Thus, in the visual arts, they were usually depicted as handsome women, but in literature, they are often imagined as both old and ugly. The representation of the Fates evolved through time, and it seems that it often depended on the medium through which they were portrayed. Sometimes, each of the Fates was assigned to a specific period of time: Atropos – the past, Clotho –the present, and Lachesis – the future. Fates' Functions Ĭonsistently portrayed as three women spinners, each of the three Fates had a different task, revealed by her very name: Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis measured its allotted length, and Atropos cut it off with her shears. At a later date, in the Orphic cosmogony, the Fates got a new mother: Ananke, or Necessity. Both genealogies make sense: in the first case, the Moirai are linked through Nyx with Death, and in the second they are clearly associated with the unchanging order of things. In his “ Theogony,” the poet first informs us that the Fates are the fatherless daughters of Nyx, the Night, only to later describe them as daughters of Zeus and Themis, and, thus sisters of the Horae, Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene. The Fates have at least three different genealogies, two of which go way back to Hesiod. Their names were: Clotho (meaning “The Spinner”), Lachesis (or “The Alloter”) and Atropos (literally “The Unturning” or, more freely, “The Inflexible”). The Moirai’s Roman counterpart were the Parcae, probably because the Romans confused the origin of their name, thinking it stems from pars which is the Latin translation of moira it’s actually derived from parere, “to bring forth,” which explains why the Parcae were initially birth spirits, and also why the Romans weren’t so far off when they merged them with the Moirai. By extension, Moirai means “The Apportioners,” i.e., the ones who give to each his own (portion of life). The word moira means “share” or “portion” of something, whether meal, land, or victory spoils (compare this with the English word “merit” from the Latin meritum, “a reward”). The Fates were originally called Moirai in Ancient Greece.

The Fates: A Quick Profile Their Name and their Names

Horae greek mythology