Destiny or Fates, composed of three sisters—Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos—the Fates were a trinity of goddesses. They were the personifications of human life and destiny. These three immortals decided the fate of humans as a single force: their life, its duration, and their death. Consequently, they had control over the past, present, and future. Not only were they feared and respected by mortals, but they also controlled the destiny of the gods.
What exactly does Destiny mean?
Although the Fates or Parcae, as they were also known, were represented as a trio, the concept of “Destiny” under which they worked is singular. Therefore, they worked in collaboration to affect the entire lives of men and gods. The Fates gave each man his own destiny.
Destiny, in this context, refers to all previous events that lead to, surround, and cause death. They represented the inevitable fate of every living being, without exception. Although it sometimes seemed that a man died before he was ready for it, it is unlikely that he could have lived longer than Destiny decided to give him. Although the Law of Necessity ruled, Destiny decided that all life was inadequate.
Characteristics
The Fates are often described as old, ugly, strict, bitter, and merciless women. They were often portrayed as dressed in ragged clothes, with snakes for hair, blistered skin, and bloodshot eyes.
Despite their physical descriptions, immense power, and cold personalities, the Fates can sometimes be negotiated with, so they are occasionally merciful. They are sometimes presented as hardworking, meticulous, and essential maidens.
Related characters
In Roman mythology, the Fates were called Nona, Decuma, and Morta. There is a fundamental difference in the interpretation of the gods between the Romans and the Greeks. The Greeks often portrayed the three sisters as constantly busy maidens, while the Romans showed them as an obstacle to human desires, blocking access to people’s hopes and dreams. The Greeks are clearly more tolerant of Fate, while the Romans lamented it.
Cultural Representation
The poet Homer speaks of the Moirai as a singular force, as a decider of the end of all life, with all gods and mortals, except Zeus, under the control of their spin. In Homer’s work, the Moirai act independently of the gods. However, the poet Hesiod wrote about them in his epic Theogony as three distinct individuals who worked together. Hesiod also described them as the daughters of Nix (Night) and defined them as three hideous women.
According to Hesiod, when men were born, these three women gave them the ability to do good and evil, and they were the precursors of justice. Not only did they punish men for evil, but they also punished the gods. The control that the Three Sisters had over the Earth and the heavenly realms was unrivalled.
Visual Arts
The Fates are often depicted as dressed in white robes. Each of them is often shown holding a staff to emphasize their power and dominion. Sometimes they are shown wearing crowns. When someone is born, they are depicted spinning, calculating, and cutting the thread of life to emphasize the control of fate over the mortality of man.
Explanation of the myth
The Fates controlled the birth, death, and life of all gods and mortals. Whenever a child was born, it was believed that the Fates would visit three days later and decide whether the child should live. As soon as a child was born, the threads that the sisters used to determine life began to spin. Each of the sisters had different roles.
Clotho wove the web of life from her spinning wheel to her reel, which is referred to as the Book of Destiny. Lachesis would mature these threads to determine how long each life would last using her measuring equipment. She would also point this staff at Horoscopes in the world. Atropos decided exactly how someone would die using scissors to cut the thread when the time came. Atropos translates as “inevitable.” She was also the eldest and wisest of the Three Sisters.
According to some sources—though still highly disputed among scholars—Zeus was the only god who was not bound by the Fates. He was able to override any decision they wanted to make about a life. Therefore, Zeus had the power to interfere and control the fate of any man if he so desired.
The Fates also knew what was going to happen during any man’s life. They knew the past, the present, and the future and were interpreted as oracles. This allowed the Fates to decide what a man could or could not achieve throughout his life. Therefore, they possessed the knowledge of destiny as well as the power to decide it. Once the Fates had decided that it was time for a man to die, their role would change. They would go from being deities of destiny to goddesses of death.
The Fates worked independently of the other deities, but sometimes they worked with the Erinyes, a different group of three sisters who inflicted punishment when humans committed misdeeds. Together, they directed the fate of humans according to the laws of necessity.
Additional information
The Fates apparently fought with bats during the war between the Titans and the Olympians. When Typhon, the youngest son of Gaia, attacked the sky, the Fates told him that he would become stronger if he ate the fruits they possessed. After doing so, he was easily defeated by Zeus and thrown into the dungeon, Tartarus. This gave them a reputation for being fearless in battle and magnificent in the face of adversity, which demonstrated their power to the gods. The Fates are also credited with inventing seven letters of the alphabet.
