Product Code Database
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, the Moirai ()often known in English as the the of fate. They were three sisters: Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (the allotter), and Atropos (the inevitable, a metaphor for death). Their Roman mythology equivalent is the Parcae. Brill's New Pauly, s.v. 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.
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 Asha (Arta), and the Egyptian Maat.
In addition , Moira may mean
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. Völuspá 20; cf. Henry Adams Bellows' translation for The American-Scandinavian Foundation with clickable names ( online text).
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, and the name of the third one means "debt" or "guilt", originally "that which must happen". Online Etymology Dictionary, s. v. "shall". 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. Nordisk familjebook (1913). Uggleupplagan. 19. Mykenai-Newpada. ( online text).
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.
In Lithuanian and other Baltic mythology, 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.Greimas Algirdas Julien (1992). Of gods and men. Studies in Lithuanian Mythology. Indiana University Press, p. 111. .Related to "Iaksmlka", "mark, sign or token" (Rigveda X, 71,2): Monier Williams. Sanskrit-English Dictionary. With her sisters Kārta and Dēkla, she is part of a trinity of fate deities similar to the Moirai.Bojtar Endre (1999). Foreword to the past. A cultural history of Baltic people. CEU Press, p. 301. . In Hurran mythology the three goddesses of fate, the Hutena, were believed to dispense good and evil, life and death to humans.
In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the Weird Sisters (or Three Witches) are who are deeply rooted in both the real and supernatural worlds. Their creation was influenced by United Kingdom folklore, witchcraft, and the legends of the Norns and the Moirai. Hecate, the chthonic Ancient Greek goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and three-way crossroads, appears as the master of the Three Witches. In ancient Greek religion, Hecate as goddess of childbirth is identified with Artemis,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. who was the leader (ηγεμόνη: hegemone ) of the nymphs.Martin Nilsson (1967). Die Geschichte der griechischen Religion. Vol. 1. C. F. Beck, Munich, p. 499 f.
In the Avestan language 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. This cosmic force is imbued also with morality, as verbal Truth, and Righteousness, action conforming with the moral order.
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.
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",Mahony (1998:3). although it was never abstract at the time.See the philological work of Own Barfield, e.g Poetic Diction or Speaker's Meaning
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.Hermann Oldenberg (1894). Die Religion des Veda. Wilhelm Hertz, Berlin, pp. 30, 195–198.
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.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. . The god of the waters Varuna was probably originally conceived as the personalized aspect of the otherwise impersonal Ṛta.Ramakrishna, G. (1965). "Origin and Growth of the Concept of Ṛta in Vedic Literature". Doctoral Dissertation: University of Mysore Cf. The gods are never portrayed as having command over Ṛta, but instead they remain subject to it like all created beings.
In Egyptian religion, maat was the 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.Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt, Robert A. Armour, American Univ in Cairo Press, p167, 2001, 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.
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.
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. 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.Pindar, Fragmenta Chorica Adespota 5 (ed. Diehl).
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.
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". 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.
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. 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. 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." 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.
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."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)
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.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.
In the cosmogony of Alcman (7th century BC), first came Thetis ("disposer, creation"), and then simultaneously Poros ("path") and Tekmor ("end post, ordinance").Τέκμωρ (Τekmor): fixed mark or boundary, end post, purpose ( τέκμαρ).Old English: takn "sign, mark"; English: token "sign, omen". Compare Sanskrit, Laksmi. Entry "token", in Online Etymology Dictionary. Poros is related with the beginning of all things, and Tekmor is related with the end of all things.Alcman, frag. 5 (from Scholia), translated by Campbell, Greek Lyric, vol. 2; cf. entry "Ananke" in the Theoi Project.
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. Orphica. Theogonies, frag. 54 (from Damascius). Greek hymns 3rd to 2nd centuries BC; cf. entry "Ananke" in the Theoi Project.
In the 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. Later they are daughters of Zeus and Themis, who was the embodiment of divine order and law. In Plato Republic the Three Fates are daughters of Ananke (necessity). Plato, Republic 617c (trans. Shorey) (Greek philosopher 4th century BC): Theoi Project – Ananke.
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.Pseudo-Apollodorus, story of Meleager in Bibliotheke 1.65. 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. At Sparta the temple to the Moirai stood near the communal hearth of the polis, as Pausanias observed.Pausanias, 3.11. 10–11.
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.Pausanias, 8.21.3. Their appearance indicate the Greek desire for health which was connected with the Greek cult of the body that was essentially a religious activity.Pindar, Nemean VII 1–4
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.
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.Kerenyi 1951:32. 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.Hesiod, Theogony, 904. 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,"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). 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.Apollodorus, 1.6.1–2.
The Moirai were also credited to be inventors of seven Greek letters — A B H T I Y.Hyginus, Fabulae 277
In Theogony, the three Moirai are daughters of the primeval goddess, Nyx ("Night"),H.J. Rose, Handbook of Greek Mythology, p.24 representing a power acting over the gods. Later they are daughters of Zeus who gives them the greatest honour, and Themis, the ancient goddess of law and divine order.
Even the gods feared the Moirai or Fates, which according to Herodotus a god could not escape.Herodotus, 1.91 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.Diels-Kranz. Fr.420 Aeschylus combines Fate and necessity in a scheme, and claims that even Zeus cannot alter which is ordained.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
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."The Greek is Moiragetes (Pausanias, 5.15.5)Pausanias, 5.15.5 At the Temple of Zeus at Megara, Pausanias inferred from the relief sculptures he saw "Above the head of Zeus are the Horae 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."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)
The temple in Thebes was explicitly imageless:
The temple in Sparta was situated next to the grave of Orestes.Pausanias, 3.11.10
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, a connection to Zeus which was also repeated in the images of the Moirai in the temple of Despoine in ArkadiaPausanias, 8.37.1 as well as in Delphi, where they were depicted with Zeus Moiragetes (Guide of Fate) as well as with Apollon Moiragetes (Guide of Fate).Pausanias, 10.24.4 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.Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.1216 ff. (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) The worship of the Moirai are described by Pausanias for their altar near Sicyon:
(2025). 9780714119892, British Museum Press. ISBN 9780714119892
The three Moirai
When they were three,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." the Moirai were:
Origins
The figure who came to be known as Atropos had her origins in the pre-Greek Mycenean Greece religion as a daemon or spirit called Aisa."Not yet is thy fate (moira) to die and meet thy doom" (Iliad 7.52), "But thereafter he (Achilleus) shall suffer whatever Fate (Aisa) spun for him at his birth, when his mother bore him": (Iliad 20.128 ): M. Nilsson. (1967). Die Geschichte der Griechischen Religion Vol I, C.F.Beck Verlag., Műnchen pp. 363–364 Much of the Mycenaean Greece 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.M. I. Finley (2002). The world of Odysseus. New York Review Books, New York, p. 39 f. ( PDF file). 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.Martin P. Nilsson (1967). Die Geschichte der griechischen Religion. Vol. 1. C. F. Beck, Munich, pp. 361–368.
Mythical relationships
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"). Later in the poem, Hesiod instead calls them daughters of Zeus and the Titaness Themis ("the Institutor"), Theogony 901; The Theogony of Hesiod. Translated by Hugh Evelyn White (1914), 901–906 ( online text). who was the embodiment of divine order and law,M. I. Finley (1978) The world of Odysseus rev.ed. New York Viking Press p.78 Note.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. . placing them as sisters of Eunomia ("lawfulness, order"), Dike ("justice"), and Eirene ("peace").
Mythology
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, 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."
Zeus and the Moirai
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. 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.Iliad 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, 222This 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
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.M.P.Nilsson, "Zeus-Schiksalwaage ". Homer and Mycenea D 56. The same belief in Destiny. 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
Cult and temples
The fates had at least three known temples, in Ancient Corinth, Sparta and Thebes. At least the temple of Corinth contained statues of them:
Astronomical objects
The (97) Klotho, (120) Lachesis, and (273) Atropos are named for the Three Fates.
See also
Bibliography
External links
|
|
