Moirai
The word Moirai comes from a Greek root meaning lots, destinies, or apportioners. It connects to the Proto-Indo-European language root *(s)mer, which means to allot or assign. Ancient texts show this term also meant portion or share in the distribution of booty. The citizens of Sparta were called omoioi, indicating they had equal parts of allotted land known as isomoiria. This linguistic thread links fair shares of life to the concept of fate itself. Later Latin words like meritum and English merit may derive from these ancient roots. The idea evolved from physical portions of loot to abstract portions of human existence.
Clotho spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle while Lachesis measured that thread with a rod. Atropos cut the thread of life with abhorred shears when time came for death. These three sisters appeared three nights after a child's birth to determine the course of its life. In Homer's Iliad, Achilles suffers whatever Fate and the dread Spinners spun for him at his birth. Clotho presided over the moment of birth holding a distaff in her hand. Lachesis spun out all events and actions during our lives. Atropos chose the manner of each person's death by cutting their thread. A Latin verse describes Clotho as youngest, Lachesis as middle, and Atropos as eldest sister.
The figure known as Atropos originated in pre-Greek Mycenaean religion as a daemon called Aisa. Martin P. Nilsson associated these daemons to a hypothetical Pre-Greek religion surviving into classical Greece. Moses I. Finley detected only few authentic Mycenaean beliefs in the 8th-century Homeric world. The concept of moira referred originally to one's fair allotment or portion of loot from battle distributed according to strict traditions. Eventually this idea applied to one's fair allotment in life itself. Obtaining more than one's fair portion resulted in severe consequences because it violated natural order. Apollo tried three times to stop Patroclus from sacking Troy warning that it would be over his portion. In later scenes Zeus appears as arbiter using scales to weigh Hector's destiny against Achilles' lot.
Scholars compare Greek fate concepts to Vedic Rta, Avestan Asha, and Egyptian Maat representing universal principles of natural order. Aša corresponds to objective material reality embracing all existence imbued with morality and truth. In Egyptian mythology Maat dealt with weighing souls taking place in underworld where Anubis used scales. Her feather determined whether departed souls reached paradise successfully if heart weighed down monster devoured them. Norse Norns twined thread of life at foot of Yggdrasil tree deciding lives of children of men. Their names Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld ruled past present and future respectively. Lithuanian goddess Laima prophesied how newborn life would take place alongside sisters Kārta and Dēkla forming trinity similar to Moirai. Hurran Hutena goddesses dispensed good evil life and death to humans.
The fates had at least three known temples located in Ancient Corinth Sparta and Thebes. Pausanias observed temple images were not exposed to view at the Akropolis of Korinthos. The temple in Thebes was explicitly imageless according to his records from 9th century AD. Along road from Neistan gate stood sanctuary of Themis with white marble image adjoining it was sanctuary of Fates without images. Temple in Sparta sat next to grave of Orestes as noted by ancient travelers. Altars existed near Olympia connected to Zeus Moiragetes meaning Bringer of Fate. Worshipers offered sheep big with young as burnt offering at grove of holm oaks near Sicyon. Libations of honey water and flowers replaced garlands during annual festivals celebrating these goddesses.
Homer's Iliad speaks generally of Moira spinning thread for men at their birth as powerful force. Hesiod introduced moral purpose absent in Homeric poems making them daughters of Nyx night goddess. Plato described Three Fates singing unison with music of Seirenes in Republic book six hundred seventeen c. Later Orphic cosmogony made them daughters of Ananke necessity entwined with Chronos time-god. Renaissance artists like Hans Vischer created tondos showing three sisters around fifteen thirty. Paul Thumann painted nineteenth-century versions depicting Clotho Lachesis Atropos together. Bas reliefs appear on lampstands at Supreme Court building Washington DC today. Ancient tapestries from Victoria and Albert Museum show triumph of death featuring Flemish interpretations circa fifteen twenty. Modern asteroids bear names Klotho Lachesis Atropos honoring these mythological figures.
Common questions
What is the origin of the word Moirai in Greek mythology?
The word Moirai comes from a Greek root meaning lots, destinies, or apportioners. It connects to the Proto-Indo-European language root *(s)mer which means to allot or assign.
Who are the three sisters known as the Moirai and what does each do?
Clotho spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle while Lachesis measured that thread with a rod. Atropos cut the thread of life with abhorred shears when time came for death.
When did the figure known as Atropos originate in pre-Greek Mycenaean religion?
The figure known as Atropos originated in pre-Greek Mycenaean religion as a daemon called Aisa. Martin P. Nilsson associated these daemons to a hypothetical Pre-Greek religion surviving into classical Greece.
Where were the temples dedicated to the Moirai located in Ancient Corinth Sparta and Thebes?
The fates had at least three known temples located in Ancient Corinth Sparta and Thebes. Pausanias observed temple images were not exposed to view at the Akropolis of Korinthos and the temple in Thebes was explicitly imageless according to his records from 9th century AD.
How do Greek fate concepts compare to Vedic Rta Avestan Asha and Egyptian Maat?
Scholars compare Greek fate concepts to Vedic Rta Avestan Asha and Egyptian Maat representing universal principles of natural order. In Egyptian mythology Maat dealt with weighing souls taking place in underworld where Anubis used scales.
All sources
33 references cited across the entry
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- 9webSvensk etymologisk ordbokElof Hellquist — 1922
- 12bookNorse Mythology, a guide to the ghosts, heroes, rituals and beliefsJohn Landow — Oxford University Press — 2001
- 13journal'Unreal Mockery': Unreason and the Problem of Spectacle in MacbethKarin S. Coddon — Johns Hopkins University Press — Oct 1989
- 14webTheoi project HecateTheoi.com
- 15citationHeraclitus and IranJacques Duchesne-Guillemin — 1963
- 16journalZoroaster the PriestMary Boyce — University of London — 1970
- 17bookAngels A to ZMatthew Bunson — Crown Publishing — 1996
- 18bookEgyptian ReligionSiegfried Morenz — Cornell University Press — 1992
- 19bookAncient Egyptian Book of the Dead: Journey through the afterlifeBritish Museum Press — 2010
- 20bookRepublicPlato — Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. — 1992
- 22journalKerostasia, the Dictates of Fate, and the Will of Zeus in the IliadJ. V. Morrison — 1997
- 32journalMeleager and the Moirai: A Note on Ps.-Apollodorus 1. 65Bruce Karl Braswell — 1991
- 33inlinePausanias, 8.21.3.
- 34webTheoi Project MoiraiTheoi.com
- 35inlineApollodorus, 1.6.1–2.
- 36inlineHyginus, Fabulae 277