus, Fragments
- Greek Lyric IV Bacchylides, Fragments
- Greek Lyric V Telestes, Fragments
- Greek Lyric V Timotheus, Fragments
- Greek Elegaic Solon, Fragments
- Agamemnon
- Eumenides
- Libation Bearers
- Prometheus Bound
- Seven Against Thebes
- Aeschylus, Fragments
- Aristophanes, Birds
- Aristophanes, Frogs
- Republic
- The Library
- The Argonautica
- Callimachus, Hymns
- Alexandra
- The Library of History
- Description of Greece
- The Orphic Hymns
- Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses
- On Animals
- Deipnosophistae
- Philostratus the Elder, Imagines
- Philostratus the Younger, Imagines
- Life of Apollonius of Tyana
- Fall of Troy
- Dionysiaca
- Greek Papyri III Anonymous, Fragments
- Fabulae
- Ovid, Metamorphoses
- Fasti
- Aeneid
- Propertius, Elegies
- De Natura Deorum
- Hercules Furens
- Oedipus
- Valerius Flaccus, The Argonautica
- Thebaid
- Silvae
Notes[]
- 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.
- 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.